Innovation
Improves
CapEx
Decisions
By Joseph Grillo & Robert Sweeney,
IBEX Engineering Services, Inc.
Joseph Grillo
Joseph Grillo is Vice President,
Operations Support Services at IBEX
Engineering Services, Inc. and has
more than 35 years
of plant operations
and consulting
experience with
electric utility clients.
Over the last 10
years, he has directed
support services
and is responsible
for developing and
overseeing project
execution, including
Buried Pipe
assessment and inspection services, and
deployment of innovative solutions to
IBEX’s nuclear and non-nuclear clients.
Earlier in his career Mr. Grillo held
nuclear positions as Assistant Station
Director, Technical Support Manager,
Oversight Manager and Operations
Manager at an INPO 1 facility, and
held a SRO License at two US reactors,
Seabrook Station and Yankee Rowe.
Grillo has a BS in Liberal Studies, from
New York State Regents.
In today’s electric utility industry,
plant capital expenditures (CapEx) are
highly scrutinized and require plant
operations andmaintenance organizations
to demonstrate the “business case” in
order to secure project funding. Over the
last few years, nuclear power plant CapEx
budgets have been reduced significantly
– well over 25-50% depending on the
utility in any given year. With tight
CapEx budgets and the evermore scrutiny
by operations and financial executive
management, added emphasis is being
put on having solid information and data
to support the business case and ultimate
decision to-go or no-go on projects.
Two years ago, IBEX Engineering
Services, Inc. (IBEX) was asked to
evaluate the necessity and feasibility of
repairing or replacing nearly a mile of
non-safety
related
piping (water main
and fire protection)
at the Calvert Cliffs
Nuclear power plant
(CCNP) -- over the
years the system had
its share of problems
and leaks. Such an
undertaking
would
have a considerable
impact on system
service to several key
site offices and support facilities, as well
as encumber several important access
roads in and around the plant’s owner-
controlled area. After numerous visits
and proposed concepts and alternative
options were developed – some that
included several millions of dollars,
IBEX and CCNPP agreed to take a
different look and to see if and what other
options, as well as innovative tools, could
be deployed to achieve the necessary
operational and maintenance goals
without the exposure of millions and
millions of dollars – after all, it wasn’t an
expenditure required to keep its revenue
generating assets safe and going.
Instead of embarking on an expensive
multi-million dollar construction project,
IBEX proposed to relook at the project
by breaking it down and approaching
the issues on a segment-by-segment,
significance and risk basis. The scope
was broken down into 20 separate line
segments to manage and facilitate the
necessary inspections, data collection,
analysis, etc. Given the system was also
required to be operational at all times,
IBEX needed to find a way to get the
necessary field information and system
conditional information with minimal
impact on the system and the plant
personnel – especially getting ready for
an upcoming outage. IBEX came up with
a strategy to deploy non-invasive, non-
destructive and innovated inspection and
assessment tools – initially proven in the
water industry with the goal to avoid any
digging -- along with a graded approach
to evaluate each and every section of the
line for relative site features and structures
that may be causing or exacerbating some
of the underlying issues.
IBEX evaluated a suite options and
chose to conduct examinations using
highly sensitive acoustic detection
equipment and condition assessment
analysis tools, including use of
electromagnetic locating services, on
several thousand feet of ductile iron
water mains at the plant. In addition to
leak detection and condition assessment,
our investigations included walk downs
and surveys of the mains and corridors
to assess what if any site environmental,
utility or structural features existed that
could influence corrosion or accelerate
degradation of the underground piping.
Table 1 (see page 42) summarizes some
of the field conditions and the potential
contributing factors that could affect
corrosion that were observed on the
segments investigated.
With the assistance of our technology
partner, the leak detection results helped
pinpoint locations – in real time -- to
reveal the presence or lack thereof of
possible leakage sources within the mains
without ever moving soil or constraining
the system. Results from leak detection
work on over 20 segments revealed the
presence of just two noise sources within
the mains. Based on data taken in the
field, it was determined that one location
was a possible leakage location and the
other was identified as a source requiring
some additional evaluation. With respect
to the one possible leakage location, we
observed indications, based on several
confirmatory readings that allowed us to
pinpoint an issue less that 20-ft from our
point of reference. As to the one observed
40
NuclearPlantJournal.com Nuclear Plant Journal, March-April 2016
