By: Scott Chesworth, Bob Grizzi, and Dilip Dedhia Optimizing the inspection interval for high-reliability components whose examinations have a significant outage impact. Welds and similar components in nuclear power plants are subject to periodic examination under ASME Code, Section XI. Typically, examinations are performed during every ten-year inspection interval using volumetric examination techniques, or a […]
By: Dave Gerber and Terry Herrmann Environmentally-Assisted Fatigue (EAF) screening is used to systematically identify limiting locations for managing EAF effects on Class 1 reactor coolant pressure boundary components wetted by primary coolant. This article provides an overview of the methods developed and used by Structural Integrity (SI) for Class 1 components having explicit fatigue […]
By: Curt Carney As plants enter their initial or subsequent license renewal period one of the requirements is to show that fatigue (including environmental effects) is adequately managed. For some locations in pressurized water reactors (PWRs), it can be difficult to demonstrate an environmental fatigue usage factor less than the code allowable value of 1.0. […]
By: Wendy Weiss and Terry Totemeier Structural Integrity (SI) personnel visited a power plant construction site to examine four Grade 91 elbows (ASTM A234-WP91 20-inch OD Sch. 60) that were found to contain axially oriented surface indications. The elbows had not yet been installed. The indications were initially noticed during magnetic particle testing (MT) after […]
By: Ben Ruchte and Kane Riggenbach To provide operating flexibility, combined cycle plants are typically equipped with bypass systems (high pressure routing steam to cold reheat and hot reheat routing steam to the condenser). These bypass systems include conditioning valves designed to reduce steam pressures followed by outlet desuperheaters which inject water to reduce steam […]
By: Cliff Lange and Matt Freeman OEMs recommend periodic inspection of pinned finger turbine blade attachments for detection of service-induced damage as part of ongoing rotor maintenance activity. This article provides an example where ultrasonic inspection detected cracking in several pins of finger attachments and outlines an engineering assessment to support continued operation and identify […]
By: Robert Chambers and Trey Rippy To help meet demanding outage schedules and stay within lean operation and maintenance budgets, Structural Integrity Associates, Inc. (SI) has implemented several new field data collection and analysis tools that enable delivery of a higher-quality final inspection product in a more efficient manner. These include customized software tools for […]
By: Galen Reid and Katie Braman How does TRU or the public know the manufacturer is continuing to produce a product that complies with the certified construction and configuration without retesting periodically? Certification of products to withstand extreme event loading can open many opportunities for manufacturers to sell high value products when others have a […]
By: Zach Withall and Matthew Naugle, PE The health facility is designed to fully separate patients from medical workers, protecting both parties and minimizing the PPE required to operate the suite. COVID-19 has presented humanity with unprecedented challenges. As economies reopen, solutions are needed that allow businesses to operate while protecting the health, safety, and […]
By: Roger Royer, Scott Riccardella, and David Babbitt Operators are now required to define sampling programs and perform destructive (laboratory) or non-destructive testing to capture this information and take additional actions when inconsistent results are identified until a confidence level of 95% is achieved. Various sections of Mega-Rule 1 require operators of natural gas transmission […]
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