Entries by Structural Integrity

News & Views, Volume 47 | Introducing Pegasus: Optimize Fuel Performance

By:  Vick Nazareth and Bill Lyon The Pegasus code is a culmination of nuclear fuel behavior knowledge and experience that spans a period of over five decades. It is a total fuel-cycle simulation of fuel response from initial insertion in reactor to deposition in permanent storage. The goal of Pegasus is to treat, with equal […]

News & Views, Volume 47 | Metallurgical Lab Case Study: Corrosion Fatigue in WaterWall Tubes Increasingly A Safety Concern as Coal Plants Cycle

By:  Ben Ruchte It is well known that conventional coal-fired utility boilers are cycling more today than they ever have.  As these units have shifted to more of an ‘on-call’ demand they experience many more cycles (start-ups and shutdowns, and/or significant load swings) making other damage mechanisms such as fatigue or other related mechanisms a […]

News & Views, Volume 47 | Release of the First Safety of Gas Transmission Pipeline Regulation Mega-Rule

By:  Scott Riccardella, Bruce Paskett, and Andy Jensen On October 1, 2019 the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) published amendments to 49 CFR Parts 191 and 192 in the Federal Register issuing Part 1 of the Gas Transmission Mega-Rule1.  This new regulation is commonly referred to as the Mega-Rule, as it represents the most […]

News & Views, Volume 47 | Materials Lab Featured Damage Mechanism: SH/RH Fireside Corrosion in Conventional Coal Fired Boilers

By:  Wendy Weiss Superheater/reheater fireside corrosion is also known as coal ash corrosion in coal fired units. MECHANISM Coal ash corrosion generally occurs as the result of the formation of low melting point, liquid phase, alkali-iron trisulfates. During coal combustion, minerals in the coal are exposed to high temperatures, causing release of volatile alkali compounds […]

SI appoints Mark W. Marano as President and Chief Executive Officer

San Jose, CA, February 4, 2020 – Structural Integrity Associates, Inc. (SI) announced today the appointment of Mark W. Marano as President and Chief Executive Officer, effective February 10, 2020.  Marano succeeds Laney Bisbee following his retirement in late 2019. Marano joins SI following a brief retirement from Westinghouse Electric Company, where he previously was […]

News & Views, Volume 46 | Application of Probabilistic Flaw Tolerance Evaluation Optimizing NDE Inspection Requirements

By:  Christopher Lohse There have been several industry initiatives to support optimization of examination requirements for various items/components (both Class 1 and Class 2 components) in lieu of the requirements in the ASME Code, Section XI.  The ultimate objective of these initiatives is to optimize the examination requirements (through examination frequency reduction, examination scope reduction, […]

News & Views, Volume 46 | In-line Inspection Performance Validation Pipe Experiment

By:  Jacob Arroyo You’ve just completed the first in-line inspection (ILI) of a new pipeline asset. The ILI tool results are in, and there are no required repairs! However, how sure are we of the accuracy of the results? Could the tool have under-called some of the reported anomalies? Are there any regulatory requirements beyond […]

News & Views, Volume 46 | Baffle-Former Bolt Management: Cost/Benefit Studies

By:  Tim Griesbach and For the past several years baffle-former bolt (BFB) cracking in pressurized water reactors has become a significant concern for of PWR plants. In 2016, three similar Westinghouse designed plants (Indian Point 2, Salem 1, and D. C. Cook Unit 2) experienced significant numbers of cracked BFBs, attributed to irradiation-assisted stress corrosion […]

News & Views, Volume 46 | Cross-Weld Creep-Rupture Testing for Seam Weld Life Management

By:  Jonnathan Warwick, Terry Totemeier, and Brian Chambers, Duke Energy Longitudinal seam-welded hot-reheat steam piping operating in the creep regime is a continuing life-management challenge for many older fossil-fired power plants.  In response to catastrophic seam-welded piping failures in the 1980’s, the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) developed a comprehensive inspection protocol to insure continued […]

News & Views, Volume 46 | Multi-discipline Solution for Pressure Vessel Asset Management

By:  David Segletes and Dan Peters One of the strengths of the Structural Integrity Associates (SI) team lies in the diversity of the skills and capabilities in the organization. Sure, SI can perform inspection, analysis, design, metallurgy, failure investigations, risk assessments, and project management, but one of the real values of working with SI is […]