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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
By: Jason Van Velsor, Roger Royer, and Eric Houston Structural Integrity recently had the opportunity to support a client’s emergent needs when their Standby Service Water (SSW) piping system experienced a pinhole leak just downstream of a valve. Concerned about other locations in the piping system with similar configurations, the site asked SI to assist […]
By: Bill Lyon Structural Integrity Associates is participating in a Department of Energy (DOE) Integrated Research Projects (IRP) program focused on storage and transportation of used nuclear fuel (UNF). The project, entitled Cask Mis-Loads Evaluation Techniques, was awarded to a university-based research team in 2016 under the DOE Nuclear Fuels Storage and Transportation (NFST) project. […]
By: Eric Kjolsing and Dan Parker In 2018, Structural Integrity Associates, Inc. (SI) supported the United States Army Corp of Engineers (USACE) in the structural assessment of the concrete-to-steel connection in typical I-Section flood walls. A representative flood wall section is shown in Figure 1. This effort was part of a broader scope of work […]
By: Terry Totemeier Grade 23 is a creep strength enhanced ferritic (CSEF) steel that was designed to offer similar creep strength to Grade 91 but with lower Cr content and, in the original concept, fabrication without pre- and post-weld heat treatment making the material attractive for the furnace wall tubes of ultra-supercritical coal plants where […]
By: Andy Coughlin TRU Compliance, a division of Structural Integrity Associates, announced in March the achievement of accreditation from the International Accreditation Service (IAS) as a product certification body for seismic, wind, and blast/physical security performance of nonstructural components. According to the International Accreditation Service, TRU Compliance is the second company to be certified for […]
By: Wendy Weiss Industry experience shows that waterwall tubing in conventional boilers can be susceptible to fireside corrosion, depending on fuel type, firing practice, etc. In boilers where fireside corrosion has been identified as a maintenance issue, wastage rates of 5 to 25 mils/year are not uncommon. Since the mid 1990s, the installation of low […]
By: Gerry Davina The modernization of plant automation controls represents a step change in performance that optimizes Operations and Maintenance resources, shifting their focus to performance maintenance and plant monitoring and away from inefficient corrective maintenance and troubleshooting. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the average age of the U.S.-based nuclear power plant is […]
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