Nuclear Plant Journal - Digital Versions

More documents

Recommendations

Info

2008-A Year of “Firsts” for AmerenUE’s Callaway Plant By Rick Eastman, AmerenUE. Employees celebrated the plant’s fi rst breaker-to-breaker run of 520 days and the fi rst less than 30-day refueling outage (which included no lost time or recordable injuries). Callaway Plant’s fi rst continuous cycle run (Cycle 16) began in May 2007 and concluded in October 2008. Including Callaway, only 26 of the nation’s 104 nuclear plants have achieved a record run of more than 500 days. The previous record for continuous operation at the Callaway Plant was 483 days completed in 1998. The breaker-to-breaker run contributed to the plant’s highest-ever capacity factor of 99.36 percent for Cycle 16. The plant’s previous record, 98.01 percent, occurred during Cycle 7 which ended in March 1995. Prior to Refuel 16, the shortest refueling outage for Callaway was just under 31 days during Refuel 8 in 1996. Safety-related HDPE pipe Another fi rst occurred when the plant installed the fi rst safety-related high density polyethylene piping (HDPE) at a nuclear power plant in the U.S. This was done after the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) authorized the use of this plastic pipe for a safety-related system. The HDPE pipe was used to replace carbon steel piping in the plant’s essential service water (ESW) system. The ‘A’ ESW train was put into service in December 2008. Workers installed approximately 1,800-feet of 36-inch HDPE piping and 120-feet of 30-inch stainless steel piping in the plant’s ESW Pump House, Ultimate Heat Sink Cooling Tower and Control Building, as well as underground in the yard area between these buildings. The work required thousands of cubic yards of dirt and rock to be removed and replaced. Fusing of the HDPE pipe also required specialty equipment designed for this purpose. Rick Eastman Rick Eastman is the supervisor of Business Planning and Communications at AmerenUE’s Callaway Plant. A 24-year Union Electric/AmerenUE employee, he currently is responsible for the development, implementation and performance tracking for Callaway Plant’s Business Plan, as well as the plant’s internal and external communications working in conjunction with Corporate Communications. Eastman earned a bachelor’s degree in Mass Communication from Northeast Missouri State University (now Truman State University) in Kirksville, Mo., and an MBA from William Woods University in Fulton, Mo. The project was completed 78 hours ahead of schedule with no nuclear safety events, no personnel safety events and no human performance events. The ‘B’ ESW piping train will be replaced with HDPE pipe in March 2009. COLA fi led for Callaway 2 The Callaway team also submitted a combined Construction and Operating License Application (COLA) to the NRC to preserve the option to construct a new nuclear plant. The COLA was docketed by the NRC in late December 2008. Adam Hefl in Adam Hefl in is senior vice president and chief nuclear offi cer of AmerenUE. In this position he is responsible for all of AmerenUE’s nuclear operations. Mr. Hefl in joined AmerenUE in 2005 as site vice president for the Callaway Plant, after serving as Unit 2 plant manager at Arkansas Nuclear One, owned by Entergy Corporation. Hefl in joined Entergy Corporation’s nuclear operations in 1992. He received his nuclear training and started his nuclear career while serving in the U.S. Navy. AmerenUE is partnering with UniStar Nuclear Energy to design, and possibly construct, a U.S. Evolutionary Power Reactor (EPR) which will be located adjacent to the existing Callaway Plant near Fulton, Mo. If AmerenUE decides to build Callaway 2, the 1,600 megawatt pressurized water reactor would represent the largest single construction project in Missouri’s history. Also, the Callaway 2 team submitted an application for federal loan guarantees offered through the Energy Policy Act of 2005. 48 www.nuclearplantjournal.com Nuclear Plant Journal, March-April 2009
Community outreach efforts To help inform the community about the proposed new plant, as well as area civic and business leaders, AmerenUE formed a Callaway 2 speaker’s bureau in June 2008. Since then, the speaker’s bureau has made nearly 70 presentations to more than 2,000 people. This is in addition to the 600 people who attended the NRC’s pre-COLA public meeting for Callaway 2 in July 2008. The vast majority of those in attendance were in favor of a second nuclear plant at Callaway. In addition, nearly 20 plant tours were conducted in 2008 for legislators, educators and college-age students who are interested in the nuclear fi eld. The number of tours offered in 2009 is expected to increase signifi cantly. 2009 promises to be another historic year While 2008 was a year of many fi rsts for Callaway, 2009 also is shaping up to be another historic year for the plant. Pay-as-you-go legislation AmerenUE is supporting legislation that would allow regulated utility companies in Missouri to recover the fi nancing costs for construction work in progress if the utilities are investing in non-carbon or reduced-carbon electric generating plants. Without the ability to “pay-as-yougo,” it will cost AmerenUE customers $2 billion to $3 billion more to build a new nuclear plant due to fi nance and interest charges. If implemented, the new legislation will partially overturn a 1976 law passed by Missouri voters that prohibited utility companies from recovering construction costs for a new plant until it is generating electricity. Eleven states in the U.S. recently have passed laws to allow companies to recover costs for construction work in progress or provided incentives to encourage companies to invest in expanding nuclear power. Callaway 2 activities The Callaway 2 team also will continue to be immersed in NRC activities related to its COLA, including a public meeting in February 2009 for individuals to discuss any environmental issues the NRC should consider in reviewing the Established 1974 (Continued on page 50) Nuclear Plant Journal, March-April 2009 www.nuclearplantjournal.com 49
Page 1 and 2: Nuclear Plant Journal Plant Mainten
Page 3 and 4: WITH PHASED ARRAY YOU HAVE TO BE HI
Page 5 and 6: Nuclear Plant Journal March-April 2
Page 7 and 8: HIGH MAINTENANCE Even if everything
Page 9 and 10: Utility, Industry & Corporation Uti
Page 11 and 12: New Products, Services & Contracts
Page 13 and 14: We look at power plant maintenance
Page 15 and 16: Meeting & Training Calendar 1. 9 th
Page 17 and 18: technology as it solves real busine
Page 19 and 20: laser weld sleeves can allow degrad
Page 21 and 22: Bechtel Nuclear: Building on the Pa
Page 23 and 24: foreign objects from B&W SGs, many
Page 25 and 26: Valtimet sales offices for Welded T
Page 27 and 28: In-service inspections to some degr
Page 29 and 30: location. All systems interface wit
Page 32 and 33: Designed for Optimum Production By
Page 34: Designed for... Continued from page
Page 37 and 38: One of the key conclusions of the D
Page 39 and 40: ��
Page 41 and 42: of balance-of-plant corrosion produ
Page 43 and 44: NPJ-SBU-0908 Machining, re-imagined
Page 45 and 46: Minimizing Radiological Effl uent R
Page 47: Radiation-101, An Internet-Based Co
Page 51 and 52: WESTINGHOUSE HAS SOME simple ideas,

Nuclear Plant Journal - Digital Versions

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?