Fatigue Monitoring in the Context of Long-Term Operation of the Goesgen Nuclear Power Plant Using AREVA’s FAMOSi

Author(s):  
Thomas Wermelinger ◽  
Florian Bruckmüller ◽  
Benedikt Heinz

In the context of long-term operation or lifetime extension most regulatory bodies demand from utilities and operators of nuclear power plants to monitor and evaluate the fatigue of system, structures and components systematically. As does the Swiss Federal Nuclear Safety Inspectorate ENSI. The nuclear power plant Goesgen started its commercial operation in 1979 and will go into long-term operation in 2019. The increased demand for monitoring and evaluating fatigue due to the pending long-term operation led the Goesgen nuclear power plant to expand the scope of their surveillance and therefore to install AREVA’s fatigue monitoring system FAMOSi in the 2014 outage. The system consists of 39 measurement sections positioned at the primary circuit and the feed-water nozzles of the steam generators. The locations were chosen due to their sensitivity for fatigue. The installed FAMOSi system consists of a total of 173 thermocouples which were mounted in order to get the necessary input data for load evaluation. The advantage of FAMOSi is the possibility to obtain real data of transients near places with highest fatigue usage factors. Examples of steam generator feed-in during heating-up and cooling-down will be given. In addition, spray events before and after the installation of closed loop controlled spray valves will be compared. The measurements and the results of the load evaluation are not only of interest for internal use e.g. in regard to optimization of operation modes (e.g. load-following), but must also be reported to ENSI annually. In addition, by evaluation of stresses and determination of usage factors combined with an optimization of operation modes an early exchange of components can be avoided.

Author(s):  
Horst Rothenhöfer ◽  
Andreas Manke

The safety relevant components of nuclear power plant Neckarwestheim 1 — in service since 1976 — have been reviewed and updated for long-term operation (LTO). The actions included hardware retrofits as well as updates of analysis according to the latest state of the scientific and technical knowledge. For large piping such as the steam lines, the established pipes have been retained while the supports have been optimized. All shock absorbers (snubbers) including corresponding inertia have been eliminated resulting in a defined guidance and statically defined displacements. The integrity analyses for the optimized steam lines, including break preclusion, have been validated successfully with comprehensive measurements. The verification has delivered an extra high level of credibility, exceeding the “standard” requirements to achieve fitness for service in long-term operation. Measurement and validation, which are the main focus of this paper, range from monitoring of service loads to the static and dynamic measurements of pressure, local temperatures and displacements during initial start-up after implementation of the design modifications. The proper function of supports has been proved and the quality of the simulation models has been confirmed. Some expected and some unexpected dynamic events have been detected during blow-down tests. It was demonstrated that the amplitudes of all dynamic loads stay within limits. The validation of analyses with comprehensive measurement has been an important proof of quality and delivered the redundancy required for the integrity of a nuclear power plant in service, enhancing the high level of safety even more.


2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
John H. Moore

This paper presents an overview of the duties of a nuclear power plant (NPP) commissioning organization and its special relationship with both the early stages of an NPP project and the long-term operation of such power plants. Decisions made early in the design and procurement process need to be understood by commissioning staff, and their implications need to be incorporated into commissioning programs. Commissioning programs also need to take the steps needed to baseline plant-component ageing programs to facilitate the long-term NPP operation.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 1073
Author(s):  
Bella Zubekhina ◽  
Boris Burakov ◽  
Ekaterina Silanteva ◽  
Yuri Petrov ◽  
Vasiliy Yapaskurt ◽  
...  

Samples of Chernobyl fuel debris, including massive corium and “lava” were collected inside the Chernobyl “Sarcophagus” or “Shelter” in 1990, transported to Leningrad (St. Petersburg) and stored under laboratory conditions for many years. In 2011 aged samples were visually re-examined and it was confirmed that most of them remained intact, although some evidence of self-destruction and chemical alteration were clearly observed. Selected samples of corium and “lava” were affected by static leaching at temperatures of 25, 90 and 150 °C in distilled water. A normalized Pu mass loss (NLPu) from corium samples after 140 days was noted to be 0.5 g/m2 at 25 °C and 1.1 g/m2 at 90 °C. For “lava” samples NLPu was 2.2–2.3 g/m2 at 90 °C for 140 days. The formation of secondary uranyl phases on the surface of corium and “lava” samples altered at 150 °C was confirmed. The results obtained are considered as an important basis for the simulation of fuel debris aging at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant (NPP).


Radiocarbon ◽  
1989 ◽  
Vol 31 (03) ◽  
pp. 754-761 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ede Hertelendi ◽  
György Uchrin ◽  
Peter Ormai

We present results of airborne 14C emission measurements from the Paks PWR nuclear power plant. Long-term release of 14C in the form of carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons were simultaneously measured. The results of internal gas-proportional and liquid scintillation counting agree well with theoretical assessments of 14C releases from pressurized water reactors. The mean value of the 14C concentration in discharged air is 130Bqm-3 and the normalized release is equal to 740GBq/GWe · yr. > 95% of 14C released is in the form of hydrocarbons, ca 4% is apportioned to CO2, and <1% to CO. Tree-ring measurements were also made and indicated a minute increase of 14C content in the vicinity of the nuclear power plant.


Author(s):  
R. Z. Aminov ◽  
A. N. Bairamov

THE PURPOSE. System efficiency and competitiveness assess of a new scheme for combining a nuclear power plant with a hydrogen complex based on additional heating of feed water and superheating of live steam in front of the high-pressure cylinder of a steam turbine. METHODS. Basic laws of thermodynamics were applied when developing and substantiating a new scheme for combining a nuclear power plants (NPP) with a hydrogen facility; theoretical regularities were applied of heat engineering; basic regularity were applied of fatigue wear of power equipment and assessment of its working resourse; basic regularities were applied for the assessment of operating costs and net present value (NPV). RESULTS. A new scheme is presented of the combination of a nuclear power plant with a hydrogen facility and a description of its operating principle on the example of a two-circuit nuclear power plant with a VVER-1000 reactor and a C-1000-60 / 1500 turbine. The data are presented on an increase in the productivity of steam generators at nuclear power plants with additional heating of feed water in the range of 235-250 ° C from its nominal value of 230 ° C. The temperature was estimated of live steam superheat depending on the temperature of the additional heating of the feed water. The results are presented of the calculation of the generated peak power by the power unit and the efficiency of conversion of the night off-peak power of the NPP into peak power, as well as the efficiency of the power unit of the NPP depending on the temperature of additional heating of the feed water. Main regularities are given for taking into account the fatigue wear of the main equipment of the hydrogen facility, including the rotor of the NPP turbine in the conditions of the stress-cyclic operation. The results are presented of assessing the cost of peak electricity NPP in combination with a hydrogen facility in comparison with a pumped storage power plant (PSPP) both for the current period and for the future until 2035. CONCLUSION. Hydrogen facility efficiency and competitiveness depends significantly on the intensity of the use of the main equipment in the conditions of the intense-cyclic operation. The hydrogen facility will competitiveness noticeably increase in comparison with the PSPP in the future. Efficiency of the NPP power unit and NPV is highest when the feed water is heated to 235 ° C and superheating of live steam in front of the high-pressure cylinder of the C-1000-60/1500 turbine up to 470°C.The hydrogen facility competes with the PSPP with her specific capital investment at the level of 660 USD / kW, provided that the boosting capabilities of the turbine are used with live steam overheating at 300 ° C and additional heating of feed water to 235°C on the current period. The PSPP does not compete with the hydrogen facility both for the current period and in the future with her specific capital investment of $ 1,500 / kW and above.


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