scholarly journals Effective Diaphragm Area Test Program for Air Operated Valve Actuators

Author(s):  
Zachary Leutwyler ◽  
Manmohan Kalsi ◽  
Lisa Thidavanh ◽  
Laurie Luckhardt ◽  
Thomas Cunningham

GE contracted Kalsi Engineering, Inc. (KEI) to perform actuator testing to determine the effective diaphragm area for the Model 37/38 actuator line and to develop a bounding effective diaphragm area tolerance to account for measurement uncertainties and manufacturing tolerances. The GE sponsored test matrix includes Model 37/38 Sizes 9, 11, 13, 15, 18, and 24 actuators. The test matrix was primary defined to provide EDA data for actuators used in US nuclear power plants. The test matrix was primarily designed to facilitate the evaluation of the effects of stroke position, pressure, diaphragm materials, and measurement uncertainty. The test matrix also included with and without spring test configurations, two spring options for the same actuator size and model, and two diaphragm materials: Nitrile Elastomer and Silicone. The test program provides reliable data for AOV design basis evaluations as required by the NRC RIS 2000-03. This paper presents the results for the Masoneilan Model 38 Size 11 diaphragm actuator, which show that EDA is strongly position dependent and weakly pressure-dependent. As part of the project, a method for determining the required EDA tolerance to account for manufacturing variations was developed, which allows EDA determined by testing to be used across the product line. Paper published with permission.

Author(s):  
Zachary Leutwyler ◽  
Lisa Thidavanh ◽  
Neal Estep

Kalsi Engineering, Inc. (KEI), initiated an independent test program that includes a number of actuator manufacturers, models, and sizes based on a survey of United States (U.S.) nuclear power plants. The test matrix includes evaluation of the effect of the key parameters on the effective diaphragm area (EDA) throughout the stroke. These parameters include stroke position, pressure, materials, measurement uncertainty, and manufacturing tolerances. Because of differences in the test data obtained by different sources for the same actuator type and size, systematic test procedures have been developed by KEI to address differences in the testing methods and test configurations, including testing of a balanced actuator (no spring in the actuator) vs. a spring-return actuator of the same diaphragm size. The effect of elevated temperature and aging may also be included later by testing a selected number of actuators based on industry input. The benefit of this program is to provide reliable data for air-operated valve (AOV) design-basis evaluations as required by U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Regulatory Issue Summary (RIS) 2000–03. This paper presents the results for the Masoneilan Model 38 Size 18 diaphragm actuator, which show that EDA is both position- and pressure-dependent. Paper published with permission.


Author(s):  
R.S. May ◽  
C.R. Hardy ◽  
R.E. Engel ◽  
J.A. Woolley ◽  
M. Zeller

2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. J. Katona ◽  
A. Vilimi

Nuclear power plants shall be designed to resist the effects of large earthquakes. The design basis earthquake affects large area around the plant site and can cause serious consequences that will affect the logistical support of the emergency actions at the plant, influence the psychological condition of the plant personnel, and determine the workload of the country’s disaster management personnel. In this paper the main qualitative findings of a study are presented that have been performed for the case of a hypothetical 10−4/a probability design basis earthquake for the Paks Nuclear Power Plant, Hungary. The study covers the qualitative assessment of the postearthquake conditions at the settlements around the plant site including quantitative evaluation of the condition of dwellings. The main goal of the recent phase of the study was to identify public utility vulnerabilities that define the outside support conditions of the nuclear power plant accident management. The results of the study can be used for the planning of logistical support of the plant accident management staff. The study also contributes to better understanding of the working conditions of the disaster management services in the region around the nuclear power plant.


2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (04) ◽  
pp. 1841010
Author(s):  
Tadashi Kawai ◽  
Makoto Ishimaru

Evaluating the seismic stability of a rock slope typically involves searching for the minimum value of calculated safety factors (SF) for each supposed sliding block. Because only the transient equilibrium is evaluated, the likelihood of any slope failure can be deemed negligible if all the calculated SFs are greater than unity. However, even if some of the calculated SF are less than unity, it cannot be assumed that the slope will collapse. Recently, in the wake of extremely large earthquakes in Japan, the design earthquake standards for nuclear power plants (NPP) have been extended. After the experience of the 2011 off the Pacific coast of Tohoku Earthquake, the designer is expected to consider beyond design basis earthquakes to determine whether more can reasonably be done to reduce the potential for damage, especially where major consequences may ensue [IAEA (2011). IAEA international fact finding expert mission of the Fukushima dai-ichi NPP accident following the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami, Mission report, IAEA]. With this in mind, the method employed to evaluate the seismic performance of the slope surrounding an NPP needs to be capable of doing more than determining the likelihood of failure: it must also consider the process toward failure in the event of an earthquake beyond the design basis. In this paper, a new evaluation flow which considers the failure process is proposed to evaluate the seismic performance of slopes surrounding an NPP. This is followed by confirming the validity of the concepts in the proposed flow chart by re-evaluating centrifuge tests in past literature and the numerical simulations designed for those tests.


Author(s):  
Yong Suk Lee ◽  
Chang Hyun Chung ◽  
Key Yong Sung

Recently GL 89-10 static and dynamic Motor-Operated Valve (MOV) tests are being performed in Korean nuclear power plants to ensure MOV operability in design basis condition. And GL 96-05 MOV periodic verification testing will be followed after GL 89-10 testing. MOV risk importance categorization will be incorporated in Korean MOV periodic testing program for effective MOV test. In this study, MOVs were preliminarily categorized based on risk importance measures FV and RAW using level 1 internal event PSA. Configuration effect and importance uncertainty effect to risk importance of MOVs were also investigated.


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