Ryan Sicking of Kalsi Engineering was a presenter at the CANDU Owners Group virtual conference. The CANDU Owners Group was attended by plant engineers, valve manufacturers and other service providers. Ryan’s presentation addressed the key items identified during recent NRC inspections of US Nuclear power plants.
Key Points of Ryan’s presentation are:
- The purpose of the recent US NRC FEI inspections is to assist in verifying valves can perform their safety functions within the plant’s licensing basis.
- Plant operating experience indicates that gaps still exist for Power Operated Valves (POV) performance including that of motor-operated valves (MOVs) and Air-operated valves (AOVs).
- POVs are important to the proper functioning of risk significant systems and the potential for failure could impact multiple systems.
A few key NRC FEI inspection findings include:
- POV test acceptance criteria must be properly translated from design calculations to test procedures to reflect the “as built” condition.
- Data inconsistencies exist in the sizing calculations and should be representative of the design basis condition
- Test anomaly evaluations should be thorough. Guidance is provided in EPRI 3002015822 and 3002012918 AOV and MOV Trace Analysis Guides.
- Engineers applying the Joint Owners Group Periodic Verification Program Class D valves should justify the coefficients used in their sizing calculations, including in-plant test data.
Due to KEI’s continued and dedicated support of the nuclear power industry, KEI has developed essential tools and design standard data to help verify plant’s POVs can meet their design basis requirements. These tools and services include the following:
- Expert support for plants preparing for inspections and during the inspections
- POV Margin Calculations using KVAP and other software/methodologies
- Custom testing under design basis conditions
- AOV Category 1 Calculation Vulnerability Review and Category 2 Screening
- ASME OM Code Appendices III and IV Gap Assessments
- ASME OM Code Appendices III and IV Implementation Training Courses
- MOV, AOV, CV Program Training Courses
- KVAP Software Training Course
- Weak-link and root cause investigations
Contact our knowledgeable Kalsi Engineering Consulting staff to learn more about how we can assist you with safe and efficient plant operations.
