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Departments

Features

A Publication

ENRICHMENT

FUEL FOR THOUGHT

NEWS

NUCLEAR EVENTS

NUCLEAR EXECUTIVE

ROUNDTABLE

CALLAWAY TURBINE TRIP

Failure of Isolated Phase Bus System

NUCLEAR PLANT AUTOMATES

CALLS FOR HELP

USING LASERS IN

DECOMMISSIONING

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER

Volume6

No.6

Nuclear execs discussthe industrys past,

present & future

Photo courtesy: IAEA , Fukushima Nuclear Plant

A look inside an iso bus failure at CallawayAutomated callouts reduce wait timesLasers cut decommissioning dangers

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NUCLEAR POWER INTERNATIONAL > NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013

ENRICHME

BY SHARRYN DOTSON, EDITOR

Why Cant We Be Friends?

plants since gas prices are low, while

renewable energy costs are brought

down with the help of financial in-

centives such as tax breaks, though

technology prices

have been falling

for some time. Re-

newables and nu-clear pay for them-

selves in the long

run through their

return on invest-

ments through fuel

cost savings, credits

and tax incentives.

Marvin Fertel, CEO of the Nuclear

Energy Institute, said in the NuclearExecutive Roundtable (pg. 14) that

critics who turn from nuclear to nat-

ural gas because of the major upfront

costs of a new nuclear power plant

are not looking at the big picture.

The color of your skin dont matter to me, as long as we can

live in harmony. WAR, Why Cant We Be Friends?

The above verse was written about how differences

in people should not matter in the grand scheme of life, but the words can also

apply to the relationship between nuclear and renewables in the grand scheme

of power generation.

Its a well-known fact that the nuclear energy and renewable energy industries

have a love-hate relationship. Critics of renewables say they are not reliablesources of energy, cost too much to build and maintain and are environmentally

unfriendly, and anti-nuclear folks say just about the same thing. Both industries

understand that al l power generating sources will be necessary to reliably keep

the lights on, but the claws come out when anyone tries to determine if one

source is bet ter than the other, or if f inancial incentives are unfairly given out

to one source over the other.

President Barack Obama proposed an all-inclusive plan to cut emissions

by 17 percent from 2005 levels by 2020 in the U.S. using renewables, natural

gas, nuclear and coal (the coal industry obviously disagrees with that point,but I wont get into that in this column). While he did not mention nuclear

specifically, it is needed to keep the grid stable and provide much-needed, no-

emissions baseload power.

The disparities in the sources essentially come down to cost. Upfront costs

of new nuclear builds tend to push utilities to build natural gas-fired power

I think part of the reason f

is youre looking at a 60-year

and youre projecting out not o

prices, but youre projecting o

performance

the nuclear

Fertel said.

This isntthat natura

and coal a

equally as i

tant, but if t

cus is to in

the number

and non-em

sources of energy, then we mu

at how nuclear and renewable can work together instead of

for the top spot.

Adverse market condition

causing some nuclear power

such as Kewaunee in Wis

Renewables need nuclear tohelp support the grid when

the wind isnt blowing orthe sun isnt shining, andnuclear needs renewablesto help in the reduction oflevels of carbon, mercury,SO2 and particulates aroundthe world.

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CONTINUED ENRICHMENT4NUCLEAR POWER INTERNATIONAL > NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013

and Vermont Yankee in Vermont

to shut down, pushing some grid

operators to rely more on natural

gas- and coal-fired power plantsto pick up the slack. However,

increasing dependence on those

kinds of plants leads to an increase

in emissions and electricity rates,

such as what we are seeing in Japan

and Germany. Both countries are

shutting down nuclear power plants

due to the accident in Fukushima,

but they are realizing that its notso easy to build enough renewable

energy plants to replace all of the

lost capacity. Not to say that it cant

be done, but its not coming along

very smoothly.

This is why nuclear and renewables

need to work together. Both emit very

few, if any, emissions and are a great

combo for the bigger power generationpicture. To be honest, they need each

other: Renewables need nuclear to

help support the grid when the wind

isnt blowing or the sun isnt shining,

and nuclear needs renewables to help

in the reduction of levels of carbon,

mercury, SO2 and particulates around

the world. Just as some natural gas-fired

projects are adding solar, wind or otherrenewables on the same site (check out

Florida Power & Lights Martin Next

Generation Solar Energy Center as an

example), maybe one day the same can

be done with nuclear and renewables. Of

course, there are many issues that need

to be ironed out, such as environmental

approvals, transmission and distribution

projects to handle loads from bothsources and getting landowners on

board with the amount of land required

to build a new project. Renewables can

be installed faster than a nuclear power

plant and both can be a hedge against

gas prices that are certain to fluctuate in

the future like they have in the past.

So what do you say we put aside

our differences and embrace the factthat the worlds power supplies need all

hands on deck? It wont be all puppies

and rainbows, but it is a possibility that

nuclear and renewables could be good

buddies in the long run.

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Innovation Up My SleeveBY BRIAN SCHIMMOLLER, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR

NUCLEAR POWER INTERNATIONAL >NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013

FUEL FOR THOUG

cost savings, the innovation has the

potential of saving electric utilities

their customershundreds of milli

dollars in future uses.

We considered several optio

this issue, including vessel replac

and lower hemisphere repair,Lennie Daniels, senior project mana

CENG. After detailed analysis, ou

configuration made the repair option

viable.

CENG devised a first-of-a-kind

repair. The new tooling and the pro

had to be developed and proven to

ASME requirements. The tooling

included weld heads, machining ment, and nondestructive evalu

(NDE) equipment had to be b

work inside small-bore piping, wi

ability to function reliably 30 feet o

Stress corrosion cracking in nuclear power plants has resulted in significant

maintenance expenses for repair and replacement, and continues to challenge

materials management programs across the industry. Much can be done through

materials selection and water chemistry to avoid such cracking, and proactive physical

mitigation with welding is also a viable option.

Pressurizer heaters are used in pressurized water reactors to provide the heat required

to maintain pressure during transient conditions. These heaters are inserted in pipepenetrations into the vessel called heater sleeves. The sleeves are welded to the vessel

during original fabrication, and the heater is welded to the sleeves. The two welds

comprise the pressure boundary for the system and are susceptible to stress corrosion

cracking. If cracking occurs in the welds, the heater sleeves can leak, potentially leading

to unplanned unit downtime.

Over the past several years, Constellation Energy Nuclear Group (CENG) has pioneered

the development, testing, and application of a proactive welding process to repair heater

sleeves. Initial applicat ion of the process occurred in 2012 at CENGs Calvert Cl iffs nuclear

plant in Maryland. The process reduces welding time by 80 percent and weld volume by90 percent; it a lso enhances worker safety through improved radiation protection.

CENG received the Nuclear Energy Ins titutes Best of the Best Top Industry Practice

(TIP) Award for this accomplishment earlier this year. In conferring the award, the NEI

noted that because the operational efficiencies achieved through the process also yield

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floor. NDE consisted of remote vi-

sual inspection via cameras mount-

ed directly on the weld head.Process control was extremely

important, said Daniels. Each weld

head had to be placed in a specific

location, and a specific number

of weld layers had to be made to

ensure compliance with the codes

and to meet the required thickness

for the repair process. Once the

welds were deposited, they had to

be machined to meet the surface

finish requirements for the NDE

inspections. The entire process

was controlled to ensure properalignment of the heater sleeve to the

support plates. If al ignment was not

maintained, the heater could not be

inserted into the pressurizer.

In all, CENG repaired 119 heater

sleeve locations at Calvert Cliffs,

and no leakage occurred. Theproject was completed a day ahead

of schedule and at less cost than the

other options considered.

One of the main benefits,

according to Daniels, was that the

tooling was designed to be operated

remotely, which means that both the

welding and NDE could be perfomed

from outside the protected area. Thisminimizes the need for workers to

be directly exposed to radiation. In

fact, the project came in far below

planned dose levels, about 35 percent

lower than the project goal. Personnel

contamination incidents were 75

percent lower than project goals.

The first-of-a-kind weld process is

not expected to be a one and doneapplication. Daniels believes the

technique could be adapted to other

components in a nuclear plant, such

as bottom-mounted nozzles.

Westinghouse provides comprehensive, i ntegrated servic

solutions to the decommissioning and dismantling (D&D)

waste management industries. We have extensive experi

the dismantling of nuclear installations from uranium mi

to nuclear power plants. We provide state-of-the-art solu

spent fuel services and for the treatment and handling o

waste. Westinghouse offers proven solutions for the inte

and final disposal of low-, intermediate- and high-level w

Our dedication to a cleaner environment extends to serv

existing nuclear power plants and managing by-products

environmentally responsible manner.

For more information, visit us at www.westinghousenuc

WESTINGHOUSE DECOMMISSIONING

AND REMEDIATION SERVICES

GLOBAL PROJECT EXPERIENC

ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY

CONTINUED

6NUCLEAR POWER INTERNATIONAL >NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013

FUEL FOR THOUGHT

CENG repaired 119 heatersleeve locations at CalvertCliffs without leakage.

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Nuclear power plant workersbanned from sites afterattempted carjackingNov. 1

Two former workers at the Dres-

den nuclear power plant in Illinois arebanned from working in nuclear pow-

er plants after they were accused of

attempting to rob an armored car and

carjacked a woman.

at a woman in a store parking lot and

stole her vehicle. Buhrman was appre-

hended for aggravated ve-

hicular carjacking and fledthe country when he was re-

leased on bail. He was tried

and sentenced to 40 years in

absentia this past May, but

was caught in Texas on Nov.

1, according to the Chicago

Tribune. Brittain had fled to

Venezuela but was caught

and extradited back to theU.S. to face several criminal

charges pending against him.

The NRC said that their

actions offsite demonstrated

that they could not be relied

upon to follow NRC require-

ments to protect the plant

and public safety. In addi-

tion, some plant personnelknew of Buhrmans plant to

commit the crime and did

not report him.

The order was issued as a

NRC staff issued a confirmatory or-

der to Exelon Generating Co. (NYSE:

EXC) for an incident involving viola-

tions of the Behavioral Observation

Program at the plant. NRC says senior

reactor operator Michael J. Buhrmanplanned to rob an armored car in May

2012 and recruited another senior re-

actor operator, Landon E. Brittain, to

assist. Buhrman instead pointed a gun

result of the Alternative Dispute

lution process. Exelon agreed to

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Hanbit No. 1 will restart on

or Nov. 2, a source from Korea

& Nuclear Power said in the articcountry faces power shortages in

coming winter and summer due

downs of the 23 reactors. Many

reactors were shut down due t

that were supplied with forged

ments.

Five other reactors remain offl

cluding three that have been dow

May to replace cables supplied wdocuments, one awaiting a licen

tension, and one down for sch

maintenance, the article said. A

reactor was shut down Oct. 30 to

welding work.

Nuclear fuel rod removal atFukushima to begin in NoveOct. 30

Japans Nuclear Regulation Au

gave final approval for operators

Fukushima Daiichi nuclear powe

to remove fuel rods from the Uni

professional services at the Portsmouth

Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Ohio.

NSA will continue performing safetywork and supporting Fluor B&W Ports-

mouth, the contractor that is decontam-

inating and decommissioning the facil-

ity for the Department of Energy.

The Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion

Plant was built in the 1950s and pro-

duced enriched uranium for military

submarines and weapons and provid-

ed fuel for commercial nuclear powerplants in the U.S. Production ended in

2001. The decontamination and decom-

missioning process includes 134 build-

ings with more than 10 million square

feet under roof.

S. Korea nuclear reactorapproved to restartOct. 31

South Koreas Nuclear Safety & Secu-

rity Commission approved the restart of a

nuclear reactor after a two-month main-

tenance shutdown, according to Reuters.

cycled through the entrance and were

arrested shortly after. Others used a lad-

der to scale the fence, two managed tostay inside the grounds of the plant until

the next day. Two other activists who

carried out the same action at the Fors-

mark power plant, north of Stockholm,

were never found and only left the plant

after two days.

Sweden has three nuclear plants that

produce 35 percent of the countrys en-

ergy. In 2010 the Swedish parliamentpassed a government proposal allowing

the replacement of nuclear reactors at

the end of their life span, despite a 1980

referendum result in favor of winding

down nuclear power.

NSA to help with decommissioningof uranium enrichment facilityNov. 1

Nuclear Safety Associates (NSA)

was awarded a five-year contract from

Fluor-B&W Portsmouth LLC to provide

nuclear and criticality safety engineering

by the conditions of the order, including

enhancing the behavioral observation

program procedure at all Exelon nuclearplants; providing training to staff on the

revision and evaluating the effectiveness

of the training.

Sweden fines trespassersat nuclear plantNov. 1

Seven Swedish and two Norwegian

Greenpeace activists, five men and fourwomen, were fined between $775 to

$3,875 USD by a district court Thurs-

day for entering a Swedish nuclear plant

to expose alleged security f laws, accord-

ing to an article posted on The Locals

website.

In October 2012, the group carried

out what Greenpeace called a peaceful

stress test, aimed at proving that any-body could enter Ringhals power plant,

on Swedens west coast, near Gothen-

burg, according to the art icle.

Several protestors simply walked or

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The reactor is the seventh in the

try to be shut down out of 23 tot

tors. Three others were shuttereforged certificates for reactor par

discovered. Two were closed for

uled maintenance and one had r

the end of its life span. The co

tion of two new nuclear reactor

been delayed due to the fake doc

according to Reuters.

The Nuclear Safety & Security Com-

mission decided last month to cease op-erations at the reactor in Yeonggwang

County to perform welding quality

tests in the steam generator, the article

said. Officials did not give a time as to

when the reactor is expected to return

to service.

Swiss nuclear plant toclose by 2019Oct. 30

A nuclear power plant in Switzerland

is scheduled to close in 2019, according

to Reuters.

State-owned power company BKW

said it would shut down the Muehleberg

nuclear power plant due to high operat-

ing costs and scrutiny following the 2011

disaster at Japans Fukushima Daiichi

nuclear power plant, the article said.BKW said it would spend ap-

proximately 200 million Swiss francs

($222.67 million) to maintain and up-

grade the plant over the next six years,

the article said.

Seventh nuclear reactorto shut down in S. KoreaOct. 23

South Koreas nuclear regulator said

it is shutting down a 950 MW nucle-

ar reactor in the country, bringing the

number of shut down reactors to seven,

pool, according to the Associated Press.

Removing the fuel rods is the first step

in the decommissioning process, the ar-ticle said. The NRA said Tokyo Electric

Power Co. can begin removing the rods

in November as planned.

Unit 4 was offline when the earth-

quake and tsunami wrecked the plant in

March 2011, but the reactor building was

damaged by hydrogen explosions and fire.

The Unit 4 cooling pool was suspected to

have dried up early on in the crisis, butthere was actually enough water to cover

the rods and prevent them from melting

down, the article said. An unenclosed

pool on the units top floor reportedly

contains 1,533 fuel rods. About 200 of

those rods that are unused are expected

to be removed first, the article said.

An official warned in the article that

removing the fuel rods would be diffi-cult because of the debris that fell into

the pool during the explosions. TEP-

CO plans to empty the Unit 4 pool by

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court cases. A second 1,000 MW

tor is scheduled to come online b

2014, the article said.India is working to increase its

ar capacity to 63 GW over the n

years from 47 MW currently.

IAEA: Nuclear remediationwork is progressing in JapanOct. 21

The International Atomic

Agency (IAEA) released a prelireport saying that the Japanese g

ment made good use of advice fr

October 2011 mission trip, but t

still work to be done at the Fuku

Daiichi nuclear power plant an

rounding areas.

The IAEA mission team said

progress had been made in the

diation of farmland, and food measures had protected the pub

improved consumer confidence

duce. The team also praised th

ernment for handing out dosime

EPRs polar crane, which allows heavy

components to be moved around within

the reactor building.The plant is scheduled for comple-

tion in 2016. AREVA is working with

more than 300 Finnish suppliers on the

unit.

India nuclear power plantconnects to power gridOct. 22

India began operations at a Russian-backed nuclear power plant after sever-

al delays, according to the Wall Street

Journal.

The first of two nuclear reactors at

the Kudankulam plant in Tamil Nadu

state was connected to the grid and sup-

plied 170 MW of electricity. Full com-

mercial generation of the entire 1,000

MW VVER unit may happen by theend of the year, the article said. The

unit was originally supposed to be on-

line seven years ago but faced numer-

ous delays from anti-nuclear groups and

infrastructure needed to manufacture

SMRs. The project will also assess the

education and training needed for aworkforce to produce the reactors.

The school is working in collabora-

tion with Westinghouse Electric Co.

and Ameren Missouri to research the

225 MWe integral pressurized water re-

actors. The companies are working on

a pilot test plant at Ameren Missouris

Callaway Energy Center.

Major milestone reached atOlkiluoto 3 nuclear power plantOct. 23

AREVA announced that the nuclear

reactor vessel head was installed at the

Olkiluoto 3 power plant in Finland,

marking the completion of the installa-

tion of heavy equipment for the Finnish

European Pressurized Reactor (EPR).The vessel head installation also

makes the Olkiluoto unit the first EPR

with a fully equipped reactor vessel. The

installation was completed using the

scandal, which led to the arrest of 100

individuals. The closures renew worries

of power shortages in the country sincenuclear power generates one-third of

the countrys electricity, the article said.

Small modular nuclear reactorresearch gets $1.8mn boostOct. 23

The University of Missouri will re-

ceive a $1.8 million grant from the U.S.

Department of Energy to help developsmall modular reactors (SMRs).

According to the Associated Press,

the funding will be used for the devel-

opment of a supply chain, logistics and

OLKILUOTO POWER PLANT

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reactors that are currently shut

until control cables are replace

officials found they were supplie

forged certificates. The forgeriesthe indictment of 100 people, in

a former chief executive at Korea

and Nuclear Power (KHNP) and

president at Korea Electric Pow

(KEPCO).

The energy minister said in

ticle that a U.S. company would

manufacture the replacement

and that the country was plannsue JS Cable of South Korea, th

pany that made and supplied th

tionable cables.

KEPCO applies to license its nreactor design in the U.S.Oct. 15

Korea Electric Power Co. (KE

and its unit Korea Hydro & Nuclea

er applied to the U.S. Nuclear Reg

Commission (NRC) for certificatio

APR1400 reactor design.

The APR-1400 is an evolu

relevant organizations to conduct safety

assessments of the facilities and activities

for the long-term management of con-

taminated materials, and allow for theirindependent review.

To read the full preliminary report

from the October 2013 trip, click here.

EDF to build, operate HinkleyPoint C nuclear power plantOct. 21

Electricite de France SA signed a

comprehensive set of agreements withthe U.K. government to build and op-

erate two new nuclear reactors at the

Hinkley Point C power plant in Eng-

land, according to Nasdaq.com. Total

costs are expected to reach 16 billion

pounds ($26 billion).

EDF Group will partner with ARE-

VA SA, China General Nuclear Corp.

and China National Nuclear Corp. on

the project, which is expected to take 10

years to complete, the article said. EDF

will own a 45 to 50 percent share of the

project and AREVA will own 10 percent.

The Chinese companies will have a 30 to

40 percent share. Suppliers for the project

include Bouygues TP/Laing ORourke,

Costain, Alstom and AREVA.Hinkley Point C will offer predict-

able prices through a Contract for Dif-

ference, in which consumers will not

pay extra if wholesale prices go above an

agreed strike price. If it falls below the

strike price, the generator will receive a

top-up payment, and the customers will

not pay anything until the plant is op-

erational, the article said.

S. Korea says two new nuclearreactors to be delayedOct. 18

South Korea said it will delay complet-

ing construction on two nuclear reactors

to replace cables that were supplied with

fake documents, according to Reuters.

Officials said they are delaying the

start of operations by a year to 2015

and 2016 in order to replace the cables

at Shin Kori Nos. 3 and 4, the article

said. That brings to six the number of

residents so they can measure their ra-

diation dose rates.

The mission team said the govern-

ment must improve its efforts to explainto the public that its long-term goal of

achieving an individual radiation dose

of 1 millisievert per year (mSv/y) can-

not be done in a short time by decon-

tamination work alone. In remediation

situations, with appropriate consider-

ation of the prevailing circumstances,

any level of individual radiation dose in

the range of 1 to 20 mSv/y is acceptableand in line with international standards

and the recommendations of the rel-

evant international organizations such

as the IAEA, International Commis-

sion on Radiological Protection, United

Nations Scientific Committee on the

Effect of Atomic Radiation and World

Health Organization.

The team also encouraged the relevant

institutions in Japan to assess the role that

the Nuclear Regulation Authority could

play in the independent review of the re-

mediation activities, and encouraged the

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CONTINUED NEWS12NUCLEAR POWER INTERNATIONAL >NOVEMBER/DECEMBER2013

metallic nuclear fuel.

The fuel is designed to provide anincrease in power output while ex-

tending the operating cycle length

in existing pressurized water reac-

tors. Under the MOU, B&W NE and

Lightbridge agree to perform scop-

ing studies relating to the pilot fab-

rication facility and explore teaming

arrangements.

Both companies will choose a pi-

lot fabrication facility to demonstrate

the fuel rod fabrication capability.

They could sign a definitive agree-

ment early next year if the teaming

arrangement proves to be feasible.

pressurized water reactor

with its origins in the CE

System 80+ design. The

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NUCLEAR POWER INTERNATIONAL > NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013

NUCLE

Nuclear Executive RoundtableBY SHARRYN DOTSON, EDITOR

Low natural gas prices, an increase in the use of renewable energy and the

high upfront costs of nuclear have dominated the headlines, but many in the

nuclear industry believe these are just temporary setbacks. Power Engineering

sat down with several nuclear industry executives about the current state of nuclear

and its future. Participants include Bill Johnson, CEO of the Tennessee Valley

Authority; Mike Rencheck, CEO of AREVA Inc. North America, Marvin Fertel,

CEO of the Nuclear Energy Institute; Neil Wilmshurst, Vice President of Nuclear

with the Electric Power Research Institute; and Joe Zwetolitz, President of Nuclear

Energy with Babcock & Wilcox.

but he is prominent, and theres a

bunch of others that have com

over the last five years. It was ve

to see someone put a film togethcollectively showed a number of pro

environmentalists and what they th

Mike Rencheck: I have seewell. I would echo what Marv sa

I also thought the movie did a ver

job of showing a practical dim

around radiation that is difficult

to capture. I thought the use

meter guy around different pla

PE: Has anyone on here seen

Pandoras Promise and, if so, what

did you think of it? If you havent

seen it, why didnt you?Marvin Fertel:I saw it, and I thought

it was pretty well done. I thought it was

also very indicative of a whole bunch of

former very prominent environmental

icons who have recognized the important

role that nuclear energy plays, not only in

climate change, but in clean air overall.

Patrick Moore, who is the founder of

Greenpeace, isnt in Pandoras Promise,

JOE ZWETOLITZ, PRESIDENT ONUCLEAR ENERGY WITH BABC& WILCOX

BILL JOHNSON, CEO OF THE TENNES-SEE VALLEY AUTHORITY

MIKE RENCHECK, CEO OF AREVA INC.NORTH AMERICA

MARVIN FERTEL, CEO OF THENUCLEAR ENERGY INSTITUTE

NEIL WILMSHURST, VICE PRESIDENTOF NUCLEAR, ELECTRIC POWERRESEARCH INSTITUTE

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NUCLEAR POWER INTERNATIONAL > NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013

NUCLE

the world really gave a good showing of

something that you cant see. I thought

that brought it forward in a matter thatmade it easy for a layman to understand,

so I was really impressed by how they

did that from a technical perspective.

Bill Johnson: I would describe it as

an exercise in consistency of internal

thinking. By that, I mean you have

a clear idea of what your objective

is - which is climate control - and the

recognition that the best path to getthere has to include nuclear power.

Joe Zwetolitz: I thought what was

interesting about it was the debates with

Patrick Kennedy and the whole idea

that the film is spurring a serious debate

about what the facts are. What came of

that is the fact that theres still a lot of

misperceptions and misunderstandings,

and I think the film is doing a great job of

trying to dispel the rumors and replace

them with facts so that the right decisions

can be made about nuclear power.

Neil Wilmshurst: Unfortunately, I

havent seen it, because every time

I get close to seeing it, I end up going

somewhere. But, I can tell you that

it was showing at the IAEA GeneralConference last week on Friday, so its

getting tremendous global air time as well.

PE: With the price of gas so low and

the price of solar panels dropping,

and the cost of a new nuclear power

plant running in the billions, like what

we are seeing at Vogtle and Summer,

what is the financial argument fornuclear?

Fertel: You mention Vogtle and

Summer. Vogtle and Summer are

obligated to, on a continuous basis

almost, to inform their public utility

commission of the economic value of

Vogtle and Summer to their ratepayers

and customers in Georgia and South

Carolina. Up through the last review that

they did, they continue to find that, over

the life of the plant, its going to save their

customers at Vogtle at least $4 billion

over the next best alternative, which is

natural gas. I think part of the reason

for that is youre looking at a 60-year

asset and youre projecting out not only

gas prices, but youre projecting out theperformance of the nuclear plant. I think

part of the challenge is the upfront capital

costs, but if you look at customers over

the long term, nuclear fares pretty well.

We just dont think long-term enough.

Zwetolitz: Marvin, youre the right

person to respond to this from an

overall industry perspective and I agree

completely. For us, its about not puttingall your eggs in one basket. Gas is cheap

today, but weve seen the price go up

and down in the past. Bill can probably

talk about this, hes probably seen it. As

the price is low, its very attractive to

build gas, but you have to maintain your

options in the future, and if everybody

were to go to gas today, theyd probably

suffer some of the same problems as

in the past. Not just with gas, if you

look at renewables, theres obvious

technical challenges with renewables.

Theyre becoming more cost-effective,

but still very expensive and they have

the limitations of intermittency,

creates problems for the qua

service, at least in the United Stateverybodys accustomed to. Wh

turn the switch on, the power i

whenever you need it. For us,

just simply an economic conside

its also a diversity and lon

consideration, as Marv was allud

Rencheck: Theres some

aspects when you look at the op

of a grid where nuclear isncompensated for its entire supp

the grid. In other words, a lot of v

control and frequency control

from these very large machines th

simply cant get from a natural ga

or a renewables offering right now

you would, you would have to ad

components into the system ma

much more expensive. When you

that with the ability of uranium a

being only 5 to 15 percent of th

of operating a unit, you can se

over time, theres relatively ver

volatility due to swings in fuel p

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Johnson:I think I am the customer

representative in the group, or at least

the person who is in charge of runninga power system, and I would agree with

all those comments. A couple of things

we think about with nuclear, obviously,

is the fuel diversity. You dont want to

put all your eggs in one basket. The

environmental benefits over a 60-

year period of the cleanest technology

we have. Mike Rencheck makes an

excellent point in the importance oflarge rotating masses in the frequency

control, which is a fine point of physics,

that turns out to be really important in

making sure the transmission system

is stable. So for us, this comes down

to power density transmission support

and low price when you spread it over

60 to 80 years of the assets. General

concept of balance of the portfolio.

I think theres still a strong case to

be made for nuclear going forward.

Zwetolitz: I do want to make one

other point. Just looking at gas around

the world, were obviously the lowest,

the 46 or 47 cents per kilowatt-hour range

and that was unacceptable. They were

basically telling her to, I think, junk theexperiment and get back to making sure

they had a reliable grid at lower prices.

PE: In light of the recent court

decision ordering the NRC to finish

looking into Yucca Mountain as a

nuclear waste storage site, where

do we stand with respect to waste

storage? How big of an impactdoes the waste storage issue have

on the nuclear industrys ability to

be competitive?

Fertel:First of all, we think that theyll

be able to finish the safety evaluation

report, which we expect will demonstrate

that Yucca Mountain, at least from the

staff standpoint, is safe. Were not sure

theyll get money to do very much more

because of Senator (Harry) Reid, so Im

not sure how much movement well

see on that. From the waste standpoint,

part of the blessing and the curse for us

is we manage the waste so safely and

and so nuclear becomes a lot more

competitive around the world. I

have also read stories recently aboutthe experiment in Germany where

they decided to get out of nuclear

and replace almost entirely with

renewables, and theres a lot of cracks

starting to be seen in that strategy. The

business community in Germany is

really starting to complain about the

electricity rates going up. I think itll

be interesting to see how Germanydoes with their experiment. I think if

anybody can do it and make it work,

they probably can, but theyre going to

have some struggles and its going to

be a challenge to be able to get there.

Fertel: To Joes point, The Journal

had an article this weekend where

the business community apparently

sent a letter to (German Chancellor

Angela) Merkel just before the election

emphasizing the fact that costs in the

business community had doubled from

about 12 or 13 cents to 25 cents. For

residential customers, it had gone up into

securely at our sites that-quote

no crises-unquote-and thats w

government can steal $30 billionot fulfill its obligation. And there

be any crisis because we will cont

do that. To your question of ho

it hurt us competitively, it hur

little bit because were paying for

thats only part of the issue. The

everybody else should be paying f

they should be paying for. So, we

like to see all costs fairly internfor everybody, and we would

see our waste program go forwar

fundamentally, were in it for the lon

Rencheck:Just to comment

waste statement. Really, 96 perce

fuel assembly is reusable. So, the a

of waste produced is very small, in e

because you can recycle the fuel asse

Its done with technologies in use

and if we spend more R&D effort

then Im sure we can continue to im

on those processes, either t

new reactors or recycling techn

Wilmshurst: Obviously, the

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NUCLEAR POWER INTERNATIONAL > NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013

NUCLE

through the differences and se

this is going to come to fr

PE: Entergy recently saidthe power market was pa

to blame for the closing o

Vermont Yankee plant. Do

feel that the markets are hav

negative impact on U.S. nuc

What can be done to ch

that?

Fertel:First I would say yes, its

a negative impact. Its not clear yethe right solution may be, even

theres a lot of them out there. Il

from the Market Monitor in ISO

England, and this was in his 2012

the Market Report. He said it is u

that significant generation inve

will occur until capacity clearing

increase significantly. Basically, if

not paying people correctly f

capacity that they have there - a

was true in Wisconsin with Kewa

youre basically going to lose som

and youre not going to be re

them very easily. So, for instance

confidence discussion going forward is

important. Were involved in a number

of efforts, including the demonstration of

high burn-up, long-term storage and thelongterm viability of the existing dry

cask storage facilities. So, I think theres a

lot of work going on in the background to

keep the confidence for the safe storage

of the waste. One observation: I was in

Vienna last week at the IEA General

Conference, and a number of the new

entry countries were observing, countries

like Vietnam and Turkey, are sayingWere being advised by IEA to consider

the whole fuel cycle, and actually consider

disposal before we build a program. What

is the U.S. doing about it? People are

looking at us as an example, like Well,

you guys havent figured it out yet, why

should we figure it out before we start?

PE: What is the status of

the mPower small modular

reactors and the SMR project

at the Clinch River plant site?

Zwetolitz: Weve been in the design

phase for the SMR for a number of years.

We are looking for a goal of next year to

have our design certification application

being submitted to the NRC sometime

in the late part of 2014. And then in2015, working with TVA, we hope to

have a construction permit application

submitted at that time. So, itll take

a number of years going through the

NRC process to support that, so design

is going on to support the DCA, we

have detailed design going to continue

after that. All of that converging

around 2018 or 2019 to have a designcertification document in hand, and all

of that in support of a goal of having

two SMR mPower units running at

Clinch River in the 2021 timeframe.

We have the agreement with the

Department of Energy in terms of the

funding opportunity, which we were

awarded, so thats already underway.

We had a recent increase in the

amount that has been provided under

that agreement. We look at this as an

excellent opportunity to work with the

federal government to develop U.S.

technology thats going to be, we think,

a game changer in the nuclear industry.

Johnson: Let me talk a little

about whats going on at Clinch

River. Theres prep work going on atthe site, so things like core boring,

drilling, geographical assessments,

meteorological data, those kinds of

things going on. The latest action from

us is preparat ion of a Notice of Intent to

submit a Supplemental Environmental

Impact Statement on construction,

and then have a public meeting

sometime in October, probably inOak Ridge, to discuss these things.

As Joe said, theres a lot of work going

on in the design and development of

applications to the NRC. This is going

to come down to is it a commercially

viable technology. I dont think

anyone has any doubts about the

technology itself. Its application has

been longstanding in various forms.

The operational construct for SMRs is

going to be different than weve been

doing with the large reactors for a long

time. The NRC is going to have an

important role to play here in sorting

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NUCLEAR POWER INTERNATIONAL > NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013

NUCLE

the VY case and the Kewaunee case, if

natural gas is up around $4.50, which is

certainly not outrageous for where it istoday and where people think it will go,

both of those plants would have been in

the money. Right now, with the way the

market treats them for the capacity thats

there all the time - and its clean capacity,

doesnt emit any greenhouse gases - it

makes it hard for single units to survive,

so there are dysfunctions in the market.

Rencheck:I would also add that thebaseload nuclear is also not being paid for

all of the ancillary services it provides,

like frequency support for the grid.

Thats also something that maybe should

be looked at with the intermittency of

renewables now entering the market

and not having to bear those costs.

Johnson:I dont have any experience

in operating in those markets. An

observation from afar is I think there

may be an inadequate price signal on the

capacity piece here, agreeing with Marv

and Mike. When you have an existing

asset that is baseload and is providing

ancillary services, it doesnt clear the

market because of short-term economic

or supply dynamics. I think a littlelonger view here would probably have

been helpful. I dont know the actual

internal workings of the plants or the

economics of it, but I would say there is

a significant problem here if we are going

to retire assets in a market that doesnt

give a capacity signal to build new ones.

Fertel: Just to Bills last statement,

for both VY and Kewaunee, VY wasjust about $50 per megawatt-hour and

Kewaunee was, like, $52, which is not

outrageous as far as the price of electricity.

PE: A new and vitally important

security frontier is cybersecurity.

What is your company doing

in their own business to protect

themselves, and what protections

are you offering to your customers?

Rencheck:We build digital control

systems. We have taken cybersecurity

very seriously, and I think the industry

has as well. In March of 2009, the NRC

issued a new cybersecurity rule outlining

how the protection of digital computer

and communications systems shouldbe done. NEI then followed suit for the

industry, working with all the different

players in the industry to come up with a

document called NEI 08-09, that would

be used to assist utilities and folks like

us in looking at our stations and figuring

out what assets need protecting and how

best to go about protecting them. I think

that process is being implemented veryeffectively at the plant sites now, and

AREVA has a cybersecurity offering

where we have teamed up with Northrup

Grumman, who, over the years, has

provided a number of different tools for

the Department of Defense, Homeland

Security and other national assets, to be

able to apply a product, but then look at

the nuclear power plants assets and then

be able to provide monitoring systems

and protection systems for those units.

We think were being very proactive in

cybersecurity space. We recognize it as a

challenge that we think were up for the

challenge as an industry, and were

keep our plants safe and operatin

Wilmshurst: The DepartmeEnergy, who several years ag

fully aware of the need for

and cybersecurity, worked w

and established an organization

NESCOR, the National Electric

Cybersecurity Organization Re

which EPRI is providing as par

partnership with DOE for the

electric infrastructure, innuclear. NESCOR works collabor

with the DOE, and the federal a

on enhancing cybersecurity, as

security features, looking at

priorities and disseminating

best practices. So, were really

engaged and involved in the

spectrum of the cybersecurity

Johnson:From the operating s

side, this obviously is a topic th

gotten a lot of interest from the Co

from various agencies, from the m

So we are heavily engaged in thi

day. We follow the NEI standa

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NUCLEAR POWER INTERNATIONAL > NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013

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NERC Critical Infrastructure Protection

Standards. Theres a whole frame of

these standards that require, obviously,

information systems protection andphysical security. We have a very strong

awareness program internally and

externally. The problem with this topic

is the threat evolves, so its hard to get

ahead of the strong thinking of the bad

guys here. So, no matter what you do,

theyre always trying to get ahead of you

and this is one of the harder issues that

Ive seen in my long time in the business.Zwetolitz: Yeah, I agree with that.

For my company, B&W, we have two

Category 1 fuel cycle facilities where

we handle strategic nuclear material.

And we have a tremendous challenge

fortifying those operations against cyber

attacks. We had an event recently where

we had to respond to a rather aggressive

attack. Weve instituted very strong and

very fortified IT defenses, and it carries

throughout our workforce, because we

have such a variety of activities within

our company. The presence of those

two Cat 1 facilities has created a level

of security that has to necessarily vary

across the company, but maintains a

minimum threshold for everybody, so

its a real challenge in our mobile workenvironment. We defend the facilities

quite well, essentially isolating them

from the outside world, but creating

significant barriers for individuals

when theyre traveling with their

accessed information and protection of

information on all of their devices, and so

on. Its a significant issue, and we have to

continue to be on our toes because, as Billsays, the threats are going to continue to

evolve and we have to be ready for them.

Fertel:As Joe and Bill just said, this

is a threat thats very significant for our

country, not just for our nuclear plants

or our electricity system. I think that

everybody has summarized a lot of things

that are being done. The only thing I

would add is right now, as were talking,

our security working group is actually

in town today meeting with NRC on

issues like cyber and what do we need

to do that maybe we havent. We have a

number of what we designated as critical

digital assets in our plants. Most of them

have no consequence from a safety

standpoint, they do have a consequence

from a reliability and operationsstandpoint. We dont have that many

that really have safety consequences

if you lost it, but those are certainly

being protected. EEI (Edison Electric

Institute) is now the Secretariat for the

Electric Sector Coordinating Council.

We actually have a meeting with about

20 CEOs from across the industry

and the associations that involves us,American Public Power Association and

the National Rural Electric Cooperative

Association, this Friday with DOE,

DHS, FBI and every other acronym you

can think of, for quarterly meetings that

we have with them to go over cyber

issues as well as a briefing that they

will be giving. So, theres a tremendous

amount of high-level and working-level

energy going into protecting our grid and

our plants from a cyber standpoint. The

challenge, I think Bill articulated it very

well, is the bad guys keep thinking of

new things they can do, and I think the

good guys are thinking about th

Everybodys doing what they n

PE: The Fukushima Daiichi nuplant has been in the

again for several large lea

radioactive water. Do you

the latest headlines will influ

public opinion in the U.S. a

nuclear power? How doe

industry combat that?

Fertel: This is coincidence,

do a couple of surveys a year onopinion. We actually had one in t

Sept. 5th through the 15th, whi

right at the height of a lot of the

shima information on their wate

in the tanks and other places. Ou

I was told, were concerned that

influence the outcome of the o

survey and, if it did, that would b

input for us. It actually didnt. Th

ability towards nuclear was 69 p

which is basically what it was bef

Fukushima accident. It dropped

percent immediately after the a

and recovered up to 65 or 66 p

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NUCLEAR POWER INTERNATIONAL > NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013

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Its now at 69 percent. All the other key

things that we looked at were really good.

Eighty-four percent of the public thought

that you ought to go forward with licenserenewal; 70 percent of the public said if

you needed more electricity and you want-

ed to build a new nuclear power plant site

where one exists, they supported it, it was

acceptable; 77 percent of the public said

that they believed plants in the U.S. were

safe, thats up from 73 percent in our ear-

lier survey in February. Also, they did ask

a question very relevant to yours. They

asked have you heard anything about nu-

clear in the news recently, and 60 percent

said yes. So, the Fukushima issues didnt

really seem to influence their opinions.

Johnson:Just an observation on the

public perception in the U.S., Marv is

right that public support continues to

be strong. I think one reason is that the

public generally trusts us, has confidence

in us and believes that we will protect

them. Thats a good, but sobering, re-

minder of our responsibility everyday.

Fertel:Youre right on. One of the ques-

tions that they asked was Do you think

that we learned from what happened to

make plants safer? And 83 percent of the

public said yes, so Bill is right on with that.

Zwetolitz: I think the key to keepingthe support in the public is information.

The public is generally more informed

and its reflected in those survey results.

A lot of the schools, because I still have

children in schools, the curriculums, es-

pecially in science, are including pretty

in-depth discussions on nuclear ener-

gy. So, the education is out there in the

general public and even starting with

young folks. So theres some greater fa-

miliarity that comes with a level of trust.

Rencheck: I think in the U.S., we

are fortunate to have a regulator in the

Nuclear Regulatory Commission that

is transparent and open with the public

and also, through the Institute of Nuclear

Power Operations, where the industry

is self regulating and uses peer pressure

and peer reviews to establish best practic-

es, have gone a long way to ensuring the

public confidence has been maintained

throughout the events at Fukushima.

Wilmshurst: Im just back from Ja-

pan. I was fortunate to be a participant

in a trip by all the U.S. CNOs to Fu-

kushima organized by INPO. We got to

see up close and personal the Fukushimaevent. Really, just to echo whats been said

about the work of INPO and NEI, NEI

has done a great job since the Fukushima

event with really communicating whats

happened and whats been going on. I

think the visit from all the U.S. CNOs to

the plant and the communications thats

starting to come out from the videos, the

websites of various utilities, are going to

go a long way to communicate the mag-

nitude of what happened and show the

genuine kind of response and the seri-

ous reflection within the U.S. industry.

PE: Over the course of the next de-

cade well need to bridge a rather

large generation gap among work-

ers in the nuclear industry. What is be-

ing done to address the vacancies

that will be left when as much as 40

percent of the nuclear workforce will

reach retirement age by the middle

of the decade?

Rencheck:Were doing a lotarea of STEM outreach in the com

ties in which were present to be

go into the various school systems in the elementary schools, and w

our way through the community

es and the universities. We think

outreach is not only important for

clear industry, but its also import

the country. When you look at th

ber of jobs that the nuclear indus

to offer, these are good paying job

that are truly middle class or high

you can have a career and raise a

with. I think the opportunities ar

whether you want to be a craft w

welder, an electrician, a mechani

you want to go into the engineering

taking a STEM Science, Tech

Engineering and Math education

important. The reason I say that

cause when you look at this, in th

grade, theres about 4 million st

who typically enter the ninth gra

the time they graduate from colleg

at about 167,000 with a STEM d

When you look at our industry n

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NUCLEAR POWER INTERNATIONAL > NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013

NUCLE

knowledge transfer because of t

of the people we currently hav

as Neil just said, its the recog

that the new people coming i

actually behave a lot dif ferently they learn and how they work.

I had as much confidence in th

commercial part of the nuclear in

the weapons side, the regulator

that they are giving the same a

of attention to these very cha

that our industry has. Not that

there yet, but we at least recogn

Rencheck: Id like to ad

comment. I agree with all of th

we were talking a lit tle about the

before the call. One thing th

prevalent in the 1980s was that

you were a young engineer st

you really didnt have anybody

questions to because the whole in

was in an infancy state. The young

coming in, when they have a qu

they can actually stop, ask som

and get an answer. That will m

difference in these folks getting

speed a lot quicker then, pote

the folks of our generation did.

workers show up, we can train them

up not just with qualifications but with

the experience of the past generation.

Zwetolitz: I agree with Bill. I dont

think we realize how much we areleaning on those experienced folks.

Its going to be an eye opener, perhaps.

Wilmshurst:Just following on from

Bills comment, the new generation

workers, they learn differently. So, were

in the process now of working with a

number of utilities to deploy electronic

work packages. You see maintenance

techs out there with iPads with all of

their procedures. Delivering knowledge

through apps, using videos and gaming

technology, developing web-based

training packages, which are being

shared through INPO, and other things,

just to help people maybe learn faster

and learn quicker and learn differently.

I think thats going to be key as well

to bring on the new generation quicker.

Fertel:The only thing that I would

add is that you should have the

impression that we are taking both

sides of the issue very seriously. Its

attracting the right people and its the

paying off as well, so were having those

kinds of programs bearing some fruit.

Johnson: I have a little different

view, I suppose, given the operational

nature of our business. We are doingall the usual things in outreach in the

community colleges, the typical things.

Im really not as concerned about

finding the workforce as I am about

the loss of experience in the current

workforce. I do agree with Joe that

the people we see today are generally

better educated, better trained and

ready to go to work. But if you think

about the history of the industry, in the

80s, our capacity factor was in the mid-

50s. Today, theyre in the mid-90s, and

one of the ways that we got there was

we made every mistake possible and

figured out how to do it right. In our

current workforce, which is aging, there

is a tremendous amount of operational

engineering and other knowledge

that is more experienced-based than

education-based. So, I think our biggest

challenge here is knowledge transfer,

some efficient way of experienced

transfer so that when these new

to replace about 50,000 jobs by 2016,

the opportunities will be there for jobs

and for well-paying jobs, and I think

that will attract people back into the

STEM programs at various universities.Zwetolitz: I agree with Mike. We,

like many in the industry, have been

involved in partnerships with the local

schools and community colleges and

universities, and its starting to pay off.

Mike and Bill and Marv were talking

before about how old were getting and

were reminded by that when we walk

around our organizations and see the

many young faces that are out there.

What Im amazed about is the fact

that these efforts are starting to pay

off with the quality. Not only are they

young, but theyre coming out with the

right skills and the right backgrounds

to be able to do this kind of work.

And thats, for me, showing significant

payoff. Were also doing a lot of work

to retrain the existing workforce, so as

people have been in this industry and

have the background, theyre training

for new roles and different roles within

the nuclear industry, and thats also

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damaged by the event was the

generator IPB system, which in

all its spur auxiliary tap bus a

main generator neutral connectio

Iso phase bus is the super highw

transports the plants high am

electrical power from the plant

generator to the main step-up

At 11:19 p.m.on July 26, 2013, Callaway Nuclear Plant operation technicians

performed the monthly swap-over of the dual redundant isolated phase bus

(iso phase bus, or IPB) cooling fans. This monthly procedure insures that the

run time between the redundant systems is equalized.

At 11:33 p.m., 14 minutes after the swap over, massive electrical faults

caused protective relaying to initiate trip signals to the switchyard main generator

output breakers, the unit auxiliary transformer feeder breakers, the 13.8 kV

service busses, the main generator field circuit breaker and the main turbine.

All four reactor coolant pumps and all three circulating water pumps tripped

due to the momentary 13.8 kV busses under-voltages. The reactor tripped from

100 percent power as a result of the turbine/generator trip. Extensive damage

to the plants iso phase bus at the iso phase tap point for the unit auxiliary

transformer and at the main generator neutral connection box had occurred.

At 11:37 p.m., the plant fire brigade was dispatched in reaction to a

smoke condition permeating throughout the turbine building coming

from a cables burning insulation and a nearby oil collection pan fire.

At 11:49 p.m., the shift manager declared an Unusual Event and began the process

of making appropriate notifications. Plant operators continued their event response

to the reactor tr ip by employing the prescribed emergency and operating procedures.

At 12:56 a.m.on July 27, 2013, a significant water leak was identified at the

condensate polishers due to a rupture disk failure creating flooding in the tur-

bine building. Reactor operators isolated all the condensate polishers from the

control room. A report from the field identified one to two feet of water in the

condensate pump pit.

At 1:01 pm., the con-

trol room operators no-

tified the NRC of the

closeout of the Unusual

Event.

Workers at the Cal-

laway Plant assembled a

forced outage response

team to manage assess-

ment, repair, and estab-

lish recovery activities

related to the event. The

root cause team defined

an area to sequester all

damaged parts for evidence while es-

tablishing the scope and parameters

necessary to ensure that obtaining

evidence, pictures, assessments and

inspections needed for the root cause

analysis were exhaustive and imple-

mented.

The plants sub-system that was

Callaway Turbine Trip - Failure of Isolated Phase Bus SystemBY BRUCE HACK, MANAGING MEMBER, CROWN ELECTRIC ENGINEERING & MANUFACTURING

AND MARK D. HAAG, PRINCIPAL DESIGN ENGINEER, NUCLEAR SERVICES, AMEREN MISSOURI

A WORKER INSPECTS THE FAULTED ISOLATED PHASE TAP.

BOTH PHOTOS COURTESY AMEREN MISSOURI.

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physical causes. Detailed insp

were performed throughout t

phase bus ducts for additional evto support or refute various th

Photographic evidence was com

with design drawings to allow the t

draw conclusions based on the po

of equipment and the damage th

caused by the event. A fault tree

was completed to determine th

likely causes of the mechanical fai

the iso-phase cooler backdraft da

the main generator neutral conn

box, and the B iso phase bu

above the unit auxiliary transf

The extensive damage at each

location rendered definitive conc

about the exact failure

impossible. Therefore, all po

causes were uncovered and cor

actions chosen in such mann

to address them in their en

Organizational and program

factors that led up to the failu

caused the unit trip were conduc

a review of the history of the op

the main generator neutral connection

box. This final massive short circuit led

to a turbine/generator and reactor trip.The damper blade breaking free was

problematic enough, but a single fault to

ground should not initiate such a response

in iso phase bus. What happened?

To assist in assessing the damage and

then emergency fabricate the iso phase bus

and its ancillary components, Callaways

forced outage response team reached out

to Crown Electric Eng. & Mfg. LLC of

Middletown, Ohio, a company rooted in

the old Westinghouse iso phase bus plant in

Cincinnati. Crown Electric had previously

assisted Callaway, and the team knew

that Crown Electric possessed a full on-

site services division offering direct user

support that is tied back to its engineering

and IPB manufacturing capabilities.

Results of Root Cause Evaluation

The root cause evaluation was

performed using multiple techniques.

A forensic examination of the failed

components was made to determine the

sequence of failures and the potential

Chilled forced air from the cooler enters

the B phase of the iso phase bus duct and

splits so as to bi-directionally flow towardthe main generator terminal box and

towards the main GSU transformers. Air

crossover plenums can be located at each

end-of-run point to allow the B phase

cool air to split and return the airflow

to the coolers suction side through the

IPBs A and C phases. The returning air

then passes over the water-cooled heat

exchanger to remove the absorbed heat and

moisture. Then the process starts anew.

Callaways cooling skid heat exchanger

assemblies employ so-called back-draft

dampers located on the fan discharge.

One of the back-draft damper blades had

broken free and entered the B phase of

the iso phase bus duct. As the blade flew

through the IPBs B phase, it caused

repeated short lived phase-to-ground

electrical faults. Ultimately, the condition

cascaded into a massive electrical fault

of 180,000 amps rms at both the

IPB seal off bushing for the auxiliary

transformers B phase tap as well as at

transformer. The IPB system operates

at medium voltage levels transporting

33,000 amps of current when operatingat full power. Lower amperage iso-phase

tap connections to the main iso phase

bus provide power to the plants auxiliary

transformer and excitation transformer.

Iso phase bus systems are normally static,

robust, low in maintenance requirements

and highly reliable. In cases where power

plants generate output currents around

or exceeding 20,000 amps, it is common

to employ forced cooling for the iso phase

conductor. This forced cooling creates a

composite system less static than their

self-cooled counterparts. Forced cooled

iso phase bus duct systems incorporate

large heat exchangers (often water

cooled, forced air) to remove the heat

associated with the I2R losses from the

large currents flowing in the IPB system.

Fully redundant fans, cooling coils and

associated dampers make up the cooling

skid assembly, providing 100 percent

mechanical backup against failure or

during periods of scheduled maintenance.

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of the iso phase bus work.

oscillography from the 311/G ge

protection relay captured one voltage spike of 13.1 kV. Thi

then clears itself as evidenced

VN voltage dropping back to

The last momentary arc was

in the pre-fault data initiated

protection relay lockout. Neut

currents during these initial

were limited to 12.8 Amps th

the neutral grounding transf

The dislodged damper blad

flew and arced along the IPB vap

along its trajectory. Clouds of i

gas and metal vapor - think

tails - are winging through th

system, completing a round trip

13.5 seconds. Over time this

vapor cloud, in part, collects on th

porcelain surfaces of both the B

iso-phase seal off bushing for th

auxiliary transformer and at the

generator neutral connection box

locations present cooler surfaces

both points in the air stream

an inch apart that allow the forced air

to flow over their large accumulative

surface area. De-ionizing bafflesare grounded so that any ionized air

molecules in the cooling air stream

pass over the baffles giving up their

charge to the ground plane. Callaways

design placed a smaller version of

this functional device between the

generator output bushings enclosure

and the neutral bushing enclosure. The

effectiveness of this de-ionizing screen

is considered to have been compromised

due to inappropriate painting).

The air flow change caused during

the monthly swapping of the fans

carried the thrown damper blade into

a position that caused arcing in the B

phase of the IPB. The flying damper

blade is suspected of intermittently

causing short duration arcing, pitting

and damage as it was blown around

the iso phase duct during a 14-minute

operational period. Arcing, pitting

and associated damage was found

periodically through a 40-foot section

number of initial plant parameters

could have had larger safety margins

designed into sub-systems, includingthose within the main generator neutral

connection box. These include increased

air gaps, creep distance on the neutral

grounding cable, providing a grounded

shield on the neutral grounding cable,

ferrous conduit parts, and removal of

any sharp corners and exposed bolt

ends which could contribute to the

generation of corona. Additionally,

the de-ionizing* screen filter that was

installed between the generator output

bushing enclosure and the neutral

connection box was painted, eliminating

its effectiveness. These collective

factors produced conditions that were

more likely to create an electrical fault

if the neutral connection box was ever

challenged by a high voltage potential.

(*Forced cooled iso phase bus

systems include a sub-assembly

known as de-ionizing baffles. De-

ionizing baffles are large stacks of thin

aluminum metal plates spaced about

of the iso-phase cooling system and the

main generator neutral connection box

Since the plants originalconstruction, the air flow rates from

the iso-phase cooling fans were

higher than the design ratings of the

iso-phase cooler backdraft dampers.

The elevated flow rates through the

backdraft dampers increased the risk of

damper failure. Callaway Engineering

believes backdraft dampers should

have a more robust design for this

intended application. One example of

the dampers weak link was that plastic

retaining clips served as bushings to

allow operation of the damper blades.

Back in January 2005, flow rates

were estimated to be as high as

40,000 cfm. Air flow measurements

were taken in May 2007 and found

to be 34,000 cfm. More accurate

data on the specifics of the systems

operation would have likely pointed

to the need for corrective actions to

be taken in a more timely fashion.

Callaway Engineering considers a

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required prior to the safe restart

reactor on August 16, 2013. N

was injured as a result of the elfaults and subsequent plant

The Callaway incidence re

team with Crown Electric inspec

iso phase bus to determine the

of damage. Together, Crown

and Callaway detailed dimension

failed component parts and/or v

some fault current. Two of these blades

worked their way across the duct work

and landed down the outlet of the off-line fan. Multiple off-line damper blades

were found bent in, but none were ejected

into the bus ductwork.

At this point, the event

is effectively over. As the

turbine/generator winds

down, the fault is no

longer fed. The damper

blades settled into their

as-found locations with

no more damage created.

The electrical faults

that occurred resulted in

a turbine/generator trip

and a reactor trip. Such an

event had the potential to

challenge systems important

to safety. The reactor trip

was classified as uncomplicated and

all safety systems performed properly.

Repair or replacement of multiple

damaged components associated with

the secondary side of the plant was

damper blade is now easily jumping out

the bushings line to ground integrity. The

compromised main generator neutral(in the neutral connection box) and the

unit auxiliary T-tap are both co-faulting

directly to ground. This ground loop

completely bypasses the generator neutral

resistor connection resulting in a solid line

to ground fault on the generator 220 kA.

These massive electrical fault currents

generated a subsequent devastating

blowout pressure wave at both fault

locations. The post-event inspection of

the resultant damage at the generator

neutral connection box and unit auxiliary

transformers tap bus connection was eye

opening. Not surprising, the pressure

waves induced catastrophic failure of

both sets of backdraft dampers. Multiple

blades were dislodged; some well bent

inwards towards the fan and some simply

fell into the fan after breaking off. Four

of the blades in the duct were found with

minor arc burns from having gone down

the duct towards the generator while it

was spinning to rest and still providing

which are deadened zones not seeing full

forced air flow. It is noted that there are

no de-ionizers in the flow path betweenthe arcing location and the unit auxiliary

transformer connection location. Further,

the neutral connection box under the

generator had compromised de-ionizing

baffles, which, even when new, were

never designed to handle anything

more than typical IPB system created

ionization loads. They certainly were not

designed for the amount of ionization

created by electrical arcing of foreign

material such as that developed by a

dislodged and vaporizing damper blade.

Oscillography offers verification of

the iso phase bus phase-B intermittently

going to ground. This was most likely due

to the continued movement of the arcing

damper blade resulting in additional gas

cloud generation and potentially resulting

in blowing an arc down the ductwork.

At some point, the damper blade

lodged in the T-tap pocket of the seal-off

bushing for the B phase IPB connection

to the unit auxiliary transformer. The

THE FAILED GENERATOR NEUTRAL ENCLOSURE BUSHING.

NUCLEUS

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duct. The inspections were performed

with a borescope and could not see

enough detail to accurately identify

wear of the components that weremost likely to fail. For some of the

potential backdraft damper failure

modes, it would be improbable that

there would be visible indications

that could be used to predict failures.

Iso phase bus is about the most

rugged, reliable electrical sub-system to

be found in any power station. Iso phase

should be inspected regularly enough

to insure insulator integrity and proper

torque values of any bolted connections

from bushings to flex braids. Bus and

insulators should be cleaned on an

appropriate schedule for that specific

location to protect its voltage withstand

capabilities. In the case of forced

cooled IPB, it should be remembered

that even though these coolers are

attached to an IPB system, they are

and should fall under the same general

maintenance s