Fighting for the Next InchANS Nuclear CafeSeptember 5, 2013, 1:57PM|Peter ShawI had an interesting conversation with some colleagues last night. We were talking about our jobs, and it turned out that some of them were considering moving on to new prospects outside of the nuclear industry. After digging in to the reasons why, the sentiment seemed to come down to "It feels like we're running as hard as we can only to gain inches every day."There is a constant fight for nuclear's progress in public perception, regulatory oversight, and demands for perfection. The stagnation of progress was what was so frustrating to them.Here at the Vogtle nuclear power plant in Georgia, where construction of two new reactors is occurring, people are working on systems right now and comprehensively understanding their behaviors under normal plant operations, while the components themselves are only ink on paper. We are testing, retesting, and scrutinizing every last detail of every piece that is going into the nuclear island. We look at diameter, radius, flow rate, material certification, and thickness. We document the construction, the fabrication, any deviations, the corrections, the exchange of our corrections, the meetings that approve the corrections-and if we missed any of those steps, we have another corrective action to document that.Why this level of seeming absurdity? Well, it is our duty to make sure that we never lose ground, that we document things to this level, that we perform beyond what we think our limit is. It is our duty to always be better. Every document that we sign, every peer or family member that finally comes around, every congressman we persuade, every argument in which we triumph, that is an inch that does not slip.How do we ensure that? Through our culture. Our nuclear safety culture is the only thing that can breed the trust that we deserve to be a viable energy solution for the future.Nuclear culture is all about asking questions, and its most underutilized component is corrective actions. I have seen companies pull off their corrective actions brilliantly. It isn't easy but it is possible; you need to staff up and dedicate your company to identify and correct any problems that come up. Improvements need to be funneled and optimized to run projects better. As a person, you can never afford to see corrective actions as a negative, even when you have the weight of an angry manager breathing down your neck.If someone calls into question the quality of our construction-this is when I laugh. I do so because this is how we run our industry, through scrutiny and questioning attitudes. Because of this, nuclear fosters a different kind of thinking; there are those of us who are in it because it is a prestigious stepping stone, others who are interested in a career-and there are some of us for whom this is a passion. Some of us are vehement in our will to succeed because, to us, there is no other option.I mean that in a literal sense. There is in my mind no better energy option than having a nuclear fleet, augmented with passive energy collection, that supports an infrastructure of homes and businesses with all the electric power they could need.I am an idealist; I believe that what I do every day is injecting some good into the world. Everyone deserves to have energy; every person on this planet has the right to survive despite the sweltering heat of summer, or have the ability to turn on a computer that will link them with the rest of the world. There is one thing that every human needs on this planet along with food, water, and shelter, and that is electric power. There are only inches gained, but those inches are precious.I don't begrudge anyone who wants to leave the nuclear industry-it's a tough call to action, and I can understand how it could wear you out. Every day we come in and stand up to more scrutiny than any other industry in the world. While we complete this Vogtle project, elsewhere four or five natural gas facilities will have been built, more coal plants go up in the world, and more windmills too. In the end, though, nuclear isn't about fast action, it's about longevity.When natural gas spikes again and the generators go quiet, we'll keep chugging along. When coal gets a carbon cap put on it and stops spewing pollution into the atmosphere that we all share, we'll still be churning through our own fuel. When the windmills stop turning because the wind is blowing the wrong direction, we'll be running through our +97 percent uptime.And I'll be coming in to work that day, fighting for the next inch.__________________Peter Shaw is a senior licensing engineer at Westinghouse Electric Company for the Vogtle project. He is very involved in North American Young Generation in Nuclear and the American Nuclear Society, and is a member of the ANS Young Members Group and Operations & Power Division.Tags:peter shawplant vogtlereactor designswestinghouseShare:LinkedInTwitterFacebook
PRA standard for Advanced Non-Light Water Reactors just issuedANSI/ASME/ANS RA-S-1.4-2021, “Probabilistic Risk Assessment Standard for Advanced Non-Light Water Reactor Nuclear Power Plants,” has just been issued. Approved by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) on January 28, 2021, this joint American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)/American Nuclear Society (ANS) standard sets forth requirements for probabilistic risk assessments (PRAs) used to support risk-informed decisions for commercial nuclear power plants and prescribes a method for applying these requirements for specific applications.ANSI/ANS-RA-S-1.4-2021 and its preview are available in the ANS Standards Store.Go to Article
Framatome declares ATF test at Vogtle a successThe $111.2 million in financial assistance awarded by the Department of Energy in late 2018 to nuclear fuel developers Framatome, General Electric, and Westinghouse for the development of accident tolerant fuel has yielded some encouraging results.Framatome reports that the first 18-month fuel cycle test of its GAIA Enhanced Accident Tolerant Fuel (EATF) technology, conducted at Southern Nuclear’s Vogtle-2, has “demonstrated expected results and excellent performance.”And last month, Westinghouse announced that the topical report on its Advanced Doped Pellet Technology fuel has been accepted for review by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, calling the decision “a major achievement for the advanced fuel portfolio Westinghouse is developing.”Go to Article
Proposed Czech unit won’t be built by ChinaCzech Republic political parties have agreed to exclude China from participating in a tender to build an additional reactor at the Dukovany nuclear plant but have yet to decide whether to allow Russian participation, according to a report last week from Reuters.Other bidders on the project, estimated to be worth some €6 billion (about $7.2 billion), include Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power of South Korea, EDF of France, and Westinghouse of the United States.Go to Article
North Anna license renewal arguments to be airedAn aerial view of the North Anna nuclear plant. Photo: Dominion EnergyA Nuclear Regulatory Commission Atomic Safety and Licensing Board will conduct an “oral argument” via WebEx early next month regarding a petition to hold a hearing on North Anna’s subsequent license renewal (SLR) application, the agency announced yesterday.ASLBs conduct adjudicatory hearings on major licensing actions by the NRC. Their rulings may be appealed to the commission.The SLR application, submitted by Dominion Energy last August, was docketed by the NRC in October. The petition objecting to it was filed in December by three antinuclear organizations—Beyond Nuclear, Sierra Club, and Alliance for Progressive Virginia.On February 4, beginning at 2 p.m. Eastern time, the ASLB will address a rule waiver request from the groups, as well as the admissibility of their proposed contention. The board will entertain comments from representatives for the petitioners, Dominion, and NRC staff.Go to Article
NRC agrees to review Westinghouse ATF topical reportWestinghouse last week announced via blog post that a topical report on its Advanced Doped Pellet Technology (ADOPT) fuel has been accepted for review by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, calling the decision a “major achievement for the advanced fuel portfolio Westinghouse is developing as part of our EnCore fuel program.”The company submitted the report in May of last year, requesting approval by February 2022. According to Westinghouse, a draft safety evaluation from the agency is expected this summer.Go to Article
NRC accepts Point Beach SLR applicationThe Nuclear Regulatory Commission has accepted for review NextEra Energy’s subsequent license renewal (SLR) application for its Point Beach reactors, making them the fifth and sixth units currently under consideration for a second 20-year license renewal. (SLR applications for Dominion Energy’s North Anna-1 and -2 and Surry-1 and -2 are also being reviewed, while SLR approval has been granted for Exelon’s Peach Bottom and NextEra’s Turkey Point units.)NextEra submitted the SLR application in November of last year—the first such application involving a Midwestern nuclear plant. The NRC approved the plant’s initial license renewal in December 2005, allowing Unit 1 to operate through October 5, 2030, and Unit 2 through March 8, 2033.Go to Article
Fuel innovation: Powering nuclear modernizationToday’s U.S. commercial nuclear power plants are fueled with uranium dioxide pressed into cylindrical ceramic pellets—and have been for decades. These pellets are stacked inside long fuel rods made of a zirconium alloy cladding. Innovation in nuclear fuel, however, can improve safety, reduce operating costs, and further enable the development of a new generation of non-light-water reactors.Go to Article
Hitachi sunsets HorizonHitachi Ltd. plans to close Horizon Nuclear Power, its U.K. nuclear development subsidiary, early this spring, according to weekend news reports. Horizon is the firm behind Wylfa Newydd, the proposed nuclear new-build project in Wales.On January 10, citing a story that appeared earlier that day in The Times, Yahoo reported that Hitachi will close Horizon by March 31—a move, Yahoo said, that “could scupper a sale of the [Wylfa Newydd] site, which has attracted interest from bidders, including a U.S. consortium of Bechtel, Southern Company, and Westinghouse, and dent [the] U.K.’s clean energy goals.”However, a January 11 item on a Welsh online news service stated, “It is understood that if a sale of the site is not secured before Horizon shuts, the sale process will be continued by Hitachi.”Go to Article
Baranwal departs Office of Nuclear EnergyBaranwalRita Baranwal, the Department of Energy’s assistant secretary for the Office of Nuclear Energy, announced today via Twitter that she will be leaving her position at the end of the day. “It has been an absolute honor to serve in this capacity to help advance our U.S. nuclear energy R&D,” she tweeted. “I plan to continue to use my talents to promote, lead, and advance our nation’s largest source of clean energy so that our nation and my family will have a cleaner and more sustainable planet to protect.”Baranwal previously directed the Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN) initiative at Idaho National Laboratory. Before joining the DOE, Baranwal served as director of technology development and application at Westinghouse. She is a Fellow of the American Nuclear Society.Go to Article
ASLB established for North Anna SLR applicationThe North Anna nuclear power plant. Photo: Dominion EnergyThe Nuclear Regulatory Commission has announced the establishment of an Atomic Safety and Licensing Board to address a hearing request filed last month concerning Dominion Energy’s subsequent license renewal (SLR) application for the two reactors at its North Anna plant. The application, submitted in August of last year, was docketed by the NRC in October.The contention: Filed by three anti-nuclear groups—Beyond Nuclear, the Sierra Club, and the Alliance for a Progressive Virginia—the 71-page hearing request argues that Dominion’s environmental report, submitted in support of its application, “fails to satisfy” the National Environmental Policy Act, as well as 10 CFR 51.53(c)(2) and 51.45(a), “because [the report] does not address the environmental impacts of operating North Anna Units 1 and 2 during the extended SLR term under the significant risk of an earthquake that exceeds the design basis for the reactors.”Go to Article