New reactor inspection method at Surry takes top TIP trophy

摘要

The Nuclear Energy Institute's Top Industry Practice (TIP) Awards for 2014 were announced on May 21 at NEI's annual conference, the Nuclear Energy Assembly. The top prize, the B. Ralph Sylvia Best of the Best Award, went to a team of employees from Dominion Generation's two-unit Surry nuclear power plant in Virginia for their "First-of-a-Kind Inspections of Reactor Internals," an automated process for inspecting and analyzing components inside the reactor. The process and the specialized tooling developed by the Dominion team enabled accurate examinations of reactor components and materials in hard-to-reach locations. While examinations of welds in reactor vessel walls can be difficult, the team overcame plant configuration and access challenges-aided by AREVA's lower girth weld inspection tool (see Equipment & Services, page 83)-to safely complete the project.