FOSTER MILLER, INC. AND R.
BROOKS ASSOCIATES, INC. Develop an Upper Bundle Hydraulic Cleaning System to Service
and Maintain Steam Generators at Commercial Nuclear Power Plants
www.fostermiller.com
Foster-Miller,
Inc. and R. Brooks Associates, Inc. have developed a system for Steam Generator
Upper Bundle Hydraulic Cleaning (UBHC).
Commercial nuclear power plant steam generators are important utility
capital equipment investments that can be severely damaged by the continual
build-up of sludge deposits that are a by-product of the heat transfer process.
Prior to UBHC, the industry standard maintenance procedure involved the
complicated and costly use of chemical solution soaks. UBHC technology was developed as a possible
alternative to the chemical cleaning process.
UBHC provides a safe, cost-effective means of removing secondary side
deposits from the upper bundle region of the 30 foot high commercial nuclear
power plant steam generators by use of high pressure, high flow water jets. The
prototype UBHC equipment was developed by Foster-Miller and Brooks with funding
from a 1993 US Department of Energy (DOE) SBIR grant and separate research
funds from the Empire State Electric Energy Research Company (ESEERCO). The prototype was demonstrated at Northern
States Power (NSP) in May 1995. Following the NSP demonstration, Foster-Miller
and Brooks applied the lessons learned to market, manage, and perform
additional development work[1]
in order to produce an advanced UBHC system for field applications. The technology is now commercialized and UBHC
equipment and services are marketed on a worldwide basis through a
Westinghouse/Foster-Miller/Brooks Teaming Agreement. UBHC is now qualified for
use in Westinghouse Model 44, 51 and F steam generators. In the
Cynthia
Black
Public Relations Representative
Foster-Miller, Inc.
tel:
+1.781.684.4093
[1] Sponsorship from the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), Southern Nuclear Operating Company, Wisconsin Electric Power Company.