Team Building As Part Of Project Planning & Management – A Dynamic And Proven Approach

Without exception, capital projects undertaken today call for comprehensive planning and closely managed project control.  Project Planning and Cost Control have never been more important.  An individual’s capacity to deal with change is a must in a rapidly changing world, and the effective use of management practices can contribute to an individual’s ability to effectively […]

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Roadmap For Repair of Buried Pipe

The repair of a corroded, damaged, or leaking buried pipe should be approached in a well-structured manner. Here is a roadmap to the repair options for buried steel pipes, with the corresponding brief commentary. 1. Open trench repair 1.1 New line, replacing the existing line (or segment). Determine whether to use the same material, or […]

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How to Resolve an Engineering Manager’s Typical Dilemma – “Where to Start”

The Problem Too often, the inability to get the required work done correctly, and on-time, has been blamed on too few people, not enough of the right people, or situations that were not anticipated.  Dr. Louis T. Rader’s comments, about engineering management, are still applicable to many managers today.  In 1964, he noted that: “The […]

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Operability And Fitness-for-Service (FFS) Of ASME Equipment In Nuclear Power Plants

Bringing Order and Logic to the Evaluation Process There is a multitude of documents and reports that describe the damage mechanisms of ASME pressure equipment (vessels, pumps, valves, piping, and tanks, and their supports) in nuclear power plants. Thousands of pages published by EPRI, the NRC, ASME, NACE, research laboratories, utilities, contractors, and others, to […]

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Evaluation of Degraded and Nonconforming Conditions For ASME III and B31.1 and B31.7 Class 2 and Class 3 Pressure Boundary Nuclear Plant Components

1.   Definitions 1.1    Degraded Condition A degraded condition as defined in NRC Inspection Manual 0326 Paragraph 03.02: “A degraded condition is one in which the qualification of an SSC or its functional capability is reduced. Examples of degraded conditions are failures, malfunctions, deficiencies, deviations, and defective material and equipment. Examples of conditions that can reduce […]

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EPRI Publishes “Roadmap to Integrity Evaluation and Repair of Nuclear Plant Piping”

EPRI has just published the report “Roadmap to Integrity Evaluation and Repair of Nuclear Plant Piping” EPRI report number 3002013156, dated December 2018, prepared by Becht Nuclear Services, under EPRI Project Manager T. Eckert. The methods and criteria for the evaluation of degraded and non-conforming conditions in piping systems in nuclear power plants are dispersed […]

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Mentoring Nuclear Power Plant Engineers

As the Nuclear Power Plant workforce continues to age, it is imperative that nuclear plant supervisors and managers use as many tools as possible to mentor younger engineers. This article discusses several ways proven to be successful in mentoring younger engineers as a means of filling the voids created by the retirements of senior workforce […]

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Using NB-3200 FEA As An Option To Stress Equations In NB-3600

  The ASME B&PV Section III Div.1 Code 2013 Edition is currently approved in 10CFR50.55(a). The 2013 edition, permits elastic FEA per NB-3200 in place of the stress equations of NB-3600, as follows: For pressure design – “NB-3611.2 Acceptability When Stresses Exceed Stress Limits. When the stresses as determined by the methods given in NB-3630 exceed […]

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Five Keys to a Cost-Effective Repair/Modification Package for Tanks-Vessels-Piping

: Process: Does the repair change the process chemistries, physics (fluid phase), and thermo-hydraulics (flow rates, pressures, temperatures)? Does the modification change the control room indications and the operating envelopes? Material: Are the selected metallic materials (base metal and welds) and non-metallic materials (gaskets, packings, etc.) compatible with the existing materials, with the environment, and […]

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12 Checks When Qualifying Piping Systems in Nuclear Applications

The analysis and qualification of piping systems in nuclear power plants involves more than meeting Code stress limits. Generally, a piping system is qualified if the following criteria have been met. These various qualification criteria are typically specified in the plant FSAR, the plant design procedures, or the ASME Code. Pressure design in accordance with […]

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