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Valves overhauled at nuclear power stations

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Sep 28, 2005

Repair work on some 600 valves at British Nuclear Group reactor sites has been undertaken by speciality services company Furmanite.

Repair work on some 600 valves at British Nuclear Group reactor sites has been undertaken, with zero re-work requirements and meeting stringent procedural demands at Wylfa nuclear power station, by speciality services company Furmanite.

The success was achieved along with valuable budgeted cost savings, and is seen as testament to the benefits of long-term contract relationships between client and contractor.

The work, which involved disassembling, lapping, inspecting and reassembling the gate, globe, check and safety relief valves in the station's reactor area, turbine hall, gas circulators and boilers, was undertaken during the scheduled outage and was successfully and safely completed on schedule, within budget and meeting all performance requirements.

The vast majority of the work was undertaken on-site and most of the valves (around 500) were lapped in-situ, representing considerable cost savings by avoiding the need to remove all valves to the workshop.

Some 92 critical path valves that were taken to Furmanite's Warrington workshop were tested, witnessed by Royal Sun Alliance and approved, following overhaul, on Furmanite's test rig.

Thirty technicians worked on-site over a six week period to undertake the valve overhaul programme.

"All critical path milestones were met, in sequence with the shutdown work within the various parts of the plant", commented Peter Gray, Operations Manager for Valve Repair at the Furmanite.

"Our highly trained and qualified technicians were key to enabling us to overhaul nearly 600 valves with zero re-work, contributing to on-schedule completion, and an indication of the high quality of workmanship and level of service we offer".

"They are all suitably qualified and experienced personnel (SQEP) audited and experienced in working within nuclear environments, contributing to our strong safety record and enabling us to meet all the customer's rigorous procedure requirements".

Importantly, Furmanite was able to produce a significant budgeted cost saving (over £100,000) through improved project management and processes for maximum efficiency, by building on opportunities identified with the client as a result of previous projects.

"This illustrates the benefits of long-term contracts, enabling us, as the contractor, to develop a knowledge and understanding of the site, the client's objectives, policies and so on, so that we are able to deliver maximum value through our services", said Gray.

The work was undertaken under Furmanite's on-going valve maintenance and overhaul contract for British Nuclear Group Reactor Sites covering valve repair services for the nuclear generating sites at Chapelcross, Dungeness A, Oldbury and Sisewell A, as well as Wylfa.

Commenting on the work undertaken, Wylfa Outage Manager Andrew Taylor said: "We needed a step-change from the way valve contractors had worked in previous years".

"In response to our requirements the company changed its structure to a more project-based delivery which gave us the quality and cost benefit we needed, and all safely achieved within the time constraints of our 2005 overhaul".