April 2014

April 2014 Vol. 158 No.
Vol. 158 No. 4 April 2014
Drones in Your Boiler!
Nuclear Decommissioning &

Worker Transition
Water Treatment Tech Update
Australias Carbon Crunch
When to Replace a DCS
We didnt build the rst Boiler.

But in all your born days, you wont find a manufacturer today that makes a boiler that performs
better than a RENTECH boiler. Its no yarn. Each of our boilers is custom-designed by RENTECH
engineers and built in state-of-the-art facilities to operate efficiently in its unique application in a
variety of industries. Our innovative, cost-effective technology will add value to your day-to-day
operations with lasting benefits for the competitiveness of your business. Dont wait another day,
call us about your next boiler project.
WWW.RENTECHBOILERS.COM
325.672.3400
CIRCLE 1 ON READER SERVICE CARD
Established 1882 Vol. 158 No. 4
April 2014
ON THE COVER
The high-definition camera on the ELECTRABOT unmanned aircraft system enables it to
capture high-megapixel shots from a safe distance. This drone model (photographed by a
volunteer pilot during a recreational flight) was designed for inspections of external electric system components, including power lines, external ductwork, structural supports,
hangers, coal conveyors, stacks, and cooling towers. A sister model specializes in boiler
inspections. Courtesy: United Aerobotics
COVER STORY: PLANT MAINTENANCE

26 Drones Promise Faster, Easier Inspection of Boilers, Stacks, Towers, and More
The sky is the limit, say developers of drones for use in the electric power industry.
United Aerobotics drones enable visual inspection of difficult-to-access locations
like boilers in less time and with less difficulty than traditional methods.
26
SPECIAL REPORT: NUCLEAR POWER

34 UK Uses Lead and Learn Strategy for Magnox Reactor Fleet
Decommissioning
The United Kingdom built some of the earliest commercial nuclear reactors and is
now leading the way with decommissioning that first generation of facilities. So far,
its approach is proving cost-effective and efficient.
44 EPRI and Luminant Collaborate to Create Common Understanding of

Cybersecurity Requirements
In response to increasing concerns regarding cybersecurity in the supply chain,
the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) has developed guideline documents
to assist utility engineers and vendors. The first plant to implement the guidelines
expects to save more than $600,000 in avoided cost overruns on digital system
upgrade modifications.
50 Nuclear Plant Closings: What About the Workers?

With all the talk of mass retirements in the power industry and worries about a brain
drainespecially in the nuclear sectorone might think that when one plant closes,
workers could easily find employment in another. We look at the challenges for operating companies and workers.
34
57 Worldwide Nuclear Commerce: Good News and Bad News

The balance of nuclear power generation is shifting away from the U.S., but U.S.
companies still have a role to play in the more competitive global market.
More POWER Online

Find these web-only stories associated with the April issue in our archives at powermag.
com, or find them using the Search field:
GE Executive Markhoff Talks About the Water/Energy Nexus

Photo Essay: Ivanpah CSP Plant Inauguration
Generation of Vestas 8-MW Offshore Wind Prototype Begins
Using Spent EV Batteries for Grid Storage
50
|
April 2014 POWER
www.powermag.com
MITSUBISHI HITACHI POWER SYSTEMS
Pulling Ahead
as ONE
The global merger of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and

Hitachis thermal power generation businesses integrates
two leaders in world class technology creating Mitsubishi Hitachi
Power Systems.
This historic combination represents over 240 years of innovative
products, systems and services. Now, Mitsubishi Hitachi Power
Systems delivers the talent and technology of both companies as
a single source solution for existing and evolving energy needs.
Visit us online to learn more about our world class capabilities.
Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems Americas, Inc.
>
ii*>>U>i>]{1-
{nn
www.mhpowersystems.com
Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems America Energy and Environment, Ltd.
{x>i,>`U >},`}i]
nxn
www.psa.mhps.com
FEATURES
WATER MANAGEMENT
62 Advanced Cooling and Water Treatment Technology Concepts for Power

Plants
Whether in response to environmental regulations or water availability, nearly every plant is reconsidering its water treatment options. The Electric Power Research
Institute shares details of promising research and development projects.
ENERGY POLICY AND POLITICS
62
68 Australias Carbon Policy Predicament

Australia is a coal exporter with ambitions to develop a lower-carbon economy. We
look at how its efforts to date have resulted in unintended consequences.
NATURAL GAS
73 About That Gas-Fired Power Boom . . .

Winter weather taught the power industry some cold lessons about fuel supply
and market prices. We consider the implications for gas-fired generation in the
U.S. and Europe.
INSTRUMENTATION & CONTROL
76 What You Need to Know Before Replacing Your Control System

The decision to replace a distributed control system is a bit more complicated than
upgrading your mobile phone, but asking some of the same questions will help you
decide when and what to purchase.
PLANT SAFETY
80 Safety Is Not an Accident
10
Consulting Editor Bob Peltier revisits catastrophic accidents that could have been
avoided if management and workers had followed basic safety practices.
DEPARTMENTS
SPEAKING OF POWER
8 How Competitive Are You?

GLOBAL MONITOR
10
12
14
17
Momentum for Turkeys Nuclear Ambitions

Japans Energy Policy Still Murky Three Years After Fukushima
THE BIG PICTURE: Next-Gen Nuclear
POWER Digest
FOCUS ON O&M
20 3D-Printed Turbine Replacement Parts Could Cut Repair Times by 90%

21 3D Visualization Could Benefit Plant Inspection Programs
20
LEGAL & REGULATORY
24 Federal Cybersecurity Framework Spotlights Need for Increased Vigilance
Connect with POWER

If you like POWER magazine, follow us online
for timely industry news and comments.
By Margaret H. Claybour and Robert G. Scott, Jr., Davis Wright Tremaine
COMMENTARY
92 Energy Systems Integration: Innovative Solutions for an Integrated World

By Dr. Bryan Hannegan, National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Become our fan at facebook.com/

POWERmagazine
Follow us on Twitter @POWERmagazine
Join the LinkedIn POWER magazine Group
4
www.powermag.com
POWER April 2014
EDITORIAL & PRODUCTION

Editor: Dr. Gail Reitenbach
editor@powermag.com
Consulting Editor: Dr. Robert Peltier, PE
Associate Editor: Thomas Overton, JD
Associate Editor: Sonal Patel
Associate Editor: Aaron Larson
Contributing Editors: Brandon Bell, PE; Charles Butcher; David Daniels, PE;
Steven F. Greenwald; Jeffrey P. Gray; Jim Hylko; Kennedy Maize;
Dick Storm, PE
Senior Graphic Designer: Michele White
Production Manager: Tony Campana, tcampana@accessintel.com
GENERATING COMPANY ADVISORY TEAM

Melanie Green, Director, Strategic Planning & Analysis, CPS Energy
Randal S. Livingston, VP of Power Generation, Pacific Gas & Electric
Sharon Pfeuffer, Director and Chief Engineer, Fossil Generation, DTE Electric
ADVERTISING SALES
Associate Publisher: Matthew Grant
Southern & Eastern U.S./Eastern Canada/
Latin America: Matthew Grant, 713-343-1882, mattg@powermag.com
Central & Western U.S./Western Canada: Dan Gentile, 512-918-8075, dang@powermag.com
Northeast U.S. Ed Mueller, 309-278-8120, edm@powermag.com
UK/Benelux/Scandinavia/Germany/
Switzerland/Austria/Eastern Europe: Petra Trautes, +49 69 5860 4760, ptrautes@accessintel.com
Italy/France/Spain/Portugal: Ferruccio Silvera, +39 (0) 2 284 6716, ferruccio@silvera.it
Japan: Katsuhiro Ishii, +81 3 5691 3335, amskatsu@dream.com
India: Faredoon B. Kuka, 91 22 5570 3081/82, kuka@rmamedia.com
South Korea: Peter Kwon, +82 2 416 2876, +82 2 2202 9351, peterhkwon@hanmail.net
Classified Advertising
Diane Burleson, 512-337-7890, dburleson@powermag.com
POWER Buyers Guide Sales
Diane Burleson, 512-337-7890, dburleson@powermag.com
AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT
Audience Development Director: Sarah Garwood
Fulfillment Manager: George Severine
CUSTOMER SERVICE
For subscriber service:
Electronic and Paper Reprints:
List Sales:
All Other Customer Service:
pwr@omeda.com, 847-763-9509
Wrights Media, sales@wrightsmedia.com, 877-652-5295
Statlistics, Jen Felling, j.felling@statlistics.com, 203-778-8700
713-343-1887
Visit POWER on the web: www.powermag.com

Subscribe online at: www.submag.com/sub/pw
POWER (ISSN 0032-5929) is published monthly by Access
Intelligence, LLC, 4 Choke Cherry Road, Second Floor, Rockville, MD 20850. Periodicals Postage Paid at Rockville, MD
20850-4024 and at additional mailing offices.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to POWER, P.O. Box
3588, Northbrook, IL 60065-3588 . Email: pwr@omeda.com.
Canadian Post 40612608. Return Undeliverable Canadian
Addresses to: IMEX Global Solutions, P.O. BOX 25542, London, ON N6C 6B2.
Subscriptions: Available at no charge only for qualified executives and engineering and supervisory personnel in electric
utilities, independent generating companies, consulting engineering firms, process industries, and other manufacturing
industries. All others in the U.S. and U.S. possessions: $107
for one year, $171 for two years. In Canada: US$112 for one
year, US$188 for two years. Outside the U.S. and Canada:
US$227 for one year, US$368 for two years. Payment in full
or credit card information is required to process your order.
Subscription request must include subscriber name, title,
and company name. For new or renewal orders, call 847-5017541. Single copy price: $25. The publisher reserves the right
to accept or reject any order. Allow four to twelve weeks for
shipment of the first issue on subscriptions. Missing issues
must be claimed within three months for the U.S. or within
six months outside U.S.
For customer service and address changes, call 847-5017541 or fax 847-291-4816 or e-mail pwr@omeda.com or
write to POWER, P.O. Box 3588, Northbrook, IL 60065-3588.
Please include account number, which appears above name
on magazine mailing label or send entire label.
Photocopy Permission: For licensing and reprints of
POWER magazine content, please contact Wrights Media at
877-652-5295 or niademarco@wrightsmedia.com.
Executive Offices of TradeFair Group Publications: 11000
Richmond Avenue, Suite 690, Houston, TX 77042. Copyright
2014 by TradeFair Group Publications. All rights reserved.
BUSINESS OFFICE
TradeFair Group Publications, 11000 Richmond Avenue, Suite 690, Houston, TX 77042
Vice President and Publisher: Michael Grossman, 713-343-1887, mgrossman@accessintel.com
Vice President, Energy and Engineering Events: Daniel McKinnon
Energy Events Content Director: David Wagman
ACCESS INTELLIGENCE, LLC

4 Choke Cherry Road, 2nd Floor, Rockville, MD 20850
301-354-2000 www.accessintel.com
Chief Executive Officer: Donald A. Pazour
Exec. Vice President & Chief Financial Officer: Ed Pinedo
Exec. Vice President, Human Resources & Administration: Macy L. Fecto
Divisional President, Business Information Group: Heather Farley
Senior Vice President, Corporate Audience Development: Sylvia Sierra
Senior Vice President & Chief Information Officer: Robert Paciorek
Vice President, Production, Digital Media & Design: Michael Kraus
Vice President, Financial Planning & Internal Audit: Steve Barber
Vice President/Corporate Controller: Gerald Stasko
www.powermag.com
POWER April 2014
Uneventful is paradise.
Combined cycle stations. Nuclear reactors. Hydroelectric
power plants. In places like these, where any problem could
mean catastrophe, you want each day to be as uneventful
as the next. The insights from GE Predictivity solutions
power the future by connecting intelligent machines, data
and people. From Bently Nevada condition monitoring to
Masoneilan valves, GEs Measurement & Control business is
improving the health of industry by keeping your operations
running smoothly without incident. And that is paradise.
To learn more about our end-to-end solutions,
visit ge-mcs.com.
SPEAKING OF POWER
How Competitive Are You?

spent the week before this issue went
to press at IHS Energys CERAWeek in
Houston, listening and talking to many
of the attendees representing 55 countries
during the annual event that examines
strategic issues facing the global energy
industry. Though several themes were addressed, I want to focus on one in this
column: competitiveness.
Cost competitiveness is probably what
comes to mind first, and that did get its
due attention, including from U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz,
who said that its really important to reduce the costs of low-carbon technologies.
As the week progressed, several other dimensions of competitiveness emerged.
How competitive are you and your company along each of them?
Supply Competitiveness
Though there was consensus about the
continued bright outlook for shale oil and
gas in North America, several speakers acknowledged that shale resources arent a
solution everywhere. Fuel competitiveness
involves cost and availability but also
surety of supply.
In developing nations, natural gas is
not cost-competitive with other options,
including renewables. As a representative
of Chinas state grid noted, if China can
get gas from the U.S. and Russia, and if
it can develop its own shale gas, then
gas may be the best option, especially for
coastal areas. Until then, China sees wind
power as a good long-term option, nuclear
as a good mid- and long-term option, with
continued use of coal, though at a lower
percentage of the total mix.
Meanwhile, as Black & Veatch (B&V)
Chairman, President, and CEO Steven
Edwards commented, growth in the U.S.
is mostly around renewables, driven by
the competitiveness of renewables in
the marketplace.
By now, readers of POWER and our GAS
POWER Direct eletter are familiar with the
mismatch between natural gas and electricity markets, but theres an even bigger
challenge. In fact, Spectra Energy President and CEO Gregory Ebel argued that
8
gas/electric trading day coordination is a

red herring and that fundamentally, what
we have is a capacity problem. That capacity problem translates into supply security challenges. Reliability of supply as
an element of national security was a refrain at the event because Russian troops
had recently entered Crimea, but U.S. gas
delivery was also top of mind.
The competition for natural gas this winter shone a light on the problem. I even
heard one CEO explain that his generating
company has been in the position of having the independent system operator tell a
plant to run, while his gas supplier said it
couldnt deliver the gas. Neither side could
believe the problem was real until the CEO
got them conferenced together by phone.
noted that the Chinese Premier Li Keqiang

had the previous day declared war on pollution. In China, said Carlos Pascual, special envoy for international energy affairs
at the U.S. Department of State, addressing
pollutionespecially along the coastis
an even higher priority than cost containment (gas is twice as expensive as coal) or
climate change.
Workforce Competitiveness
Several speakers, including Diane McQueen, Albertas energy minister, bemoaned the difficulty of staffing energy
projects. As IHS Vice President John Larson noted, though U.S. unemployment figures suggest there are workers to fill the
labor shortages across the energy sector,
theres a skills mismatch. Diversifying
the workforce was one solution that Secretary Moniz mentioned. Workforce diversity
was also the focus of a reception hosted
by the American Petroleum Institute for
women in the energy industry.
Global Competitiveness
In his opening address to Wednesdays gas
sessions, President and CEO of Siemens
AG Joe Kaeser argued that the U.S. has
a once-in-a-lifetime chance to develop an
industrial manufacturing sector because
energy is so cheap and stable, and people in this country know how to handle
it. Thats why global companies like his
continue to invest in the U.S. Today, he
said, its all about going west. The U.S. is
once again the place to be.
That theme was carried forward by
BASFs Schwager, who noted that Germanys BASF has started to shift investment
to the U.S., including new plants. Investment in Germany is down from 60% of total investment to less than 50% for basic
chemicals, although the total amount of
investment is up. That doesnt mean the
advantage is solely Americas; Europe isnt
doing too badly, he argued, especially
given its strong infrastructure.
Ecosystem Competitiveness
The relevant competitive dimensions depend on your business ecosystem, and
cultural values are an increasingly important dimension.
As Spectras Ebel observed, public
opinion is never right or wrongit is
what it is. And Harald Schwager, member of the Board of Executive Directors
for Germanys BASF SE, the worlds largest chemical company, noted that Europeans differ from the rest of the world
in believing that energy is only good
energy if its expensive, because only
then, they believe, will people not waste
energy. Everywhere else, the belief is that
only cheap energy is good energy.
In a Thursday plenary, B&Vs Edwards
Power Plant Competitiveness

As Robbie Diamond, president and CEO of
Securing Americas Future Energy, noted,
we can control our domestic energy policy
but we cant control the global market.
That attitude should also apply to generating companies: You cant control the
market, but you can control your own
operations by ensuring that they are as
competitive as new technologies, smarter
practices, and energy-efficient operations
can make them. Nearly every article in this
issue relates in some way to the issue of
competitiveness. How will you become
more competitive?
Gail Reitenbach, PhD is POWERs
editor. Follow her @GailReit and the
POWER team @POWERmagazine.
www.powermag.com
POWER April 2014
MORE FOCUSED
ON ADVANCED NUCLEAR
PLANT TECHNOLOGY
Sanmen Nuclear Power Company Ltd. Used with Permission. All rights reserved.
NO COMPANY IS
Westinghouse AP1000 plant under construction in Sanmen, China
Westinghouse Electric Company LLC
www.westinghousenuclear.com
Westinghouse
Electric Company
@WECNuclear
6Momentum for Turkeys

Nuclear Ambitions
After decades of planning, Turkey may finally see the first four reactors at the Akkuyu nuclear plant completed by 2023.
The country has had plans to establish nuclear power generation since
1970, but several attempts to develop a
reactor at the Akkuyu site on the eastern Mediterranean Coast near the port
of Mersin were foiled for a variety of
reasons, mostly political or economic
instability. Turkey suffered four military
coups between 1971 and 1997. As the
World Nuclear Association notes, a 1993
attempt to revive the project proceeded
as far as receiving bids for a 2-GW plant
from a number of international companies, but the government thereafter
delayed its decision no less than eight
times between June 1998 and April
2000, when the plants were abandoned
due to economic circumstances.
In 2006, the government selected
Sinop, a port city on the Black Sea, to
host a nuclear plant, citing plans to
have three nuclear plants operating by
20122015 at both Akkuyu and Sinop.
Though the country will miss that deadline, that measure has put Turkey much
closer to its ambitionswhich are made
even more urgent owing to its rapid
annual increase in national electricity demand and lack of indigenous energy resourcesto increase the share of
nuclear power in its power profile to at
least 10% by 2023.
One aspect that sets this latest initiative apart from those in other nations
with nuclear ambitions is that in May
2010, the government signed a unique
contract with Russian state-owned nuclear firm Rosatom to build, own, and
operate (BOO) four 1,200-MW VVER-1200
third-generation reactors as a $20 billion
project. It is the first time in the history
of nuclear power that this approach has
been used, explained Jong Kyun Park,
director of the International Atomic Energy Agencys (IAEAs) division of Nuclear Power and team leader of the IAEAs
nuclear infrastructure review mission
that visited the country last November.
This method is very interesting because
it solves two of the biggest challenges
that newcomers face: financing and experienced operators.
Rosatom has contended with a number
of other formidable state-supported ex10
1. Serial No. 1. This September 2012 image shows construction of the first of two planned
VVER-1200 reactors at the Novovoronezh II nuclear power plant, which is nearing completion
and is slated to begin operations in 2014. The second unit will come online in 2015. The VVER1200 is a first-of-its-kind third-generation reactor that has been proposed to be built at Turkeys
Akkuyu plant under a unique build, operate, and own contract. Courtesy: Rosatom.
port venturesand won lucrative nuclear

plant contracts in newcomer countries.
But the BOO contract for Akkuyu differs
from Rosatoms other approaches to support newcomers, for example, to localize
onsite construction and manufacturing as
it has done in China, India, and Belarus,
or to provide a turnkey project, as agreed
for Iran, Vietnam, and Bangladesh. The
BOO model for Akkuyu will require that
Rosatom train local personnel, maximize
local content, support local legislation development, and cooperate in licensing and
nuclear safety. The Russian firm will also
ensure a lifetime supply of fuel; upgrade,
maintain, and decommission Akkuyu;
and ensure treatment of spent fuel and
nuclear waste. The owner/investor return
is reaped from selling power produced by
the plant. Rosatom is expected to retain
at least 51% of the project company, Akkuyu NPP JSC, though Turkish firm Park
Teknik and state generation utility Elektrik
Uretim AS (EUAS) will also take up significant shares. The Turkish Electricity Trade &
Contract Corp. (TETAS) is expected to buy
a fixed portion of Akkuyus power (70%
from the first two units and 30% from
www.powermag.com
Units 3 and 4) at a fixed price of $0.12/

kWh until 2030; the remainder will be sold
on the open market. After the 15-year
contract expires, the project company will
designate 20% of its profits to the Turkish
government.
Plans for a 5-GW nuclear plant at Sinop
are also under way. In May 2013, the government accepted a proposal from a consortium led by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
and AREVA for four ATMEA1 reactors at
a cost of $22 billion and later that year
signed an official agreement for the project. The consortium replaced a 2010 deal
made between EUAS and South Koreas Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) to build
four APR-1400 reactors because KEPCO
insisted on receiving electricity sales guarantees from the government, rather than
from TETAS. Turkey had also courted a
Japanese consortium comprising Toshiba
and the Tokyo Electric Power Co. for ABWR
units, but the Fukushima accident eroded
that option. The Sinop project lacks Akkuyus sovereign guarantees.
Yet several factors could stymie Turkeys nuclear ambitions, observers note.
One is that the country has an infra-
POWER April 2014
Whats wrong with this picture?
TEAM Services
Dont worry if you dont see whats wrong with this picture.
Not every issue within a power facility is obvious. Thats
what Teams here for. We help power companies identify
issues, repair them, and set a maintenance plan to
ensure optimal production.
Come visit Team out at ELECTRIC POWER Booth #753.
TEAM experts are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week,
365 days a year. Call TEAM today: 1-800-662-8326
Bolting/Torquing
Concrete Repair
Emissions Control
Exchanger Services
Field Machining
Fitness for Service
Heat Treating
Hot Tap/Line Stop
Isolation Test Plugs
Leak Repair
Manufacturing/
Engineering
Mechanical
Integrity
NDE/NDT
Inspection
Specialty Welding
Turnkey Tank
Program
Valve Insertion
Valve Repair
www.teamindustrialservices.com
structure gap, and significantlythough its economic prospects are soaringit has a staggering account deficit of 6%
to 7% of gross domestic product. Turkeys regulatory infrastructure poses another hurdle: Both the Akkuyu and Sinop
reactors need construction and operating licenses from the
Turkish Atomic Energy Authority, which lacks independence
and is prone to conflicting political interests posed by the
prime ministers office.
Both Rosatoms VVER-1200 and MHI/AREVAs ATMEA1 are firstof-their-kind designs. Four VVER-1200s, an evolutionary development of the well-proven VVER-1000 design, are being built
simultaneously in Russia at Novovoronezh II (Figure 1, due to
start between 2014 and 2015) and Leningrad II (between 2016
and 2018). The ATMEA1, a three-loop pressurized water reactor
that uses the same steam generators as the EPR, was only approved in February 2012 by Frances nuclear regulator.
Other aspects, many afflicting all newcomer nuclear countries,
are that Turkey must develop a nuclear workforce and update
existing nuclear laws.
Finally, experts contend, there is bound to be staunch public
opposition to both proposed new builds, which are sited in seismically active areas, and to Turkeys position in a region of the
world that is deeply concerned with nuclear proliferation.
Japans Energy Policy Still Murky Three

Years After Fukushima
The administration of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in late
February announced details of its first draft energy policy since
the Fukushima crisis three years ago, and it suggests that nuclear
ELECTRIC
Visit us at booth 629, and enter to win an iPad.
Matrix NAC, formerly Kvaerner North American Construction,

provides a full range of services including EPC and general
construction solutions for air quality control and power
generation projects to the North American power industry.
NEW BUILD - RETROFIT - MAINTENANCE
P 724 416 6900
matrixnac.com
2. Rising costs in the absence of nuclear. Fuel costs for

thermal power generation for Japans 12 general and wholesale electric utilities rose sharply between 2010 and 2012, almost doubling as
the cost of purchasing natural gas and fuel oil soared. Source: IEEJ
Trillion
Japanese yen
Fuel cost
(gas)
Fuel cost
(fuel oil)
Fuel cost
(coal)
1,000
900
10
800
700
600
Other
thermal
power
Nuclear
Hydropower
& new
energies
Electricity
output
(right axis)
TWh
12
500
400
300
200
100
0
0
2006 2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
power, along with renewables and fossil fuels, will be integral to

meeting the resource-poor nations energy needs.
The draft does not specify an exact mix, alluding to the uncertainty posed by an unknown number of reactor restartsall the
countrys 48 existing reactors remain shuttered for new safety
standards checksand the wavering pace of renewable energy
development. Notably, the plan says Japan will determine the
size of its nuclear fleet after taking into account its future energy
needs, as well as its carbon commitments. That doesnt eliminate
the possibility that the government will endorse new nuclear
builds, experts observe.
Still, the plan has a decidedly greater renewables emphasis
compared to recommendations on the plan late last year from
the Strategic Policy Committee of the Advisory Committee for
Natural Resources and Energy, which is the expert panel tasked
with formulating the Basic Energy Plan. The Cabinet had postponed its decision on their recommendations due to the Tokyo
gubernatorial election.
Media reported that the Cabinet could endorse the new February-released plan this March. In a press conference on Feb.
20, however, Japans chief cabinet secretary said the governments backing of nuclear as an important base-load power
source in the plan was not decided, despite what was being
widely reported. He also noted that no definitive deadline had
been set to finalize the extremely important subject that is directly related to economic activities, and that the government
will proceed carefully.
Japans future energy policy will pivot on political weight,
as the government and ruling parties have differing opinions
about the future of nuclear power. But the landslide victory
of former Health, Labour, and Welfare Minister Yoichi Masuzoe
in the high-profile Tokyo gubernatorial election this February,
defeating major candidates who had called for the immediate
elimination of nuclear, is telling of what the final plan could
look like, observers say.
Others note that the nuclear problem wont be Japans only
focus in the new plan. Advisory panels are expected to discuss
oil, natural gas, coal, renewables, and energy efficiency policies
as they apply to stable supply and environmental measures. One
emphasis will certainly involve strategies involving resource
procurement. With Japans energy import bills surging since Fu-

12
www.powermag.com
POWER April 2014
E20001-F670-P820-V2-7600
Rugged communications
for the electric power grid
siemens.com/ruggedcom
Continuous operation and profitability go hand in hand

in the electric power industry. No one knows this better
than Siemens: we offer the most reliable and efficient
utility communications solutions on the market. Our
RUGGEDCOM portfolio includes products that are fully
compliant with IEC 61850-3, IEEE 1613, IEEE 1588 and
IEC 62439-3 standards. RUGGEDCOM switches, routers
and software solutions were designed with the utility
environment in mind to ensure reliable communications
under any conditions that an IED can survive.
Communications can be that rugged.
(OHFWULF3RZHU
7UDQVSRUWDWLRQ
,QIRUPDWLRQ
EDFNERQHIRU
DOOLQGXVWULHV
,QGXVWULDO$XWRPDWLRQ
Answers for industry.

THE BIG PICTURE: Next-Gen Nuclear

Three years after the Fukushima catastrophe, 72 mostly advanced nuclear reactorsa total of 68 GWare under construction worldwide, almost all in countries with established nuclear programs. But about 30 countries are looking to introduce
nuclear into their generation mix. Sources: International Atomic Energy Agency PRIS database, World Nuclear Association,
POWER Copy and artwork by Sonal Patel, a POWER associate editor
CHINA
NOTABLE NUCLEAR
NEWCOMERS
Contracts signed, legal and
regulatory infrastructure is
well-developed:
27.8 GW
RUSSIA
TURKEY
SLOVAKIA
880 MW
7.1 GW
8.4 GW
LITHUANIA
UKRAINE
INDIA
1.3 GW
1.9 GW
3.9 GW
Committed plans, legal and

regulatory infrastructure is
developing:
UAE
S. KOREA
2.7 GW
6.3 GW
POLAND
BELARUS
U.S.
3 GW
1.1 GW
5.6 GW
ARGENTINA
BANGLADESH
BRAZIL
717 MW
2 GW
1.2 GW
FINLAND
JAPAN
JORDAN
(on hold)
1.6 GW
1.3 GW
PAKISTAN
FRANCE
2 GW
VIETNAM
630 MW
1.6 GW
2.1 GW
KEY:
14
CNP
AP1000
EPR
VVER
(Westinghouse/
Toshiba)
(AREVA/
France)
(Rosatom/
Russia)
ABWR
ATMEA1
(GE-Hitachi
or Toshiba)
(AREVA/
MHI)
CPR-1000
OPR-1000
PHWR
FAST BREEDER
REACTOR
HIGH-TEMP.
GAS-COOLED
OTHER
(China National Nuclear (Korea Hydro

Corp.)
& Nuclear)
ACPR-1000
(China Guangdong (China Guangdong

Nuclear)
Nuclear)
www.powermag.com
APR1400
(Korea Hydro
& Nuclear)
POWER April 2014
Easy Call. Big Payoff.
Save Energy. Save Money.

Motor-driven equipment accounts for 63% of your
plants electricity consumption every minute of
every day. Your choices are to let your electricity
bills continue to grow or call in Baldors Installed
Base Evaluation Team to identify improvements
you can start making today.
targeting inefficient motors and mechanical drives

as well as identifying systems where adjustable
speed drives could be added to save even more
energy. This report will provide recommendations for
immediate action along with long term strategies
all positively affecting your bottom line.
The Baldor IBE Team uses advanced data

collection equipment and software to work with
your plant maintenance personnel to take an
accurate account of your motors, drives and
mechanical power transmission products, both in
operation and from spares inventory. The IBE Team
will produce a comprehensive report and plan,
If youre ready to do something about your growing

electricity consumption, email the Baldor IBE
specialists at IBETeam@Baldor.com or call
(864) 281-2100 to receive case studies with realworld savings. Its an easy call with a big payoff.
baldor.com
4234"Dcnfqt"Gngevtke"Eqorcp{
PROUD
OF YOUR
PROJECT?
Show Your Pride by
Nominating It for a POWER Award
Categories for 2014:

Plant of the Year
Marmaduke Award
Smart Grid Award
Top Plants: Gas, Coal, Nuclear, Renewables
Get more information, past winners, and entry forms
at www.powermag.com/power-awards
DEADLINE: APRIL 30, 2014
kushima, the country had a record trade

deficit in 2013.
According to Yuhji Matsuo and Yuhji
Yamaguchi of the Institute of Energy
Economics of Japan (IEEJ), the total cost
of power generation for the countrys 12
general and wholesale electric utilities
increased from 7.5 trillion in 2010, before Fukushima, to 9.6 trillion in 2011
and 10.6 trillion in 2012. The bulk of
the increase was soaring imported fuel
costs for thermal power generation
particularly natural gas and fuel oil (Figure 2)which almost doubled in the
two years from 2010 to 2012 (from 3.7
trillion in 2010 to 7.3 trillion in 2012).
The IEEJ researchers note that costs have
been offset somewhat by the currency
exchange rate and a drastic decrease in
electricity consumption.
The soaring costs have pushed Tokyo
Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) and eight other general utilities deep into the red. The
companies had posted net profits of 200
billion to 400 billion each year (except
in FY2008, when oil prices soared)even
in FY2010, after losses from the Great
East Japan Earthquake were reported and
when Fukushima Daiichi owner TEPCO
suffered a net deficit (of 1.3 trillion).
But over the following two years, all
eight companies have registered huge
net lossesa combined 800 billion, estimates the IEEJ.
POWER Digest
Second Nuclear Unit in Northeast
China Begins Operation. The second
nuclear unit at the Hongyanhe plant
(Hongyanhe-2) in northeast Chinas Liaoning Province entered commercial operation on Feb. 25. Construction of the
CPR-1000 pressurized water reactor began in 2008. The first unit, Hongyanhe-1,
began operating in June 2013 and was
the first to be built in northeast China.
The plant, which incorporates a seawater
desalination plant that produces 10,080
cubic meters of potable water a day, is
owned and operated by Liaoning Hongyanhe Nuclear Power Co., a joint venture
of China Nuclear Power Co. (45%), China
Power Investment Corp. (45%), and Dalian Municipal Construction Investment
Co. (10%). According to the International Atomic Energy Agencys Power Reactor
Information System database, China has
28 reactors under construction and 21 in
operation. Nuclear generation made up a
sparse 2.11% share of the countrys total
power production in 2013, however.
Developers of the $2.9 billion London

Arraythe worlds biggest offshore wind
farm, which opened in July 2013 in the
UKs Outer Thames Estuaryhave nixed
development of the projects 370-MW
second phase. When initiated in 2001,
the two-phase project was proposed to
comprise 1 GW of total capacity. But following the opening of the 175-turbine,
630-MW first phase, the project consortium of DONG Energy, E.ON, and Masdar
on Feb. 20 urged The Crown Estate to ter-
minate the lease agreement for the Phase

2 area. The consortium said constraints
on the site had reduced final capacity for
Phase 2 to 200 MW and that the project was further hampered by a required
waiting period of at least three years to
assess the potential impact of the development on birds. In the absence of any
certainty that Phase 2 would be able to
proceed, shareholders decided to surrender, said London Array General Manager
Mike OHare.
Registered trademark of Martin Engineering Company in the US and other select locations.
2014 Martin Engineering Company. For additional information visit martin-eng.com/trademarks.
you need more

than just great products
industry
experience
trusted
service
tested
solutions
Martin Engineering has been delivering

tough, tested coal handling solutions,
backed by genuine and dependable
industry experience since 1944.
Trust Martin for quality, performance, and
supportbefore, during, and after the sale.
They come in, install product for you, and return not only to ensure that
the system is working properly, but take it upon themselves to look for
problems...Martin makes sure that everything is working as promised.
Kirk Estee, P.E. Material Handling Supervisor, OPPD.
(2013 Small Plant of the Year)
Contact us to discuss how we can solve
your coal handling problems
A Global Company
call 800.544.2947
visit martin-eng.com
email info@martin-eng.com
Phase 2 of London Array Scrapped.

April 2014 POWER
www.powermag.com
17
Peterhead CCS Project Gets UK Approval to Proceed

with FEED. The UK government on Feb. 24 gave developers
Shell and SSE the green light to advance the Peterhead Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) project in Aberdeenshire and
begin front-end engineering and design (FEED). If the twoyear FEED phase is successful and the project garners relevant
permits and consents, the project could begin operating commercially by 2020 as the first industrial application of CCS
at a gas power plant in the world. The project, which seeks
to capture 10 million metric tons of carbon dioxide for 10
years with amine postcombustion technology, was shortlisted
along with the Drax Groups 426-MW coal-fired White Rose
CCS project as part of the UK governments CCS commercialization competition.
FROM
ENGINEERING
ANALYSIS TO
ADVANCED NDE,
LOOK TO
STRUCTURAL
INTEGRITY
Ghana to Build 1,560 MW of New, Mostly Coal, Capacity. A Feb. 24 deal between Ghanas Ministry of Energy and
We Connect the Dots

Over the past 30
years,
Structural
Integrity has built a
team of over 260
industry experts providing comprehensive solutions
to the energy industry. We connect the dots from
nondestructive examination, to engineered solutions,
even custom equipment.
You can look to us for our:
Knowledge of power plants, codes, and how
things work;
Extensive experience and leadership;
High quality, hard work, and responsiveness.
Petroleum and Chinas Shenzhen Energy Group greenlighted

a 700-MW coal-fired extension at the 360-MW Sunon Asogli
Power Plant. The new $1.4 billion facility will source coal
from South Africa. The deal also calls for Shenzhen to establish a new 500-MW plant at Domlemi in the Jomoro District in
the Western Region. Ghanas power demand has soared, and it
is on the verge of becoming a net exporter to power-hungry
West Africa. The country is also developing the Ghana Gas
Project, which seeks to exploit its latent natural gas suppliesestimated at more than nine trillion cubic feet.
FirstEnergy Sells 11 Hydro Plants. Ohio-based FirstEnergy Corp. on Feb. 12 completed the September 2013announced sale of 11 hydroelectric power plants with a total
capacity of 527 MW (or 3% of the power generators fleet
capacity) to Harbor Hydro Holdings LLC, a subsidiary of LS
Power Equity Partners II LP, for about $395 million. The sale
includes Seneca Pumped Storage (451 MW) in Warren, Pa.;
Allegheny Lock & Dam 5 (6 MW) in Schenley, Pa.; Allegheny
Lock & Dam 6 (7 MW) in Ford City, Pa.; Lake Lynn (52 MW)
in Lake Lynn, Pa.; Millville (3 MW) in Millville, W. Va.; Dam 4
(2 MW) in Shepherdstown, W. Va.; Dam 5 (1.2 MW) in Falling
Waters, W.Va.; Warren (750 kW) in Front Royal, Va.; Luray (1.6
MW) in Luray, Va.; and Shenandoah and Newport (860 kW and
1.4 MW, respectively) in Shenandoah, Va.
Doosan Babcock to Deliver Lifetime Support to 7.5 GW

of UK Nuclear. Doosan Babcock on Feb. 19 inked a deal to
Call us today and well connect the

dots for you.
Scan the QR Code for more information
877-474-7693
(877-4SI-POWER)
www.structint.com/power
Infinite Comprehensive Solutions
support the operations and lifetime extension services at seven UK Advanced Gas Cooled Reactors (AGRs) owned by French
power company EDF Energy until the end of generation at the
stations. The power stations at Dungeness B, Hinkley Point B,
Hunterston B, Hartlepool, Heysham 1, Heysham 2, and Torness together generate 7,550 MW. EDF awarded the contract
to Doosan Babcock after two years of detailed planning.
World Bank Suspends Vote on Inga 3. The World Bank
in early February indefinitely postponed a board discussion
and scheduled vote to grant $73 million to the Inga 3 hydroelectric project in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on
concerns that the project would generate power for mining
companies in South Africa rather than the DRCs energy-poor
population. The 4.8-GW Inga 3 project is the first $12 billion
phase of the giant 40-GW Grand Inga project. The project
has been listed as a priority project by the Southern Africa
Development Community and the Southern African Power
Pool.
Sonal Patel is a POWER associate editor
(@POWERmagazine, @sonalcpatel)

18
www.powermag.com
POWER April 2014
WHERE WATER and POWER MEET

C U S T O M I Z E D WAT E R S O L U T I O N S T H AT F I T YO U R P O W E R P L A N T
Putting Nature to Work

A utility client was looking for ways to reduce selenium
and mercury from the industrial waste stream of a coal-fired
power plant. Their focus was on finding tools to preserve
environmental quality. Chris Snider led the team of client,
academic and Burns & McDonnell professionals in finding
the solution: constructed wetlands. At the end of an intensive,
2-acre pilot project a $3 million investment the client
has a blueprint to move on to a larger-scale wetlands that
will be a cost-effective, engineered filter for reducing
elements to below regulatory compliance levels.
Chris is a recognized technical leader in landfill design and coal

byproduct handling. He has 18 years of experience with solid waste
disposal and landfill-related subsurface investigations. He is one
of our experienced power plant professionals who can help you identify the
water alternative that fits:
t
t
t
t
t
Zero liquid discharge

Customized wastewater treatment and water management
Constructed wetlands
Landfill and pond management
Bottom ash handling
9400 Ward Parkway

Kansas City, MO 64114
www.burnsmcd.com/water-team
Engineering, Architecture, Construction, Environmental and Consulting Solutions

3D-Printed Turbine
Replacement Parts Could
Cut Repair Times by 90%
3D metal printing is still an experimental
process in nearly all industries, used primarily for prototypes and test products. But if
Siemens and GE have their way, it will soon
become a standard means of rapidly producing small numbers of industrial parts.
Siemens announced in December that
it would begin using 3D printingalso
known as additive manufacturingto
produce replacement burner components
for gas turbines rather than using conventional methods. It said that for certain
types of turbines, repair times can be cut
by as much as 90%.
Meanwhile, GE Aviation announced that
it would contract with Swedish company
Arcam to produce 3D-printed components
for its jet engines. Its oil and gas division plans to start pilot production of 3Dprinted gas turbine fuel nozzles later this
year. With conventional manufacturing
methods, the nozzles are assembled from
20 separate parts, but with 3D printing,
they can be created in a single piece. Rolls
Royce is also reportedly looking at adopting the technology.
3D printing is slower than casting or
molding, but far more cost effective if
only a few parts are needed. For mass production, traditional processes still rule.
Siemens described its 3D-printing process, known as selective laser melting

(SLM), as follows. Metal powder is placed
on the floor of the printer, and a laser
beam moves across the bed of powder.
The powder melts but then cools relatively quickly into a solid shape, the first
layer of the three-dimensional object
(Figure 1). Because only a small amount
of metal is melted at a time, it solidifies
much faster than liquid metal poured into
a mold.
Another layer of metal powder is then
spread evenly over the objects surface.
Step by step, the desired shape is created.
At the end of the process, a large amount
of powder is left over that can be reused
for the next printing cycle.
The surface of the finished object is
typically granular. To make the surfaces
completely smooth, SLM-manufactured materials may need to be polished afterward.
Additive manufacturing opens up a
new dimension in integrated design and
manufacturing, said Dr. Vladimir Navrotsky, head of technology & innovation
at Siemens Energy Service Oil & Gas. This
technology enables faster manufacturing
and repair of gas turbine components, with
higher functionality and performance.
Siemens has begun offering SLM for repairing the burners on its SGT-800 industrial gas turbine, instead of replacement.
1. Bright future. Lasers move over the bed of metal powder, melting it into the desired
shape. Courtesy: Siemens
20
www.powermag.com
Repairing the burner tip with conventional methods is possible but slow. Using 3D
printing enables a 90% reduction in repair
time, and repaired components can also
be upgraded to the latest burner design.
One distinct advantage of 3D printing
processes is that shapes can be produced
that would be impossible using any other
production process (Figure 2). Siemens recently introduced an advanced design burner swirl for its SGT-750 turbine that could
only be manufactured by SLM. Here, a very
complex multi-element component was
manufactured by SLM as a single piece.
There are drawbacks, however, in that
Siemens method cannot produce parts requiring high strength or ductility, such as
turbine blades. But the company hopes to
one day make that a reality.
3D-printed turbine blades could be
produced with much more intricate internal air ducts, which could improve blade
cooling, allowing higher temperatures in
the combustion chamber and increased
efficiency.
Lasers are preferred for small, delicate parts, but electron beams can also
be used. That method is better for larger
components. Arcam is using its electron
beam method to manufacture titanium alloy turbine blades for GE Aviation.
Thomas W. Overton, associate editor
(@thomas_overton, @POWERmagazine).
2. More options.
This short pipe section connects two parts of a gas turbine. The
smooth transition from round to square is
difficult to achieve using conventional production methods, but its simple with 3D printing.
Courtesy: Siemens
POWER April 2014
3D Visualization Could
Benefit Plant Inspection
Programs
2014 Brand Services, LLC All Rights Reserved.
Taking a cue from the petrochemical sector, power plants may be on the cusp of
applying high-fidelity 3D models of the
as-built plant environment to streamline flow-accelerated corrosion (FAC) and
other risk-based inspection programs. In
time, this technology could anchor all of a
plants digital data.
Advanced industrial and process facilities are now employing 3D visualization
software to streamline all aspects of plant
operations and maintenance. In concept,
the technology is simple. Laser scans of the
actual plant equipment are converted into
high-fidelity computer graphics for use on
engineering and operator workstations.
All of the data, diagrams, documentation, and knowledge about any component
stored in other digital or electronic databases can then be anchored to that component (Figure 1) in the context of the actual
plant in its current state and condition.
Asset virtualization is the term used in
other industries to describe this process.
Petrochemical facilities in the U.S. and
1. Integration. Converting laser scans into intelligent 3D models integrates as-built plant
environment with the digital enterprise. Courtesy: INOVx
around the world are applying 3D visualization software solutions for critical piping
and vessel inspection programs (see sidebar). In the power sector, many nuclear
power plants are early adopters of this
technology for maneuvering complex components during outages. Next step for these
plants is to move from off-line to online
applications in the operating environment.

Discussions with numerous power plant
managers, directors, and executives have
made it clear that existing inspection
programs are based on antiquated techniques, such as:
Old
process and instrument diagrams, 2D
Creating Client VALUE

is our Business
SCAFFOLDING | COATINGS | INSULATION | REFRACTORY | FIREPROOFING | CUI MANAGEMENT

HOT TAPPING | CATHODIC PROTECTION | FORMING AND SHORING | FIELD MACHINING
Providing you access to

the safest, smartest and
most efficient specialty
services.
Brand Energy & Infrastructure Services is a leading provider of specialty

services to the power industry. Our unique multi-service approach
delivers significant savings to our clients on their maintenance, outages
and capital projects by reducing manpower requirements, improving
communication through a single point of contact, and ultimately,
delivering enhanced productivity.
For more information contact us at:

281.404.9397 or info@beis.com
www.beis.com
April 2014 POWER
www.powermag.com
21
3D Visualizations Value at a Refinery

The National Cooperative Refinery Association (NCRA) in McPherson, Kan., streamlined its risk-based inspection programs for its
85,000-barrel/day processing facility in 2008. The deployment began with a pilot project involving 19 pumps, 14 heat exchangers,
a fractionator tower, and associated piping and structural components at a crude processing unit. Today more than 50% of the facility has been converted to 3D virtualized models, with conversion
of all major processing units expected by about 2015.
In the recent past, process and instrument diagrams (P&IDs)
were developed as the most accurate representation of the facilitys process equipment. Inspection engineers had to develop indices to match legacy documents to the newly developed P&ID line
numbers. Legacy drawings for equipment were often inadequate for
current inspection practices, so a draftsperson would then sketch
the line in the as-built condition, refine it in the AutoCad System,
and then produce an isometric for the inspectors.
Today, the 3D models are used to generate drawings of piping
circuits for inspection teams. The team receives a booklet with
essentially everything they need to do the job, including the location, piping, test routines, thickness monitoring locations, corrosion-monitoring locations, and testing procedures.
Thickness data are collected in a data logger, downloaded into

the plant condition-monitoring system, and automatically associated with the 3D representation of the circuit. NCRA is now integrating the 3D visualization system with the computerized maintenance
management system, the distributed control system, and the turnaround (outage) planning processes and procedures. In the near
future, inspectors will be able to view the circuits on an iPad or
equivalent mobile device which, when integrated with the data loggers, achieves full electronic transfer of information.
NCRAs program resulted in the following benefits, with obvious
cost paybacks:
Reduced the number of inspection points by 50% and inspection

hours by 20% to 30% while increasing reliability and safety.
Helped the plant comply with myriad American Petroleum Institute and Occupational Safety and Health Administration
standards.
Improved accuracy and consistency in documenting placement
of thickness measurement and condition monitoring locations.
Broke down information silos around the plant.
Independently verified payback of 13.4 months.
isometrics (in some cases hand-drawn), or scanned versions of

old diagrams.
Lack of proper management of change procedures.
Reliance on recall of plant personnel in determining what has
changed since the last inspections.
Virtually no system context for higher understanding of corrosion phenomena.
Excel spreadsheets of inspection data that are not linked to
drawings.
Time-, or location-based inspection intervals, rather than inspections based on actual condition.
Silos of information and knowledge among different stakeholders involved in the inspection routines.
Unfortunately, the situation promises to get worse. The threat

of FAC increases with age. Most U.S. nuclear plants and large,
flagship coal-fired plants have been operating for several decades. Power uprates, common at most nuclear units, also raise
the threat of FAC incidences. As the frequency of inspection grows
with aging (but more productive) plants, power plant owners and
operators must consider new ways to hold down costs. Petrochemical facilities implementing this technology have enjoyed
paybacks of four months to just over a year.
Applying 3D visualization at nuclear plants can reduce the
amount of time workers are exposed to radiation, an important
key performance indicator, and helps meet several criteria set forth
by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) in its 2008 FAC
Program Recommendations Document:
2. Color coding.
Makes
Piping can be color-coded to reflect areas of

high, medium, or low flow accelerated corrosion susceptibility, allowing personnel to easily understand the system as a whole while
process data can be included as text. In this example, reflected-light
temperature colors are mostly subdued and a red glow is emitted by
areas of potentially high damage rates. Courtesy: INOVx
it easier to train back-up personnel and maintain continuity of trained staff.

Formalizes the sharing of data and information on FAC and a
consistent picture of reality.
Ensures a high level of quality assurance in documenting procedures and preparing tasks.
EPRI and others have documented that FAC has occurred in
about 60% of all conventional fossil plants. Increased and deeper load cycling, common at fossil thermal and combined cycle
plants, also aggravate FAC. In gas-fired combined cycle and cogeneration plants, FAC is reportedly the leading cause of damage
and failure in heat recovery steam generators (see, for example,
Ten Years of Experience with FAC in HRSGs in the September
2010 issue, online at powermag.com).
According to a paper presented at the Fossil FAC International
Conference 2010, one Midwestern owner/operator noted that a
formal FAC inspection program started in 2006 has been very successful in identifying thinned components and for justifying their
removal from service prior to failure. However, some of their lessons learned are opportunities to improve, using 3D visualization.
22
www.powermag.com
POWER April 2014
For example, care must be exercised in applying assumptions

for calculating wastage rates. FAC inspection data taken in 2007
at the previously mentioned Midwestern plant were the first such
data obtained since a particular unit went into service in 1972.
The wastage rate was calculated assuming 35 years of service,
and extrapolation showed it had sufficient remaining life to make
it to the 2010 planned outage. It was only after a second failure
was experienced with a component that staff realized new control valves had been installed in 1998. The original gate valves
had been replaced with trim stacked drag valves, which were subsequently deemed to have adversely affected flow patterns in the
pipe. This oversight could have been avoided by having accurate
3D intelligent models of the actual plant equipment.
Reducers and expanders account for most of the replaced components. There are several different configurations of reducers, however, which make data interpretation and damage prediction difficult.
The transition zone can be a straight taper, curved taper, stepped
taper, or a bulged taper, and the exact point of the thickness transition varies. It is imperative that costly repair/replace decisions
based on inspection data be associated to the best extent possible
with components in their current state and condition.
To simply illustrate the value of 3D visualization, consider the
case of two water sources merged into a common line. Process
data are included as text. Piping is initially color-coded according to nominal stream temperatures. Reference data can be readily available through hyperlinks.
FAC susceptibility values can be accessed to graphically enhance
areas of interest. In Figure 2, the reflected-light temperature colors
are mostly subdued and a red glow is emitted by areas of potentially
high damage rates. The application of both reflective and emissive
color spectra to the geometrically accurate representation of field
piping allows complex theoretical data to be visualized more easily
than through thousands of words of text or tabulated data.
A manager of a utility fleet inspection program noted that having 3D models of the existing equipment to manage diagrams would
be huge, for example, knowing if a section of replaced pipe is 1 foot
or 3 feet. Relying on the recall of site personnel or plant documentation is often inadequate. The fact that 3D visualization technology
distinguishes insulation from piping is also deemed important, and
that each reducer or expander, each fitting, is a distinct entity and
can serve as an access point for associated data.
An engineering services manager for a large nuclear fleet
stated that the highest value point is linking the 3D models to
the computerized maintenance management systems work order
system. Similarly, providing pre-job training and practice briefs
would be helpful.
The manager further noted that nuclear units are very old,
and were designed on drafting tables. No 3D models exist for
most of the plant, and piping inspections are carried out with
2D isometrics. Some drawings have been scanned into AutoCad,
but they are not intelligent. Specific and persistent FAC issues
with feedwater heaters could really benefit from 3D visualization
because the shells have to be regularly checked and the heater
bays are crowded with lots of stuff. In addition, many areas of
piping susceptible to FAC are not accessible.
An asset director for multiple gas turbine cogeneration plants
reported, We have been chasing FAC for 20 years. This technology could help convert hand-drawn isometrics to models of the
actual equipment and enable the shift from time/location-based
inspection strategies to condition-based inspection.
Costantino Lanza is with INOVx Solutions, and Jason Makansi
is president, Pearl Street Inc.
PIPING SYSTEMS
FOR POWER PLANTS
With its two own fabrications in Germany

including an own clean hall, piping systems are constructed and prefabricated to
the highest quality standards. Engineering,
pre-fabrication, construction and commissioning of piping systems are efectively
and eiciently performed all over the world.
Bilinger Piping Technologies is internationally active and present in Europe with
its subsidiary and sisters companies but
also within the CIS, GCC, RSA and Asia.
BILFINGER PIPING TECHNOLOGIES GMBH

xxx/qjqjoh/cjm !ohfs/dpn
April 2014 POWER
www.powermag.com
23
Margaret H. Claybour
Robert G. Scott, Jr.
Federal Cybersecurity
Framework Calls for
Increased Vigilance
he energy industry, already familiar with the latest iteration of the North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC)
Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) reliability standards,
should take note: Meeting those standards may not be enough
to satisfy evolving cybersecurity threats and the need to protect
cyber assets as well as personal data. As cyber crime continues to
make headlines, the energy industry may turn to the first version
of the National Institute for Standards and Technologies (NIST)
Framework for Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity, in
addition to sector specific standards, to mitigate cybersecurity
risks to critical infrastructure. Plaintiffs attorneys and government enforcement agencies may, in turn, use the framework as a
possible de facto legal standard of care for cybersecurityeven
for entities already subject to the NERC standards or the Department of Energys Electricity Subsector Cybersecurity Risk Management Process. In addition to operational cybersecurity and risk
management, the framework also highlights the need to evaluate
and manage risks to the security of personal data.
Criminals and terrorists are constantly scanning systems looking for back doors or unmonitored assets. Seeking to shore up the
defense of critical infrastructure, in early 2013, President Obama
directed NIST to create the cybersecurity framework. In doing so,
the administration identified energy systems as uniquely critical infrastructure that enables all other critical infrastructure
systems to function. The presidents designation of energy systems as uniquely critical infrastructure did not recognize any
distinction between bulk power system facilities, already subject
to NERC oversight and CIP standards for cybersecurity, and other
energy facilities that have no such oversight or mandatory standards for cybersecurity. Indeed, NERCs submission in the NIST
process developing the framework recognized both the lack of
an end-to-end cybersecurity protocol for the energy industry and
the siloed approach across industries that has resulted in variable guidelines, standards, and regulations. The framework, according to NISTs introduction, provides a common language to
address and manage cybersecurity risk, while allowing organizations flexibility in how they implement the practices.
The framework is not intended to supplant CIP standards, which
are focused on the impact on the bulk power system. The detailed
framework provides three sets of risk evaluation and management
tools that can be more broadly applied to cyber assets and personal
data. One tool provides a high-level strategic view of an organizations
existing and target activities for addressing risks. Another allows an
organization to grade its current level of risk and examine the costeffectiveness of risk reduction in light of business objectives. The third
tool helps define strategic areas for improvement, taking into account
specific risks, and the costs of mitigation measures.
Unlike NERC, NIST has no enforcement authority. The framework
is voluntary. However, as the administrations efforts to identify
and implement incentives to promote adoption of the framework
have stalled, Congress could step in to mandate compliance. Sev-
24
eral pending bills would give the Department of Homeland Security

(DHS) expanded authority over the cyber-readiness of critical infrastructure and other private entities. Another bill would impose
certain limits on liability and provide important defenses to utilities
that use DHS-approved cyber-defense technology. Although each
bill currently would maintain the voluntary nature of the framework,
the legislative process leaves plenty of room to add mandates.
The NIST framework is not limited to the security of critical
assetsit also includes standards for organizations to address
the privacy and civil liberties of consumers. These standards
cover functions such as taking inventory of personal data; privacy training; transparency; notice to individuals whose personal information is collected, used, and maintained; and data
minimization practices. These provisions of the framework highlight the need for power companies to have not only robust
cyber defenses, but also appropriate policies and standards to
protect personal data, such as customer power usage data collected via the smart grid, from cyber theft and other inappropriate use or disclosure.
Every energy company collects and maintains a substantial
amount of personal information from employees, including the
background check information sometimes required by the NERC
CIP standards themselves. Companies with retail customers collect names, addresses, email addresses, phone numbers and
financial information, including credit card data. Various standards exist for the collection, use, sharing, protection, and destruction of all of that data. For example, the stringent PCI Data
Security Standards govern the protection of credit card data.
Recent California laws and regulations limit disclosure to third
parties of any specific consumers energy consumption data.
And the Federal Trade Commission has demonstrated through
at least 50 settlements of data security practices that it will
apply its Section 5 enforcement authority to any company that
it believes failed to adhere to reasonable standards for data
protection, regardless of whether another federal agency ostensibly has primary jurisdiction.
In this environment, compliance with NERC cybersecurity
standards may not suffice to protect energy companies from the
myriad risks presented by cyber crime and other data breach incidents. Companies must affirmatively consider specific risks to
their business assets and consumer data, define their tolerance
for those risks, and build or improve risk-based programs to address areas for improvement that are cost-effective in light of the
risks. Energy companies that systematically consider cybersecurity and the protection of personal data in this way will responsibly
manage their risks, protect their organizational reputations, and
prepare for increased government scrutiny.
Margaret H. Claybour is a senior associate in Davis Wright
Tremaines Energy practice group. Robert G. Scott, Jr. is a partner
with Davis Wright Tremaines Communications practice. Both
work out of the firms Washington, D.C., office.
www.powermag.com
POWER April 2014
PLANT MAINTENANCE
Drones Promise Faster, Easier

Inspection of Boilers, Stacks,
Towers, and More
Courtesy: United Aerobotics
Boiler inspection is tricky work that most plant staff wish they could avoid. Now they
may get their wish. Unmanned craft can provide faster access to high-quality, realtime visual inspection. The technology also has applications for inspection of other
fossil power plant systems, wind turbines, and transmission system components.
Jon S. Cavote
ention the word drone, and most

people will have a mental picture of
what a drone is and does. They likely
will think first of military drones carrying missiles and other weapons that could malfunction
and/or misdirect. In the U.S., there is the perception that if a dronemore formally known
as an unmanned aircraft system (UAS)is
in domestic airspace, it is spying on you or
otherwise up to no good. However, the reality
is that UAS devices are tools; although they
can serve military and surveillance goals and
may malfunction, how (and how well) they are
used depends on the pilot and purpose.
UASs have fascinated and been used by humans for decades. Whats new is the moniker
droneas well as enhanced capabilities.
Innovations include taking a simple remotecontrolled helicopter and adding cameras,
lights, vertical landing system equipment,
infrared equipment, self-stabilization equipment, material wall thickness calculation
capability, and much more. Technology developments, including advanced batteries,
26
have put us in position to increase the payload on UAS devices.

All of those developments are leading to
new opportunities in sectors ranging from
the military to retail (Amazon, you may
have heard, recently announced that it is
developing drones for faster delivery of orders) to energy.
United Aerobotics, a division of United
Dynamics Advanced Technologies Corp.
(UDC), uses a variety of UASs to achieve its
goals. We did not create remote-controlled
helicopters/drones; however, we took the
underlying capabilities, added and developed new (and in some cases cross-pollinated) technology, and made a system that
is extremely useful and powerful. We also
designed the systems to be affordable and efficient for use in a number of electricity sector applications.
Industry Innovations
UDC has been in the boiler inspection and
condition assessment business since the midwww.powermag.com
1970s. Improvements in unit safety, reliability, and overall boiler efficiency have been the
companys specialty since day one.
In the 1980s, John M. Cavote, chairman
and CEO of UDC, developed the CYBER
system, a leading-edge combustion control
system designed to read control levels and
auto tune for optimal burner function. Fast
forward to the 1990s, when UDC recognized
a significant deficiency in proper boiler and
auxiliary equipment inspection documentation, coupled with a less-than-desirable approach to tracking forced outage and tube
leak events. In response, UDC introduced the
concept of a boiler tube leak-tracking system,
and shortly thereafter developed what was
known as the TRACKER system. Although
it was a little ahead of its time, TRACKER
cleared the path for modern software companies to provide systems that track tube leaks,
track material wall wastage, mine data, and
project wastage rates.
Around the same time, UDC also recognized a fleetwide problem with streamlin-
POWER April 2014
Powering
the Future.
An industry innovator,
Kiewit Power has extensive
experience in the gas-fired,
air quality control systems,
power delivery, renewable
and nuclear markets. Kiewit
serves the power industry
through a number of its
subsidiaries, such as Kiewit
Power Constructors Co.,
Kiewit Power Engineers
Co. and TIC-The Industrial
Company (TIC).
As a full EPC provider, our
in-depth market knowledge
and industry-leading
projects show how Kiewit is
committed to clients and to
remaining a power pioneer.
Leader in EPC
installations for
TODAYS
Kiewit Power Group Inc.
9401 Renner Boulevard
Lenexa, KS 66219
(913) 928-7000
kiewit.com
ADVANCED
GENERATION
TECHNOLOGIES
PLANT MAINTENANCE
Boiler Inspections: A Nasty but Necessary Chore

Boiler inspections are no fun. Climbing through a small hole and
crawling over tubes covered in ash looking for leaks or abnormal
wear is uncomfortable, tiring, and even dangerous. However, the
process is important because it helps managers better evaluate the
health of one of the plants most important assetsthe boilerand
assess maintenance and repair options. Correcting problems before
equipment fails is important for plant reliability and availability.
I have done my fair share of boiler inspections. While the O&M
manager of a biomass-fired power plant, I was the resident boiler
inspector. Later, at a coal-fired plant, I also conducted boiler inspections, although in that situation there were more qualified
personnel, so we split up the areas and did smaller sections.
Inspections come in various shapes and sizes. During a forced
outage, such as following a tube rupture, I generally tried to do
as little as possible to save time. It was important to be thorough, however, and inspect enough to ensure you hadnt missed
deficiencies similar to those that had led to the tube rupture that
brought the plant down in the first place. There is nothing worse
than starting up following a repair and being forced back offline
soon after due to a similar problem that could have been corrected
during the initial repair.
Inspectors should always do a visual examination of every area
opened. That involves looking for obvious signs of trouble. You
may see polished areas, which could indicate a steam leak or sooting reports and maintaining an effective
way to archive repair records and inspection findings. As a result, it developed the
GTRACK system report generator, which
is still used by all UDC field reps and their
customers for effective report generation and
data collection.
After years of performing visual inspections and evaluations on fossil-fueled utility
blower erosion. I always inspected for unusual fouling and blocked

gas lanes, broken J-hooks, or other types of supports, and any
other noticeable issues.
During forced outages, we often needed to hang a swing stage
scaffold, which is like what a window washer uses on the outside
of a tall building. You hang it from the top of the boiler through
small cable ports and run the air motors or electric motors connected to scaffold picks up to the area of concern. During the
process, personnel are often suspended in the middle of the boiler
100 or more feet in the air.
On a forced outage you may only open one section of the boiler,
specifically where the tube ruptured, but during an extended maintenance outage, you go into everythingstarting on the grates
and working your way up to the superheater, generating bank,
economizer, air heater, scrubber, baghouse, fans, and stack.
Digital cameras gave us the ability to take photos of everything,
but I would have welcomed the option of taking those photos using a drone, without having to get inside the boiler.
The time it takes for traditional boiler inspections depends on
the situation. You can work for days during a major maintenance
period or a few hours when you need to get back online quickly.
Efficient and thorough inspections are always the goal.
Aaron Larson is a POWER associate editor who has worked

in nuclear as well as coal- and biomass-fired plants.
boilers of all makes and sizes, one common

problem continued to plague the industry:
how to gain quick access to a boiler to take
a look.
Previously, we had few options. We could
erect scaffolding (see sidebar Boiler Inspections: A Nasty but Necessary Chore), we
could fly a sky climber, or we could simply use binoculars to visually identify prob-
lem areas lacking access. These limited, and

sometimes costly options, drove us to form
United Aerobotics in 2012.
Inspection benefits of using United Aerobotics UASs include reaching areas not accessible with scaffold erection, being able to
evaluate areas without incurring the high cost
of scaffolding, evaluating areas when time
does not permit for scaffold erection, and ac-
Table 1. Comparison of unmanned aircraft system (drone) models. Source: United Aerobotics
MAGNEBOT
ELECTRABOT
Main fuction
Internal boiler inspection tool with the ability to attach onto tube
walls
Outdoor inspection tool for areas of difficult access
Range
Within a boiler
Up to 10 miles
Inspection areas
Waterwalls and ash pit
Exterior pipe and stacks
Burner inspection
Towers
Division panel/wing wall inspection
Transmission lines
Backpass inspection
Wind turbines
Construction
Layered and wrapped carbon fiber airframe
Layered and wrapped carbon fiber airframe
Camera
Full high-definition (HD) video/photo capability
Full HD video/photo capability

20x optical (40x enhanced digital) high-zoom lense, allowing device
to keep its distance from high-risk components
Fly-by-wire flight control electronics for stability
Fly-by-wire flight control electronics for stability
Vertical landing system
Three-axis camera-stabilization gimbal to cancel effects of wind
Flight time
5 to 15 minutes (depending on payload)
15 to 30 minutes (depending on payload)
Charge time
5 minutes (allowing for continuous flight)
10 minutes (allowing for continuous flight)
Payload
High-definition camera, flood lights, vertical landing system; fu- High-definition camera, high-zoom lens, three-axis camera-stabilizature: tube thickness measuring equipment
tion gimbal
Other features
28
www.powermag.com
POWER April 2014
Quality
Turbine
Generator
Components
Scan QR code for more information.
TURBO PARTS, LLC

Ph: 1-518-885-3199 | Fx: 1-518-885-3072
Email: Info@TurboPartsLLC.com
www.mdaturbines.com/turbo-parts
A Subsidiary of MD&A
THE RIGHT PART
THE FIRST TIME
PLANT MAINTENANCE
1. Ground control. This photo shows
a typical ground station for the drones, with
dual screens and dual control. Courtesy: United Aerobotics
2. MAGNEBOT as a boiler wall

would see it. Rotors enable the visual inspection tool to move from one area of interest to another. Courtesy: United Aerobotics
4. Climbing the walls. Using both

its rotors and rollers, the MAGNEBOT can
smoothly travel up a boiler wall, capturing
photos or real-time video. Courtesy: United
Aerobotics
cessing areas that are inaccessible due to safety concerns or other regulatory restriction.
Drone Models
United Aerobotics has two drone models (see
Table 1). The trademarked MAGNEBOT
v1.0 was designed for interior structure
evaluations, such as inside the boiler proper,
while the ELECTRABOT v1.0 is used outdoors and in areas experiencing drafts.
What separates MAGNEBOT and ELECTRABOT from basic remote-controlled
helicopters is live, real-time streamed footage, allowing for real-time inspections and
reporting. The MAGNEBOT also is capable
of landing vertically on a furnace waterwall
and can turn off its rotors for energy savings
while continuing to operate the camera and
lighting system within high-priority inspection areas.
Each drone also comes equipped with a
fully functional operating ground station. Although more than one ground station design
exists, they all include:
Pelican case housing to resist the elements

Flight control electronics to provide support for the flight team
High-power computer for processing and
editing captured footage
High-definition monitors to provide a live
view for the inspector
High-speed battery charger for continuous
flight operations
Ground stations are used by the flight technician as well as lead inspector performing
the evaluation. The station used on a given
inspection depends on the application and requirements for the flight project, access point
(door) dimensions, travel considerations, and
other factors.
The larger ground station (Figure 1) was
designed to allow for both inspection technician and flight technician to view flight footage with ease, eliminating any interference
(crossover) between them. The flight technician can be watching for flight pattern and
30
3. Evidence.
This image shows results

from a MAGNEBOT inspection of a wall blower unit. The drone is inspecting for wall wastage due to sootblower erosion, cracked peg
fin, cracked or missing blower head, missing
refractory from wall box, any debris lodged
in blower sleeve restricting proper blower
function, fatigued or eroded blower sleeve,
and condition of wall box, if visible. Courtesy:
United Aerobotics
safety, while the inspector can be viewing for

evaluation accuracy. The inspector is evaluating in real time and may ask the flight technician to stop and return the drone to an area
based on potential deficiencies that may have
been observed. We have learned that technician interference is typically not an issue,
which led to the smaller, more transportable
and manageable ground stations with one
main viewing screen.
The Technology at Work

Different inspection locations and tasks require different capabilities, which is why the
two models have some specialized features.
MAGNEBOT. During any inspection,
there are regions or areas on the list that require more attention or time. To best manage
inspection of boiler furnace waterwalls, the
MAGNEBOT, flown by four rotors, was dewww.powermag.com
5. Lights, camera... The MAGNEBOT

housing box is the brain center of the drone
and includes both LED lighting and high-definition camera. Courtesy: United Aerobotics
signed to land vertically (Figure 2).

Run time on the MAGNEBOT is approximately 10 to 15 minutes with all attached
equipment in operation. The MAGNEBOT
has the ability to zone in on a high-priority
location for inspection, such as a wall blower
opening (Figure 3). Wall blower locations are
typically a high-priority item on the inspection checklist due to potential erosion rates
and patterns, blower lance head cracking,
alignment, and overall deterioration, refractory, wall box fatigue, and the infamous peg
fin cracking mechanisms. The only thing the
drone cannot do at this point is take an ultrasonic reading on an eroded tube; we can only
tell the customer that it is worn. (An upgrade
in progress will enable UT readings.) The
value to plant managers in seeing burners
and wall blowers is that they can determine
if they have immediate action items, but in
most cases inspections are used to determine
parts to be ordered for the next scheduled
shutdown.
Due to the enormous amount of energy
consumed by the blade motors, having the
ability to land the drone on the wall (Figure
4) while eliminating power to the rotors allows for longer, more detailed inspection
POWER April 2014
PLANT MAINTENANCE
time. The camera and lighting (Figure 5), including articulation, remain active, allowing
the inspection to continue. Once inspection is
complete in a particular region, blade rotors
can be reenergized for effective and smooth
wall departure. Then the drone can be flown
to another region for continued inspections.
MAGNEBOT also has the ability to fly
with rolling feet, allowing the drone to scroll
up and down the wall while experiencing
stability throughout the flight. The vertical landing system and roller device are interchangeable on the drone and are utilized
based on the application.
The MAGNEBOT was designed considering payload and overall capability in regards
to battery life. The MAGNEBOT v1.0 can
currently perform inspections all day with a
complete battery charge time of 5 minutes,
an average flight time of 8 minutes on a fully
charged battery, and a battery change-out
time of less than 10 seconds. Total battery
change-out time is less than 1 minute.
We can run flights all day with consistent
battery change-outs and no restriction. Typically, flight crews will lay the inspection out
in sections or blocks. They will base the sections or blocks on 5- to 10-minute time spans
to achieve the inspection needs (factoring in
battery change-outs). Once the battery swap
occurs, the drone is reenergized and returns to
inspect the next section or block of the evaluation area. This method also helps by easily
identifying which block of footage to review
for final notes and reporting. This results in a
very high duty cycle, which is the foundation
of efficiency and cost savings.
ELECTRABOT. The ELECTRABOT v1.0,
flown by six rotors, although not as currently
productive due to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations in U.S. air space,
is the flashier of the two existing models and
currently gets the lions share of attention in
the industry. Currently, the FAA restricts all
unauthorized commercial UAS use in National Air Space (see faa.gov/go/uas). Due
to current regulations, the ELECTRABOT
has only been used for limited demonstration
purposes. All exterior photos were taken by a
volunteer pilot during a recreational flight.
ELECTRABOT comes equipped with a
zoom-capable high-definition camera (Figure 6) allowing for high-megapixel still shots
(Figure 7) as well as high-definition 1080P
video capability. The camera rests in a gimbal designed to remain completely balanced
regardless of drone position.
The ELECTRABOT was designed to fly
in atmospheric conditions not conducive to
operation of its little brother, MAGNEBOT,
and can withstand wind gusts up to 35 mph.
The rotating gimbal is designed to keep the
camera stable during stability-altering flight
patterns while allowing for a clean, zoomedin shot of the inspection location.
The drone comes equipped with attitude
control, which allows autonomous control
using global positioning systems to stabilize
within a locked position when activated. The
feature becomes essential when stability is required and wind gusts are screaming through
the flight pattern. The ELECTRABOT also
has 360-degree camera swivel capability.
This model was designed for external inspections including, but not limited to, power
lines, external ductwork, structural supports,

hangers, coal conveyors coming from the
yard, external stack inspections, and cooling
tower inspections.
Flight Crew
A flight crew consists of two members: one
flight technician and one technical inspection
expert for the specified piece of equipment
being evaluated. As you can imagine, flying
these birds accurately and safely within an
enclosed structure such as a boiler furnace
W ER E E N H A N C I N G T H E
OF STRENGTH.
Corzan Industrial Systems get their strength from

our science. Thats because The Lubrizol Corporations
superior CPVC compounds create every Corzan pipe
and fitting. With the power of mechanical strength
and corrosion resistance, Corzan pipe and fittings
exceed the demands of industrial and commercial
applications. Plus, every Corzan system has delivered
MORE INSIDE for more than 20 years giving
you access to Lubrizols unmatched R&D, technical
expertise, global capabilities and a network of
customers who are industry-leading manufacturers.
Enhance the strength of your next industrial

job. Visit corzancpvc.com or call a piping
systems consultant at 1.855.735.1431.
Follow us on Twitter
@LZ_CPVC
2014 The Lubrizol Corporation, all rights reserved. All marks are the property of The Lubrizol Corporation.
The Lubrizol Corporation is a Berkshire Hathaway company.
GC 121100
April 2014 POWER
www.powermag.com
31
PLANT MAINTENANCE
6. Zoom in. The ELECTRABOT high-definition cameras zoom capability enables the drone
to capture high-megapixel shots from a safe distance. Courtesy: United Aerobotics
used to verify that all expected clinkers have

been removed.
Although potential damage to structures
and objects from a distressed drone is minimal, human safety is paramount. Flight crews
are careful to verify that no personnel are
within range of the flight pattern, with the
exception of the trained flight crew members.
Ongoing safety considerations are always being explored and protocol adjustments made
to stay on top of the safety curve.
Current Limitations
cavity requires a high level of skill, experience, and, believe it or not, courage.
UDC has developed and trained flight
crews that not only have the skill set to perform the flight and the inspection but also
have the ability to perform on-the-move drone
maintenance when required. Although every
project is equipped with a complete backup
drone and repair parts, it is imperative that
the crew has the ability to make repair adjustments on the spot in a timely fashion to
ensure on-schedule project completion.
Cost and Scheduling

Considerations
Cost is always a factor when determining an
applicable method of inspection. Aerobotic
inspections are not only time beneficial, but
they also tend to be easy on the budget when
compared with traditional accessibility methods. At a cost of around $5,000 per day and
a total cost of roughly $10,000 to $14,000
including mobilization and demobilization
drone inspections compare favorably with
the cost and time involved for erecting scaffold or hanging sky climbers.
A typical drone inspection of all burner
components takes one to two days; in most
cases, time inside the boiler consists of one
10-hour shift, leaving final reporting for
day two.
Drone inspections are currently in high
demand not only for costs savings; response
time and readiness are paramount as well.
United Aerobotics teams are prepped and
ready for immediate deployment domestically and internationally at any time. A
response, and on-site time, can be expected within 12 to 24 hours of initial request
(some sites outside of the U.S. may require
32
an additional 24 hours). This inspection program was developed for service purposes, so
rapid response time is key.
Safe Flights
United Aerobotics was conceived with safety
at the top of its requirements. Flying UAS
devices for either recreational and/or commercial use comes with potential risks and
hazards. It is recommended that only trained
and experienced technicians perform flight
projects. United Aerobotics safety program
allows for safe and effective flights. We stress
not just flight safety but also flight crew and
customer safety.
For example, the MAGNEBOT has been
used as an effective visual aid in determining clinker location and position for safe
and timely removal. In addition, it can be
Although United Aerobotics drones have

many benefits and applications, there are, of
course, some limitations. First and foremost
is the current FAA regulation restricting UAS
for commercial use in the U.S.
Second, current drone models can only
provide a visual inspection. Despite the fact
that they can give you unprecedented visual
clarity of your asset, they cannot replace human touch. There will always be some advantage to putting your hand on a piece of
equipment and performing live nondestructive evaluation (NDE).
The reason we say this is only a current
limitation is that research and development
is under way to arm drones with limited
NDE capability. In addition, action is being taken to equip the drones with full auto
pilot system devices to reduce pilot error
and ultimately improve safety and efficiency. Third, drones cannot currently perform flights in atmospheric temperatures
exceeding 180F and cannot currently fly in
no spark zones.
Case Studies
United Aerobotics has been in, and serviced,
16 power station units in its first year of
operation. Work has ranged from roof/pen-
7. Close-up. This shot of high-voltage power line rigging was taken by the camera on the
ELECTRABOT from a distance of about 50 feet but is clear thanks to the camera zoom and
drone stabilization features. Courtesy: United Aerobotics
www.powermag.com
POWER April 2014
PLANT MAINTENANCE
dant inspections to superheat wrapper tube
intersection inspections, waterwall blower
(IR port) inspections, burner inspections
(including tangentiallly cornerfired and
wall-fired burner systems), and bottom ash
inspections, to name a few. Following are
specifics of two inspections.
Project X. The client in Texas needed to
inspect a Combustion Engineering (CE) 800MW eight-corner furnace with a scope that
included CE furnace burners and wall blowers during a short maintenance outage, but
they didnt have the time or funds for scaffolding or buggies.
The United Aerobotics team was able to
reach the site within 8 hours and perform an
aerial inspection of all components in one
shift, using the MAGNEBOT. The inspection scope included 80 burner/air tips and 50
IR ports.
The inspector was able to identify the
deterioration of aftermarket ceramic splitter
plates in the coal buckets. Due to vibration
and overheating, pieces of plate were falling
to the slope below, causing tube failures by
puncturing the tube wall. The inspector was
also able to identify multiple cracked lance
heads in the IR ports.
Project Y. This Missouri client needed to
inspect a Babcock & Wilcox 750-MW furnace to determine the condition of previous repairs to the membrane on the roof of
the boiler as well as determine if there was
erosion on the pendants due to adjustments
on the IR ports. This project used the MAGNEBOT because its unique design allows it
to land on the roof and its small size allows
it to fit between pendants. The scope included
18 pendants and the seam on the roof line.
The inspector was able to identify missing refractory behind the membrane as well
as confirm polishing behind the wrapper tube
on all pendants.
Drones Can Provide a Market Edge

New Environmental Protection Agency regulations such as the Mercury and Air Toxics
Standards have altered the playing field in
regards to emissions control. Consequently, burner performance and condition play
an increasingly vital role in the process of
maximizing efficiency while helping to meet
current and new standards and regulations.
Aerial drones can assist in this task by providing quicker burner inspection than traditional methods.
In the power industry, timing is always a
concern, from dates and duration of planned
maintenance overhauls to the time of year

that assets are effectively in operation. On
the maintenance side, getting the most work
done in the shortest period of time has been
the key to success. UASs help streamline the
process at multiple levels.
As for external inspections, U.S. FAA
flight restrictions are scheduled to lift in the
next six to 18 months, allowing for commercial flights to take place in open air space outside of an enclosed structure; however, UASs
are commercially utilized in other countries
today. (All exterior photos were taken by a
volunteer pilot flying the model recreationally. Once FAA restrictions are lifted, we
will be ready to provide services to inspect
power lines, stack externals, cooling tower
externals, wind turbines, towers, and other
exterior equipment.)
At the end of the day, UAS inspections
are not just high on the cool factor. More importantly, they get the job done. The power
industry has been in need of an innovative inspection approach like that offered by drones
for decades, and technology has finally
caught up with demand.
Jon S. Cavote (jscavote@udc.net) is

president and COO of United Dynamics
Advanced Technologies Corp.
HIGH-EFFICIENCY
FANS
www.processbarron.com | 888-663-2028
April 2014 POWER
www.powermag.com
33
NUCLEAR POWER
UK Uses Lead and Learn

Strategy for Magnox Reactor Fleet
Decommissioning
Energy policy responses to the nuclear disaster at Japans Fukushima site,
changing economics, and aging first-generation nuclear infrastructure are
all contributing to what promises to be a sizeable wave of nuclear plant
decommissioning projects worldwide. The United Kingdom has something of a head start, and even though its first-generation reactor technology was unique, its approach to the complicated task of decommissioning
may offer lessons for other nations.
James M. Hylko
any American readers may not realize

that, although the first major nuclear
fission successes were achieved in
the U.S., after World War II, when nations expanded their nuclear research to include power
generation, the United Kingdom (UK) started
up the worlds first commercial-scale nuclear
power reactor in 1956. The first 26 UK reactors were Magnox design models, and those are
reaching the end of their operating lives.
In November 2001, the UK government
decided to have taxpayers fund the nations
nuclear legacy cleanup up front in order to
reduce the burden to future generations. Initial developments toward that goal included
the creation of a liabilities management au-
thority to ensure that all long-term nuclear liabilities would be managed in a unified way.
In this context, the term liability describes
the financial liability of managing a site when
there is little operating income or selling of
assets. The term legacy distinguishes the
first generation of facilities, either shut down
or operating, from the proposed new build
nuclear power stations and newer gas reactor
and pressurized water reactor fleet.
This authority, later renamed the Nuclear
Decommissioning Authority (NDA, nda.
gov.uk) began operating in 2005 and took
responsibility for providing a clear and unified approach to decommissioning the UKs
first-generation nuclear sites (1940s to 1960s).
In addition to the reactors, nuclear liabilities

include fuel reprocessing, fabrication, and
enrichment plants plus nuclear laboratory
complexes (Figure 1). As in the U.S., many of
these legacy facilities were built and operated
during the Cold War, thus they require significant liability characterization efforts.
The NDA recently introduced a Lead
and Learn strategy that accelerates decommissioning at Bradwell and Trawsfynydd,
the first two Magnox stations scheduled to
enter into the Care & Maintenance (C&M)
phase in 2015 and 2016, respectively. The remaining former power station sites will enter
C&M in subsequent years, until 2028.
Innovations and off-the-shelf equipment
The Three Stages of Decommissioning

The timing and actions taken during these three stages can vary
significantly, depending on a countrys particular waste management policies and strategies.
For example, the waste management policy and strategy for
England and Wales is to have a geological disposal facility (GDF)
ready by 2040. Therefore, it is not sensible to dismantle the reactors now, as the packaged waste would have to be stored on site.
When the GDF becomes operational, and with adequate funding,
the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority will be in a position to
properly dismantle the reactors. Scotlands emerging strategy is
not to have a GDF but to have intermediate level waste stored
at or adjacent to a site with the long-term goal of having nearsurface disposal and retrievability of that waste.
Stage 1: Post-operational removal of bulk radioactive material. This includes removing fuel from the facility
for reprocessing, which removes about 99.9% of the radioactivity
from the site. The remaining hazards are primarily associated with
the reactor vessels and their internals and operational wastes (such
34
as debris, redundant chutes and control rods, and spent resins).

This stage also utilizes traditional chemical and mechanical decontamination methods, such as strippable coatings, scabbling
where several electrically or pneumatically driven piston heads
strike simultaneously on a concrete surface to remove radioactive
contaminationand cutting apart structures and equipment into
smaller pieces using diamond wire or plasma cutting machines.
Site safety also focuses on mitigating conventional hazards,
typically electrical, chemical, asbestos, noise, working at elevated
heights, and confined spaces hazards.
Stage 2: Initial dismantling and removal of contaminated parts or care and maintenance. The reactor
is left, allowing the radioactive materials to decay. Most of the
structures are removed, and the reactor building is left in a safe
state that requires minimal supervision until final site clearance.
Stage 3: Dismantling and demolition of the structure. Demolition is followed by remediation of land and water to
meet an agreed-upon end state for future use.
www.powermag.com
POWER April 2014
Large-Scale Power. Fast.

This is not your typical power plant.
When Uruguays national utility urgently needed large-scale power to
hedge its hydroelectric dependency, it called on APR Energy. As the
worlds largest provider of fast-track mobile turbine power, APR Energy
delivers large blocks of power within weeks, not years with solutions
that easily integrate into existing infrastructure. We help keep the power
on in Uruguay and in many other countries around the globe.
Learn more at
aprenergy.com/fastpower
Day 1
Day 8
Day 24
Day 42
NUCLEAR POWER
1. Map of the UK legacy sites.
Courtesy: Magnox Ltd./Nuclear Decommissioning
Authority
of the Magnox Optimized Decommissioning

Program (MODP). Burnett confirmed that
the NDAs goal is to decommission existing
facilities and restore the sites to delicensed
conditions suitable for alternative uses, albeit
influenced by the existing level of environmental or health risks and resources needed
to achieve a passively safe and secure state.
In the 1990s, Safestore was determined
to be the preferred UK strategy for decommissioning Magnox power stations. This
entails activities carried out in a number of
steps, separated by periods of C&M.
Dose decay is initially dominated by cobalt60, decreasing by orders of magnitude until
subjugated by longer-lived radionuclides such
as niobium-94 and silver-108m. After 135
years following reactor shutdown, there is no
further significant reduction in dose rate over
time. The physical, chemical, and mechanical properties of the graphite core within the
vessel are not expected to change either during storage or dismantling (see sidebar The
Three Stages of Decommissioning).
Burnett said that in order to accomplish
its mission and stimulate competition, the
NDA is a single contracting organization for
implementing a national integrated strategy
consisting of an incentivized, three-tiered
contractor and supply chain management
program for conducting the cleanup:
from outside the nuclear industry are being

introduced, where feasible. Lessons learned
at Bradwell and Trawsfynydd will eventually
be applied across the entire Magnox fleet,
achieving C&M status many years earlier
than expected for the eight remaining Magnox reactor sites: Berkeley, Chapelcross,
Dungeness A, Hinkley Point A, Hunterston
A, Oldbury, Sizewell A, and Wylfa.
Magnox Reactors
The complexity of the proposed cleanup was
amplified because most facilities, such as the
fleet of Magnox reactors, were one-offs.
Ongoing design modifications and construction methods meant that each new station
was slightly more refined, and different from
the previous model.
Magnox is short for magnesium non-oxidizing, from the magnesium and aluminum
alloyclad reactor fuel rods. Magnox reactors are pressurized, carbon dioxidecooled,
graphite-moderated reactors that use natural
uranium as fuel and a Magnox alloy as fuel
cladding. The spent fuel could not be stored
indefinitely because of its chemical reactivity, so it had to be reprocessed.
36
The Magnox reactor was the first of eight

small prototype units built at Calder Hall and
Chapelcross. Although Magnox reactors were
initially dual-purposed, combining power
generation with plutonium production for military purposes, the latter function was eventually conducted only at Sellafield, which also
handled fuel reprocessing. Subsequent units
were scaled up for electricity production.
Magnox steel reactor pressure vessels
are typically spherical, 20 meters (m) in diameter, weigh 5,000 metric tons (mt), have
a nonremovable top, and contain 30,000 to
40,000 individual 60-centimeter fuel elements. Fueling and defueling is conducted
through core penetrations using specialized
machines. By comparison, U.S. light-water
reactors are compact because the reactor vessels are smaller and are designed so that the
top can be removed, giving direct access to
the reactor core, enabling all of the fuel to be
removed in a relatively short period.
Tier 1: The sites are operated by Site

Licensed Companies (SLCs, such as
Magnox Ltd.) and their Parent Body Organizations (PBOs, for example, EnergySolutions Inc.) under contract to the NDA.
The SLCs hold the nuclear site licenses
and are responsible for day-to-day operations and delivery of site programs.
Tier 2: Tier 2 suppliers work directly with
the Tier 1 SLC and subcontract to Tier 3
and below. Services include designing and
manufacturing specialized equipment and
construction.
Tier 3: Lower-tier companies fill certain
niche requirements. Certain Tier 3 suppliers have worked across multiple SLCs,
including the Sellafield, Magnox, and
Dounreay sites. Some 2,000 suppliers support Magnox Ltd.
To maintain transparency, the NDA is accountable to the public and the UK government.
Milestones are established to monitor progress
against clearly defined endpoints. Political, socioeconomic, and timescale options are communicated to a wide range of stakeholders that
can affect decision-making outcomes.
Magnox Optimized
Decommissioning Program
Strategic Programs
POWER interviewed Dr. Brian Burnett, head

of programs at the NDA, for an inside account
A significant benefit of the MODP was

grouping common strategic programs to ef-
www.powermag.com
POWER April 2014
BUILDING THE NEXT

GENERATION OF NUCLEAR
For more than a century, Fluor has placed a strong emphasis on employee education and development.
Our employer employee synergy enables Fluor to assist clients with sound strategic innovation,
implementing unique solutions that save money and meets regulatory requirements. Additionally,
Fluors Subject Matter Expert Protege program provides a platform for long-term succession planning
and accelerated growth for Fluor employees and our clients. Active in the global nuclear community,
Clay Smith and his proteges are sharing knowledge and driving innovation in the industry.
2013 Fluor Corporation. All Rights Reserved. ADGV093813
The team has researched, coordinated, and successfully governed an ASME Section III Code revision,
which will potentially generate significant reductions in nuclear construction cost. The team is active
in the industry on a number of committees and has authored and presented more than 200 technical
papers. www.fluor.com
Fluors Power Business:

Renewables, Alternate Technologies,
Fossil Generation, Nuclear, Transmission,
and Operations & Maintenance.
NUCLEAR POWER
fectively apply resources addressing the same
core challenges and waste streams across the
Magnox fleet.
Fuel Element Debris (FED) Treatment.
FED mainly consists of parts of the magnesium alloy cladding that surrounds the nuclear fuel, which, at some sites, was removed
before the spent fuel was sent to Sellafield.
FED is retrieved and placed into a safe shielded storage container following treatment.
The objective of FED dissolution is to separate radioactive material from inert waste to
avoid the unnecessary permanent disposal
of the inert waste. At Dungeness A, Magnox
Ltd. has pioneered the FED dissolution approach, dissolving FED in an acid solution,
reducing the volume by more than 90%. The
remaining effluent is treated and discharged,
within permitted levels, and items of higher
activity are packaged and stored.
Fuel Storage Ponds. Handling of fuel
storage ponds involves removing used fuel
plus draining and decommissioning the
ponds, including the active effluent treatment
plants. The ponds stored used fuel elements
after they were removed from the reactors,
before being sent to Sellafield for reprocessing. Although each pond is different, a consistent six-stage approach was developed:
component removal, sludge retrieval, drain
and stabilize, contaminated concrete removal/applying sealant, ancillary plant removal,
and C&M entry configuration.
Intermediate Level Waste (ILW) Management. Approximately 6,400 cubic me-
ters of wet and solid ILW has been identified

for disposal. The majority of waste is currently stored in aging underground vaults
and requires fit-for-purpose, on-site storage
until the geological disposal facility (GDF) is
available for permanent disposal.
At most sites, on-site storage will be
achieved through the retrieval of ILW into
MiniStores. Weighing 18 mt and containing
approximately 2.85 cubic meters of waste
each, they provide an alternative to the construction of on-site ILW stores across the
Magnox sites. The concept has been used extensively in Europe for more than 20 years,
where they are used for interim storage,
transportation, and final disposal.
MiniStores have passed a conceptual suitability stage assessment led by the NDAs
Radioactive Waste Management Directorate
(RWMD) for permanent disposal in the GDF.
Plant and Structures. Deplanting, demolishing, and remediating structures (including removal of hazardous materials and
asbestos), and land so that sites are ready to
enter C&M, and the construction and preparation of facilities that will remain during the
C&M period. Magnox Ltd. has awarded two
major framework contracts for this work. A
38
2. Bradwell. The former Bradwell Power Station is located in southeast England, 1.5 miles
from the Essex coastline. It consists of twin Magnox reactors that were built on the edge of
a former World War II airfield and operated from 1962 until 2002. Defueling was completed in
2006. Following entry into care and maintenance status in 2015, final site clearance is expected
between 2083 and 2092. Courtesy: Magnox Ltd.
304 million deplanting, demolition, and

bulk asbestos removal contract was awarded
to specialist contractor partners including
Doosan Keltbray Consortium, Celadon, Erith, Squibb/LVI Group, Nuvia, and EDS/
Silverdell. A framework contract worth up
to 300 million over 10 years was recently
awarded to Costain and Balfour Beatty. This
supports construction, infrastructure, and
maintenance projects at all the sites.
Waste Management. Waste management includes maintaining waste inventories,
developing disposal routes, and maintaining the company decommissioning strategy,
including strategic regulatory engagement.
More than 23,977 mt of nonradiological
waste and 2,685 cubic meters of radiological waste have been dispatched from Magnox sites. The program continues to manage
all waste streams and, where possible, divert
nonradioactive waste away from the low-level waste repository to save space.
Early Gains
A C&M Hub has been implemented that will
remotely manage all Magnox sites from the
C&M preparations phase up to, but not including, the final site clearance (FSC) phase.
This includes removal of reactor vessels,
building demolition, remediating any contaminated land, and delicensing the sites. The
Plant and Structures Program, for instance, is
directly engaged with the C&M Hub director
regarding end state definitions to ensure that
any agreement with the regulator takes into
account current proposed end states and associated risks for individual sites.
www.powermag.com
Since its implementation, the MODP and

the C&M Hub have saved more than 1.8
billion compared to previous decommissioning cost estimates delivered in 2010 and
have eliminated 34 site-years from the total
required to place all sites into C&M. In 2012,
this approach achieved international approval of the Vienna-based International Atomic
Energy Agency.
Lead and Learn Sites

According to Burnett, Bradwell and Trawsfynydd have been identified as Lead and
Learn sites, where the learning and experience gained will be passed on to other sites
before they are required to tackle similar
challenges. Instead of trying to proceed
with 10 individual site programs in parallel,
it is sensible for us to invest more money on a
couple of the stations, then roll out those improvements, program management capabilities, and technologies across the other sites
over time, he said.
The expected results include:
Mobile teams that vertically integrate with

sites, enabling hands-on, cross-site, and
cross-disciplinary learning.
Single points of accountability.
Consolidated supply chain solutions.
Managing sites in an optimized sequence
to reach earlier C&M entry.
Affordability by applying proven and consistent solutions.
The goal is to leave both sites with just

a handful of facilities in a safe and secure
POWER April 2014
Symphony Plus Total Plant Automation. The power

of a well-orchestrated performance.
SymphonyTM Plus is the new generation of ABBs total plant automation for
the power and water industries. Designed to maximize plant efficiency and
reliability through automation, integration and optimization of the entire plant,
Symphony Plus offers a simple, scalable, seamless and secure solution.
Tune to Symphony Plus and experience the power of a well-orchestrated
performance. www.abb.com/powergeneration
ABB Ltd.
Business Unit Power Generation
P.O. Box 8131
8050 Zurich, Switzerland
Tel. +41 (0) 43 317 5380
NUCLEAR POWER
condition, including waste stores and sealedup reactors that will remain in situ for several decades. The contents are expected to be
transferred to the GDF when it becomes operational. Bradwell and Trawsfynydd will be
the first to enter this C&M phase in 2015 and
2016 respectively, with the remaining sites
entering by 20272028.
Another significant benefit expected from
the Lead and Learn approach Burnett said,
is optimum safety results. By focusing on
control and management aimed at major
hazardselevated work, electrical safety,
fire safety, chemical safety, confined spaces,
and radiological safetythe SLCs average
rate for 2012/2013 was 128 per 100,000 employees. This is a significant drop from 244
for the previous financial year. As a comparison, the latest statistics from the Health and
Safety Executive (similar to the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration)
showed an average UK rate of 446 incidents
per 100,000 employees.
3. Pontoon in the pond. A floating pontoon system, as used in marinas, formed a working platform on the fuel storage pond surface, dropping lower as the liquid drained. The pontoons were first introduced at Hunterston, which has the largest Magnox pondabout the size
of an Olympic swimming poolwhen workers were using ultra-high-pressure jets to remove
contamination from the pond walls. Courtesy: Magnox Ltd.
The Bradwell Project

The SLC and site licensee for the Bradwell
site (Figure 2) is Magnox Ltd., the PBO is
EnergySolutions Inc., and the site stakeholder
group is Bradwell Local Community Liaison
Council. Descriptions of recent decommissioning accomplishments at Bradwell follow.
FED Treatment Program. A total of 290
drums have been filled with FED and gravel
from vault 1A at Bradwell, the first vault to
be completely emptied, marking a major step
forward in managing the sites radioactive
waste streams.
The work was not without significant challenges due to the unknown physical condition
of the waste, which had been stored for several
years. Final retrieval of gravel from the bottom
of the vault was achieved by worker access to
the area. By pre-planning the entry, the team
registered a lower dose rate than forecasted.
More than 250 drums of FED have also been
removed from a second vault, 1B.
Magnox has, to date, transferred three
shipments of FED waste from Bradwell to
Dungeness A for dissolution.
As part of its accelerated C&M program, a
new dissolution facility at Bradwell is taking
shape thanks to the arrival of two reaction vessels in early 2013. The vessels will be where
the actual dissolution of the waste, currently
being removed from vaults, will be undertaken. Shield walls have also been poured, stainless steel cladding installed, and an overhead
crane lifted into place to support operations.
Fuel Storage Ponds. Following fuel element,
debris, and sludge removal, ultra-high-pressure
water jetting was used to clean Bradwells empty
fuel storage ponds, reducing operator doses and
removing contamination (Figure 3).
40
4. Sealed. A spray-on coating of Dekguard was applied to seal Bradwells fuel storage pond
walls and floors. Courtesy: Magnox Ltd.
After cleaning, a polyurea coating supplied by Protective Coating Solutions Ltd.

is sprayed on in a single application using
several passes to build up a 4-mm thickness
(Figure 4). The polyurea material, typically
used as a protective lining for large surface
area projects such as tunnels and tanks, forms
a durable membrane, improving the stability
of the decontaminated surfaces and enabling
easier monitoring of potential defects during
the C&M phase.
www.powermag.com
Innovations such as the use of coatings and

pontoons resulted from adapting techniques
and off-the-shelf equipment from outside the
nuclear industry rather than developing expensive, bespoke solutions.
Intermediate Level Waste Management. To maximize cost efficiencies, a gener-
ic interim storage facility (ISF) design for ILW

material has been adopted at sites awaiting the
construction of medium-term stores, and the
first was officially opened at Bradwell.
POWER April 2014
NUCLEAR POWER
The generic design allows the ISFs to be
constructed to accommodate different numbers
of ILW packages, depending on a sites needs.
For example, the ISF will be used to house the
ductile cast-iron containers known as yellow
boxes until the GDF becomes available.
Plant and Structures. Four, 17-metertall charge machines, each weighing around
460 mt, that were used to refuel the nuclear
reactors during the sites operational phase
have been dismantled. More than 1,300 mt
of redundant equipment have been removed
from the pile caps. Meanwhile, the deplanting of boiler houses within the reactor buildings has also progressed. More than 700 mt
of recyclable wasteincluding pipework,
external boiler drums, walkways, and stairwellshave been removed.
A specially designed remote-operated vehicle (ROV) was used to jet and flush the sludge
waste from resin vault 1 into a submerged
pump system for transfer into the main sludge
vault, ready for encapsulation as ILW. The
ROV used a variety of tools to retrieve the
sludge, including a plough, high-pressure
spray, and wet vacuum system. In total, 5
cubic meters of sludge were retrieved, which
follows the recovery of all bulk resins from
resin vault 2 in 2012, leaving just the sludge to
be removed. Contractors for this phase were
NSG Ltd. and EnergySolutions Inc.

Ponds North Void. Work is under way
to decommission one of the largest and
most complicated radiological hazards on
the Trawsfynydd site. Located in the cooling
ponds complex, the Ponds North Void (PNV)
is a rectangular concrete vault that stored
sludge removed from the cooling ponds before
transfer to the Main Sludge Vault (MSV). The
PNV contains approximately 4.75 cubic meters of liquid sludge and a variety of solid material including FED, nimonic (nickel alloy)
The Trawsfynydd Project

The SLC and license holder for the Trawsfynydd site (Figure 5) is also Magnox Ltd. The PBO
is EnergySolutions Inc., and the site stakeholder
group is Trawsfynydd Site Stakeholder Group.
Trawsfynydd, the first inland civil Magnox
nuclear station, operated between 1965 and
1991 and drew its cooling water from Llyn
Trawsfynydd, the third-largest lake in Wales.
The lake was originally created in the 1920s
to supply water to the Maentwrog hydroelectric power station. Defueling commenced in
1993 and was completed 21 months later,
during 1995, four months ahead of schedule
and under budget.
Other decommissioning successes followed: ponds drained (1998); turbine hall
demolition (2003), ponds scabbling commences, complete removal of Reactor 1
boiler section, bulk retrieval of resin from
resin vault 1 completed (2006), hot gas duct
removal, complete removal of Reactor 2
boiler section (2007), and commissioning an
ILW store to house processed and packaged
wastes (2009). Height reduction of both reactors is planned for 20202026, followed by
final site clearance by 2085.
Noncontaminated buildings are being removed to reduce site hazards, leaving only
three buildings for C&M in 2016: an ILW
store (Figure 6) plus Reactors 1 and 2 in safestore, allowing for radioactive decay to a
point where the site can be finally cleared by
conventional demolition.
Resin Vault Cleanup. Trawsfynydd
scored a major first in 2013 by completing
the cleanout of radioactive sludge from one
of its resin vaults. The three interlinked concrete vaults were built to contain bead and
pellet radioactive resins used as a filtering
agent to maintain water purity in the cooling
ponds. Once spent, the ion-exchange resins
formed a sludge-like liquid ILW and were
stored in the vaults.
Cost Effective Solutions.

Sometimes the challenges facing the operation of a nuclear power plant can seem
difficult and challenging. This is especially true when events outside a plants design
occur, like those experienced in Japan which resulted in the need for new and
additional plant design, operation and engineering evaluations.
As our customers know, when you work with ENERCON, youre getting the most
experienced, capable and motivated team available. Simply put, we will find a
way to overcome any obstacle. We have been providing engineering, licensing,
environmental, and technical services to U.S. and International nuclear fleets for over a
quarter of a century and recently, have led industry initiatives in the completion of FLEX
Coping Strategies, External Flood Hazard Analysis, Seismic Evaluation, Tsunami Hazard
Assessments and DC Electrical Extended Station Blackout, Electrical Cooling and Water
Availability Analyses.
At ENERCON, we have developed a reputation for innovative thinking, uncompromising
excellence and unmatched responsiveness. We empower our people to create and
implement strategies that often lead to more efficient, streamlined solutions. With
27 offices nationally and internationally, and over 1,400 professionals, we have the
capability to take on the most substantial projects.
Visit our new website enercon.com, and let one of our professionals in offices across
the country and abroad, provide the support your project needs.
enercon.com
April 2014 POWER
www.powermag.com
41
NUCLEAR POWER
5. Trawsfynydd site.
The Trawsfynydd station is located on a 15.4-hectare site on an

inland lake in Snowdonia National Park, Gwynedd, North Wales. Courtesy: Magnox Ltd.
springs, pins, and various pieces of redundant

equipment. Emptying the void is essential to
enable eventual demolition of the ponds.
Because of the diverse waste types and
challenging operational environment, Magnox Ltd. is retrieving the material with a
unique, specially commissioned rotary deployment arm provided by SA Robotics of
Colorado. The process involves filling mesh
pots with a mix of FED and sludge using the
rotary arm, then washing the sludge off using
a combination of supernate (existing contaminated water) and local municipal water.
The process is repeated until each mesh
pot is filled just with FED. The sludge in the
void is then jet-washed toward a sump and
transferred to the MSV. To date, 34 mesh pots
have been filled and there have been 40 trans-
fers of supernate/sludge from the PNV to

the MSV. Following processing, the various
waste streams will be packaged and placed
in the ILW store or sent to the national Low
Level Waste Repository.
Containerizing a Sludge Filtering and
Drying Vessel. A sludge-filtering and -dry-
ing vessel constructed in the 1970s, a legacy

of the sites electricity generation era, had
high levels of alpha contamination. The vessel was containerized using Nuvias reusable
and lightweight modular containment system, ModuCon, a glassfiber panel structure
mounted in a steel support framework.
Initially, the team was challenged by nonload-bearing floor areas and restricted access
around the existing vessel enclosure. This led
to an innovative approach where a sectional rail
6. Waste waiting. Intermediate-level waste (ILW) packages, contained in reinforced concrete overpacks, will remain in the ILW store at the Trawsfynydd site until the UKs permanent
geological facility becomes available, later this century. The store will then be emptied and the
site demolished. These overpacks are approximately 2.7 m x 2.7 m x 2.2 m high and weigh approximately 30 metric tons. The lid is removable to enable ILW packages (a 3cubic meter box
or 3cubic meter drum) to be inserted into the overpack. Courtesy: Magnox Ltd.
system was designed, enabling the steel support

frame to be constructed in a low-radiation area,
thus minimizing dose uptake during the installation phase and the risk of damage to the existing tent enclosure already in place.
The rail system spanned the non-loadbearing areas of the workshop floor and
allowed the steel frame and partially constructed ModuCon to be pushed into position
over the vessel. Once in its final position, the
containment end wall was installed and the
entry/exit and waste posting facilities were
constructed, and the entire unit was sealed.
A new, upgraded ventilation system was then
connected to the containment.
With the containment in place, teams
made numerous entries using air-fed suits
and a ventilated environment to reduce the
size of the tank, vacuum any ILW waste,
categorize and segregate the waste, and then
package and consign the waste to appropriate
disposal routes.
Safe conclusion of this project marked a
major hazard reduction milestone for Magnox. The contractor, Nuvia, was subsequently
awarded the Magnox Trawsfynydd Environmental and Safety Award.
It Can Be Done
The NDAs Burnett summed up the value of
the UKs approach to decommissioning by
saying, There is a collective belief that decommissioning can be expensive and can take
a long time. Although the MODP is a new program, by adopting this approach two to three
years ago, we have reduced C&M costs by
20%, about 1.5 billion. We are demonstrating to the world that we can do this, we are on
track, and very soon we can hold up this [Lead
& Learn] example that it can be done.
As in other nations, dealing with nuclear
facilities after shutdown can be done, but it is
not cheap, easy, or without unexpected challenges. Recent reports have pegged the annual cost of nuclear decommissioning in the
UKthe largest such project in Europeat
3 billion.
According to the Magnox Lifetime Plan
for 2013 that summarizes the key activities, timescales, costs, scope, and resources
required to deliver all Magnox sites to the
agreed end state, the total expected costs of
decommissioning to the point of site clearance are 1.137 billion for Bradwell in 2092
and 1.254 billion for Trawsfynydd in 2083.
The Magnox program accounts for roughly
20% of the NDAs budget, making it the
second-largest expenditure after cleanup at
the Sellafield site (where fuel reprocessing
was handled), which is expected to cost more
than 70 billion.
James Hylko is a POWER contributing

editor.
42
www.powermag.com
POWER April 2014
NUCLEAR POWER
EPRI and Luminant Collaborate to

Create Common Understanding of
A collaborative effort between the Electric Power Research Institute and the
Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant confirms that vendors and nuclear
plant owners who understand and address cybersecurity requirements
up front will avoid costs on the back end. The best practices developed
also apply to non-nuclear plants.
Matt Gibson and Jay Amin
uclear utilities are facing stringent

cybersecurity requirements for plant
digital assets that fulfill safety-related,
important-to-safety, security, and emergency
preparedness functions or that are associated
with continuity of power. Such requirements
are intended to protect plant digital computer
systems, communications systems, and networks from cyber attacks that could affect
reactor safety or generation reliability.
Determining the applicable cybersecurity requirements and factoring these requirements into modifications at project inception
will avoid costly redesigns and rework.
In addition, nuclear plant owners must consider cybersecurity requirements throughout
the life cycle of a plant digital asset and account
for these requirements during the design phase.
The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI)
has collaborated with Luminant and other
nuclear utilities to help suppliers understand
exactly what utilities need to establish effective
cybersecurity requirements, and also to provide
utility engineers with the technical guidance
needed to meet those requirements by properly
implementing the right vendor solutions.
EPRI has issued two key guideline documents aimed at improving the way all power
generation plants, not just nuclear power
facilities, tackle cybersecurity challenges:
Cyber Security Procurement Methodology (Product 3002001824) and Technical
Guideline for Cyber Security Requirements
and Life Cycle Implementation Guidelines
for Nuclear Plant Digital Systems (Product
1019187). And although control system cybersecurity technology will evolve over time,
cybersecurity requirements largely will remain the same, which means the approaches
defined in these guidelines are expected to
provide a dependable, standard approach to
cybersecurity that will last over time.
44
Luminant implemented the guidance

from both documents at its Comanche Peak
Nuclear Power Plant in Texas by early 2013.
Using the guidance to clearly interpret the
nuclear industrys cybersecurity procurement controls and integrate them into
purchase specifications and contracts, Luminant expects to save more than $600,000
in avoided cost overruns on digital system
upgrade modifications for a plant computer
replacement and a security system video
capture at Comanche Peak.
Ramp Up
Prior to 2001, plant digital systems included basic physical and information security
requirements in specification and design
documents. In general, however, these cybersecurity requirements were not based on information security industry standards. After
Sept. 11, 2001, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission (NRC) and the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission (FERC) began issuing orders on the subject.
In March 2009, the NRC issued 10 CFR
73.54, which requires plants to provide assurance that the digital computer and communication systems and networks associated with
the following functions are protected against
cyber attacks: safety-related and importantto-safety functions; security functions; and
emergency preparedness functions, including
off-site communications. Support systems
and equipment that would adversely affect
these functions if compromised are also covered by this set of requirements.
Comanche Peaks cybersecurity program
also addresses cybersecurity requirements
established through a memorandum of understanding between the NRC and the North
American Electric Reliability Corp.
www.powermag.com
Guidance Throughout the Life

Cycle
The Technical Guideline for Cyber Security
Requirements and Life Cycle Implementation
Guidelines for Nuclear Plant Digital Systems
gives plant operators guidance on how to build
cybersecurity into new critical digital assets.
Written in a procedural format that can be immediately incorporated into a plants existing
digital design control procedures, the guidelines
cover 138 areas of security in detaileverything from passwords and wireless connections
to encryption and intrusion detection.
The cybersecurity requirements and
guidelines are structured according to the life
cycles of digital instrumentation and control systems and equipment. In that way, the
guidance not only provides engineers with
what requirements need to be included in a
requirements specification but also includes
what engineers should look for during various phases of the designs life cycle.
The document discusses the cybersecurity threats that plants face and the compliance standards for those plants. It contains
two appendices. The first, based on Comanche Peaks own procedures to avoid failure
events, contains a checklist and a methodology to address technical and regulatory issues
involving plant digital systems and devices
regulated by the NRC. The checklist recommends steps to ensure cybersecurity in all
life-cycle phases (Table 1).
For example, during the conceptual phase,
the design engineer determines if the modification contains digital assets, and what
specific functions the digital assets will perform. The design engineer completes a form
describing the digital features of the design.
This form, and an accompanying simple network diagram, will facilitate a conversation
with the station cybersecurity subject mat-
POWER April 2014
NUCLEAR POWER
Review/approval of security test plans and procedures
The second appendix shows the practical application of the procedures, using four
examples drawn directly from actual plant
modifications and reflecting real-life techniques that plant personnel would use on
their equipment. The examples encompass
a digital protective motor relay, a safetyrelated digital sequencer, a digital radiation
monitoring system, and a turbine-generator
digital controls system. The online version of
this article includes a downloadable file that
provides a portion of the completed cybersecurity controls checklist that Luminant completed for the digital protective motor relay.
EPRI also has developed a computerbased training module to train engineers
working on modifications involving digital
upgrades. Comanche Peak and several other
nuclear plants have used this module to support cybersecurity training.
Satisfactory performance of factory acceptance testing,

including security validations
Improving Clarity
Table 1. System development life cycle phases. Source: Luminant

10 CFR 73.54
10 CFR 50/52
Concept phase
Safety, security, and emergency preparedness functions, external communications, physical locations
determined
Engage cybersecurity subject matter expert (SME) and
obtain review/approval in each phase
Conceptual design document addresses security
requirements
Requirements phase
Requirements specified (cyber SME approves security

requirements)
Vendor-specific security requirements
Bid review, approval, and issuance of purchase order
Design phase
Review of vendor security program and implementation

Review of design to ensure security requirements are
satisfied
Preliminary cybersecurity assessment
Implementation,
integration, and test
phase
Cybersecurity assessment approved (pre-installation)

Site installation and
site acceptance test
phase
Review/approve test plans and procedures

Satisfactory performance of site acceptance test
(security control validation)
Cybersecurity assessment finalized (validation documentation)
Operations and
maintenance phase
Ongoing monitoring and assessment
Retirement phase
Sanitize old equipment
Revalidation of security controls

Monitor and address new vulnerabilities
Disposition documentation per retention requirements
ter expert (SME) on required functions and

cybersecurity features for the modification
(Figure 1). Once the functions are defined,
the design engineer and cybersecurity SME
can determine the regulatory scope and treatment for the modification.
Once the regulatory scope is determined for
NRC-regulated critical digital assets, the procedure contains instructions for completing a
cybersecurity controls checklist to facilitate
addressing the cybersecurity controls provided
in Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) 08-09 Revision 6, Appendix D (Technical Controls) and
Appendix E (Operational and Management
Controls) for the system development life
cycle. (Note that NEI 08-09, Cyber Security
Plan for Nuclear Power Reactors, is the U.S.
nuclear industry document developed to assist
licensees in constructing and implementing
their Cyber Security Plan license submittal
as required by 10 CFR 73.54.) The checklist
provides entry cells for various pieces of data,
including:
Life-cycle guidance for the requirements,

design, and post-design phases: This
column contains specific guidance for
April 2014 POWER
addressing cybersecurity control for certain life-cycle phases. For example, some
cybersecurity controls, such as network
scanning, cannot be implemented directly
into the design but take place in the operation and maintenance (O&M) phase.
Requirements/specification references: A
brief summary of the analysis addressing
the cybersecurity control in the requirements life-cycle phase would be recorded
in this column by the digital design engineer, along with requirements document
references supporting the summary.
Design references: A brief summary of
the analysis addressing the cybersecurity
control in the design life-cycle phase is recorded in this column by the digital design
engineer, along with design document references supporting the summary.
Test references: A brief summary of the
analysis addressing the cybersecurity control in the testing or post-design life-cycle
phases is recorded in this column by the
digital design engineer, along with testing
(factory acceptance test, site acceptance
test, and so on) document references supporting the summary.
www.powermag.com
EPRI Report 1019187 also simplifies

implementation of the security controls
contained in NEI 08-09, Revision 6. Previously, there had been no guidance to help
interpret the 600-plus requirements mentioned in the document, which cover areas
such as procurement, contracts, vendor design, and in-house environments. Lacking
guidance, some licensees had even postponed digital upgrades.
The EPRI guidance provides clear, specific requirements for critical digital assets
so nuclear plant owners can target only those
that pertain to them and the specific plant
change they are making. It also helps vendors
understand what each requirement stipulates.
The clarity will help avoid technical misunderstandings and associated costs during subsequent design life-cycle phases.
For example, the requirements phase of the
system development life cycle includes the
following specific guidance for cybersecurity
review activities as part of the design engineer review of vendor/contractor proposals/
response to the procurement specification:
Cybersecurity attributes for the digital

modification provided in the procurement
specification shall be addressed and documented by the design engineer.
The cybersecurity SME (cybersecurity
specialist) reviews and signs off on the
vendor response to the procurement specification.
The design engineer shall ensure that all
vendor deviations/exceptions to requirements are addressed for security impact.
The cybersecurity SME reviews and approves all vendor-proposed alternate controls. The cybersecurity SME shall identify
where alternate controls will be used for
45
NUCLEAR POWER
1. Visualize the cybersecurity implications. Creating a simple network diagram
like this one during the conceptual phase of a digital asset modification will facilitate a conversation with the plant cybersecurity subject matter expert on required functions and cybersecurity
features for the modification. Source: EPRI
Protected
network
Micro
Card
SLC
application
configuration
SLC
firmware
Process data
(real time)
HART
communicator
Engineering tool
workstation
Engineering tool
software
(from SLC vendor)
Item to be
procured
Likely data
elements
inside SLC
Tool data
associated
with SLC
TB-1
HART capable
single-loop
controller (SLC)
1-AOV-1
Analog input
Analog output
1-FIC-1
1-FT-1
cybersecurity and approve the preliminary

vendor approach.
The cybersecurity SME provides input
into cybersecurity requirements for the
vendor in the contract for items such
as hold points reviews, vendor commitments, and milestones as they pertain to
cybersecurity.
Cybersecurity Procurement
Methodology
The guidance provided in the second EPRI
document, Cyber Security Procurement
Methodology, puts suppliers and nuclear
plant owners on the same page so that both
are familiar with the procurement and supply chain cybersecurity requirements and can
avoid costly rework. In the past, differing interpretations of cybersecurity regulations often led to varying requirements for the same
products. Suppliers also often didnt know
what role the nuclear plant owners expected
them to play in providing cybersecurity.
EPRI research has shown that a standard
set of cybersecurity control requirements
with a standard set of procurement specifications is not feasible for the multitude of
equipment types, vendors, and use cases
that exist in the various types of facilities
and applications. Consequently, a procurement methodology has been developed for
determining the appropriate cybersecurity
requirements for each use case as informed
by a number of factors.
Many of the cybersecurity controls can be
implemented only by the facility. Examples
include incident response policy and proce46
dures, and physical access authorizations.

In some cases, the supplier can provide
the technology or feature to implement the
cybersecurity control, but the utility actually implements the cybersecurity control.
Examples include password requirements
and baseline configuration. In these cases,
the supplier provides the ability to create and
manage passwords and a baseline configuration, but the owner should perform the actual
management of passwords and maintain the
critical asset baseline configuration.
In other cases, the supplier may be able to
provide a security feature or function built
into or added onto its product, but the owner
may have already implemented a different
technology or platform at the facility. An
example could be audit reduction and report
generation, as the owner may already have an
audit log aggregation and reporting capability in a centralized security system. The requirement then would be for the supplier to
provide the capability to transmit audit logs
and records to the utilitys existing audit reporting system rather than use the suppliers
audit reporting system.
Cybersecurity requirements should be
considered a subset of the larger set of design inputs and design outputs in the existing
modification and design processes. Digital
systems often have other critical requirements, such as response time and availability
that could be negatively affected by a cybersecurity requirement (for example, encrypting
data transmissions). These system-level functional and performance requirements should
be considered in tandem with cybersecurity
www.powermag.com
requirements. When combined, the full set of

requirements helps determine not only which
cybersecurity controls are required from a
supplier but also how the cybersecurity control is implemented by the supplier.
To understand why a one size fits all
cybersecurity specification is not practical, it is helpful to use a simple mechanical
analogy. Safety-related pumps in nuclear
facilities must be anchored to their foundations. It is not practical to write one
specification that encompasses all of the
characteristics of all of the bolts that may
be used for anchoring all pumps. It depends
on the size of the pump, its dynamic loading, its seismic loading, and other factors.
However, it is helpful to have a methodology for routinely determining the necessary
length, diameter, thread pitch, and material characteristics for bolts used to anchor
pumps, so that the bolts can be specified
and procured for each application in a predictable manner. Cybersecurity controls, in
relation to critical digital assets, should be
treated the same way.
The methods described in the report are
based on the established owner/operator cybersecurity strategy, life-cycle processes, and
roles and responsibilities. These elements are
expected to be established, determined, or
identified before procuring a critical asset.
The report provides guidance on what
to do before communicating with the supplier, what to do when communicating with
the supplier, how to evaluate supplier information, and how to go about procuring
the digital asset. For example, the guidance
defines specific outcomes that should be expected during and after communicating with
the supplier:
The supplier will identify and map supplier component cybersecurity capabilities to the security controls identified in
the cybersecurity control table.
The supplier will identify any deviations,
exceptions, conflicts, or options.
The supplier will provide documentation
for all responses.
The supplier will describe the suppliers
development environment and how development assets are protected.
Based on such evaluations, it is prudent

for the plant owner to update the requirements specification to ensure the conformed
requirements specification is issued with the
supplier prior to issuance of the contract or
as the first step toward contract execution to
avoid costly rework or change in scope.
EPRI expects to have a computer-based
training module on the procurement methodology available in 2014 to support procure-
POWER April 2014
When you need BIG POWER,

total integration generates
bigger and better results.
No matter the business refinery, utility, manufacturing or petrochemical if you are in an industry that
demands big power, youll want to check out the complete range of boiler systems from Cleaver-Brooks.
For more than 80 years, we have set the industry standard in the design and production of boiler systems
that continually maximize efficiency and deliver uncompromising reliability and the lowest possible emissions.
Our total integration is that every component from gas inlet to stack outlet is designed, engineered and
manufactured by just one company.
To find your nearest representative,

visit cleaverbrooks.com or call 800.250.5883.
2013 Cleaver-Brooks, Inc.

NUCLEAR POWER
ment engineers, design engineers, and the
vendors own in-house engineers.
Results from Comanche Peak

By using these guidelines developed in collaboration with EPRI, Luminant has been
able to identify and solve problems early in
the contracts phase, thereby avoiding cybersecurity-related missteps during the design
phase that can cause increases in the scope
and budget or create workarounds. For example, discussion with the supplier on the
plant computer cybersecurity requirements
resulted in bringing both parties to a common understanding, including issuance of a
conformed requirements specification signed
off by both the supplier and Luminant.
As mentioned earlier, Luminant expects
to save more than $600,000 in avoided cost
overruns on digital system upgrade modifications for the plant computer replacement and
a security system video capture at Comanche
Peak Nuclear Power Plant.
For the plant computer replacement, Comanche Peak staff wrote the specification
for bids as the EPRI guidance document was
being written, which enabled Luminant to
incorporate many of the guidance elements.
This specification and the requirements were
then discussed at length with the suppliers.

Most of the suppliers took exceptions and
increased the price, but this helped both the
suppliers and Luminant to better understand
the scope and effort and what was expected.
It also resulted in detailed discussions and
provided greater supplier clarity to each requirement. Comanche Peak is now in the
preliminary design phase, and the EPRI document and checklist will be used to ensure
requirements of each phase are addressed by
the supplier.
For the video capture system, Luminant
also has used the guidance document to ensure the integrity of the software and product.
During the design review and factory acceptance testing (FAT), Luminant discovered
supplier errors and a lack of understanding
of third-party software products. This led to
the FAT being repeated. Without a rigorous
specification requirement, Comanche Peak
would not have discovered the flaws at the
factory, and these flaws could have resulted
in an undesirable event upon installation.
Plenty to Gain
In short, vendors and nuclear plant owners
who understand and address cybersecurity
requirements up front will avoid costs on the
back end. Benefits of using these EPRI documents include:
Clearer security requirements: Bidders,

suppliers, and licensees have a far better
understanding of the cybersecurity requirements, because they are clearly specified.
Lower costs: By significantly reducing
misunderstandings that can lead to expensive scope changes, the EPRI documents
help avoid costly rework.
More-efficient work processes: Utility
plant engineers know exactly which requirements are most relevant, alleviating
confusion and saving time. In addition,
engineers receive step-by-step guidance
on how to implement cybersecurity controls throughout a critical digital assets
life cycle.
Enhanced safety and reliability: EPRIs
cybersecurity requirements provide better
problem-detection and problem-solving
capabilities, leading to safer, more reliable
power generation.
Matt Gibson (mgibson@epri.com) is

senior technical leader at EPRI, and Jay
Amin (janardan.amin@luminant.com) is
cybersecurity and digital program manager at Luminant.
Our Leading Global Product Brands:

KF Valves
Pibiviesse
Leslie Controls, Inc.
RTK
HOKE
GYROLOK
Pipeline Engineering
Sagebrush
Spence Engineering
GO Regulator
Contromatics
Hydroseal
CPC-Cryolab
Mallard Control
Circle Seal Controls
DOPAK
Texas Sampling Systems
CIRCORTech
Valve Solutions for the Worlds

Most Demanding Applications
Boiler, condensate and main steam systems. Severe service. District heating.
Process control. Steam conditioning. When it comes to these and many other
complex applications, more OEMs, utility, industrial, and EPC companies are relying
on CIRCOR Energy to provide the highly engineered valves, systems and services
they need to keep their facilities consistently operating at peak efficiency.
Contact us today to find out how we can collaborate to turn your most difficult
application challenges into opportunities to improve efficiencies and performance.
Continuously Improving Flow Control. Worldwide.

www.circorenergy.com
April 2014 POWER
www.powermag.com
49
NUCLEAR POWER
Nuclear Plant Closings: What

About the Workers?
Power plant jobs have typically come with a sense of securityafter all, everyone needs electricity. But in todays generating environment, even workers
at nuclear plants are finding their positions are less and less secure.
Aaron Larson
nce upon a time, obtaining a job at a

nuclear power plant meant a person
was set for life. If an individual did
at least acceptable work and kept their nose
clean, they were rewarded with a career that
offered good pay and excellent benefits, including top-quality medical coverage and a
decent pension. Those days may be coming
to an end.
Renewable energy mandates in many
states have resulted in what nuclear industry proponents say is an unfair advantage
for wind and solar resources. Expanded nuclear regulations and safety requirements
have forced expensive upgrades and large
investments that dont necessarily create
economic value for companies. These developments have put a pinch on nuclear
power plant profits.
These days, companies must look for every
opportunity to cut costs and reduce overhead.
A lot of work is contracted out, reducing fulltime employee numbers and the associated
benefits. Pensions and their defined benefits
have given way to 401(k) retirement accounts

with defined contributions. Traditional health
insurance has been converted to high-deductible health plans and employee-funded health
savings accounts. But even with these changes, some power plants are finding it difficult
to remain profitable.
Although extreme winter weather has
raised awareness about the vulnerability
of relying heavily on natural gas as a fuel
source, it is still widely considered to be a
low-cost, highly flexible source of energy.
With some experts estimating that shale gas
reserves could last up to 100 years, natural
gas is likely to continue growing its share of
the generation mix in the U.S. electric power
market. Even though natural gasfired facilities require personnel, the numbers are typically far fewer than are required at traditional
nuclear or coal-fired plants.
Nuclear Shutdowns
Since October 2012, four nuclear power
plants have announced that they would close
1. Kewaunee Power Station. The 556-MW plant owned by Dominion shut down permanently in the spring of 2013. Courtesy: Dominion
50
www.powermag.com
permanently, removing almost 4.2 GW of capacity from the U.S. electrical grid. Prior to
these announcements, no nuclear plant had
been decommissioned since 1997. Although
two of the plants had extenuating circumstances leading to their demise, thin profit
margins have certainly made retiring the
units much easier to justify.
The Kewaunee Power Station (Figure 1) in
Wisconsin was the first to officially declare
its intent to close. When announced, David
Heacock, president of Dominion Nuclear and
chief nuclear officer of Dominion said, This
decision was based purely on economics.
The dedicated employees have operated the
station safely and well. On May 7, 2013, the
plant was taken offline for the last time.
Another plant struggling with the current
market situation is Vermont Yankee Nuclear
Power Station (VY, Figure 2). Entergy said
that sustained low power prices, high cost
structure, and wholesale electricity market
design flaws for the plant drove its decision
to close and decommission the facility. It
will run through its current fuel cycle and
is expected to cease operation near the end
of this year.
Not that long ago, the future seemed
bright. Both Kewaunee and VY had been
granted 20-year license extensions by the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)
in early 2011, which would have allowed
continued operation through 2033 and 2032
respectively.
In Florida, the Crystal River Nuclear Plant
(CR3, Figure 3) last came offline in September 2009 when it shut down for a scheduled
maintenance and refueling outage. The unit
was never restarted because, while replacing
the CR3 steam generators (SGs), engineers
discovered a delamination (or separation of
concrete) within the containment building
that surrounds the reactor vessel. Although
the damage was repaired, additional delamination was later discovered, and Duke Energy determined that retiring the plant was its
best option.
The San Onofre Nuclear Generating Sta-
POWER April 2014
NUCLEAR POWER
2. Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station. Entergy plans to close the 605-MW
plant at the end of its current fuel cycle, expected in the fourth quarter of 2014. Courtesy:
Nuclear Regulatory Commission
tion (SONGS, Figure 4) experienced a similar fate. Southern California Edison (SCE)
had replaced the SGs in both of its operating
unitsUnits 2 and 3between September
2009 and February 2011. In January 2012,
station operators detected a leak in a Unit
3 SG tube. Further investigation revealed
unexpected tube-to-tube wear in both units
caused by fluid elastic instability (or excessive tube vibration). After nearly a year and
a half of testing and analysis, the decision
was made to permanently retire the facility
on June 7, 2013.
Making the Transition

It is difficult for everyone involved when a
plant closes. Independent system operators
must manage the electrical grid differently
in order to adjust for the lost generation.
In California, the Huntington Beach facility converted its generators to synchronous
condensers for voltage support after the
closing of SONGS (see AES Uses Synchronous Condensers for Grid Balancing
in the March 2014 issue of POWER, online
at powermag.com). Companies must deal
with the cost of decommissioning and a loss
3. Crystal River Nuclear Plant. Issues with the reactor containment led Duke Energy to
permanently close the 860-MW unit. Courtesy: Nuclear Regulatory Commission
of operating income from the facility. And

then there are the workers.
As plants close, some employees are able
to take early retirement, but most were in the
workforce for a reason, and retirement wasnt
part of their immediate plan.
The uncertainty can be very difficult for
employees. Will their jobs be eliminated?
Will they be able to transfer to the decommissioning team or to another operational plant?
Will relocation be required?
For their part, all four companies that recently announced nuclear plant closings have
indicated that they want to ease the transition
for their personnel, but deciding the best and
most cost-effective way to accomplish that
can be difficult.
According to Heather Danenhower, senior communications consultant for CR3,
Duke is committed to retaining its nuclear
talent. We worked hard to match employees preferences with business needs. For
example, when the decision was made, we
asked employees whether they wanted to
leave the company with severance benefits,
to redeploy to another position, or to stay on
site to work in the Decommissioning Transition Organization [DTO]. In most cases, we
were able to fulfill employees preferences,
Danenhower said.
Duke held onsite job fairs for positions
within the company and gave CR3 employees preference for interviews as long as they
met the minimum qualifications. Although
unable to provide exact numbers, Danenhower said that many of the CR3 employees
accepted positions within Dukes nuclear
organization based in the Carolinas. Others
accepted positions in the companys fossil
and transmission and distribution operations
in Florida. Any who redeployed more than
50 miles were offered relocation packages to
help them and their families make the transition to their new site.
Reducing the Numbers

When Duke announced the decision to retire
CR3 on Feb. 5, 2013, the plant had 585 fulltime employees, not including security personnel and contractors. The first employee
separations occurred in May 2013, and more
followed throughout the year. All personnel
who left the company were notified of their
impending separation at least 60 days in advance, and all received severance benefits.
There are currently 275 personnel assigned
to the DTO staff, but that number is expected
to shrink over time. The companys current
schedule places the plant into its SAFSTOR
condition by July 2015. SAFSTOR is one of
three NRC-approved strategies for decommissioning in which the facility is placed and
maintained in a condition that allows it to be
52
www.powermag.com
POWER April 2014
SentrySeries Goal Based ISB Control Systems

...beyond intelligent sootblowing
Designed to meet todays boiler cleaning needs by responding to changing
operating conditions, changes like fuel switching, fuel blending, even swings in
power demand!
Convection / Backpass Goals

X"
Goal Tracking with Reduced EGOT
X"
Balancing & Optimizing Steam Temperatures
Convection
X"
Priority Sootblowing
Furnace Goals
X"
Goal Tracking with Reduced FEGT
Furnace
X"
Thermal Impact Monitoring
X"
Priority Sootblowing by Determining
Furnace Slagging Patterns
SentrySeries Goal Based ISB works to YOUR GOALS!
740.687.4334
2013 Diamond Power International, Inc. All rights reserved.

NUCLEAR POWER
Thriving Through Job Transitions

I feel fortunate to have worked in several different capacities
throughout my power careermostly by choice. I began in the
trenchesturning wrenches and taking logsand worked my way
up to management positions at commercial nuclear, biomass, and
coal facilities. Although the fuels changed, in my experience, there
have been more similarities than differences between the various
plants. A short history of my career may suggest paths forward for
those facing involuntary career shifts.
Training for Success

My career began in the U.S. Navys nuclear power program, where
my training included 13 weeks of Machinist Mate A School and
26 weeks of Nuclear Power School in Orlando, Fla. Once completed,
I moved on to another 26 weeks of instruction at the S1C nuclear
prototype unit located near Windsor, Conn. That intense training
really set the stage for my power generation career. As in any field,
training and a desire to learn are essential to advancement and
career options.
My first shipboard assignment was in Machinery division aboard
the USS Enterprise, which was homeported in Alameda, Calif., at
the time. Working in the engine room afforded me the opportunity
to learn both maintenance skills and operational proficiencies.
The Navy forces young sailors to learn quickly and take on new
responsibilities rapidly, because there is always a steady flow of
personnel through the organization. The majority of new hires
will only be with the organization for four years, and even those
who reenlist typically remain at their first duty station no more
than five years before transferring to a shore command. There are
always experienced workers leaving and junior people stepping up
to fill their roles.
Although there was competition for advancement opportunities,
a person could move up quickly by showing initiative and being reliable. If you completed your qualifications, demonstrated technical competence, were dependable, and met performance standards,
you could slowly but surely rise to the top of your departments
roster. That was one of the biggest differences that I noticed when
I transferred to the civilian power industry.
The Civilian Establishment

The commercial power plant pecking order was filled with a long
list of employees whose seniority, in some cases, went all the way
back to plant construction. At my first commercial plant, the workers were unionized, so there was generally little chance of a worker
jumping over someone else with more seniority. I certainly respect
and understand the benefits of being union represented, but at the
same time, I know that it can limit opportunities for some of the
more capable young employees.
I entered the civilian nuclear world on the management side,
which was non-union. When I joined the Quad Cities staff, there
had been a lot of management turnover through the years. I was
initiated by the union folks who told me stories about Black Monday, when the entire supervisory staff received the proverbial pink
slip. One worker claimed to have kept a tally of all the supervisors
he had worked for over the years. I was number 104, if I remember
54
correctly. Another worker once told me, I was here long before
you came, and I will be here long after youre gone! In the end,
I guess he was right. However, while he enjoyed the security of a
stable career, Ive enjoyed the freedom of knowing I could thrive
in a less-stable career by being flexible.
For the most part, unlike the Navy, when folks got a job at a
civilian plant in previous eras, they were likely to remain with
that company for the rest of their working life. The jobs paid
well and included excellent benefits. Once employees established themselves in their positions, it was unlikely that they
would need, or even want, to leave. The system made for a
very experienced and capable workforce. However, when business changes lead to a plant closure, workers who excelled in
one niche may need to develop new skills and habits to thrive
in a new niche.
The Contractors Role

Unlike most people in my situation, I voluntarily left my nuclear
plant job to return to my hometown and other opportunities,
but I kept my foot in the door by continuing to work outages.
Because Quad Cities had two units with outages in alternating
years, I left my home state seasonally every year to work on one
unit or the other.
The work was similar to what I had done as a full-time supervisor, with the exception that I frequently managed other contract
workers with little direct knowledge of the plant layout. The arrangement was beneficial for the plant, because I could use my experience and knowledge of processes and procedures to lead skilled
workers who were not familiar with the facility.
Companies have always relied on contract help during outages,
and that trend is unlikely to end anytime soon. The benefits are
obvious: The company avoids providing health insurance, retirement benefits, or long-term pay, as it would for permanent staff.
For the contract worker, the benefit of having a well-paying
job, if only for a short period, is a plus. The work also allows flexibility. Although a person cant control when a plant schedules its
outages, the individual can choose whether or not to participate.
When outage season slows down, some workers can collect unemployment while they take the summer off. During spring and fall
outage periods, many workers are able to jump from one outage
to the next, with few days off during the period. In essence, they
have full-time work, even if they have to travel and sleep in hotels
for the duration of the job.
Creating Structure
My situation changed again seven years ago, when I was hired
to be the operations and maintenance manager at a brand new
biomass plant. The transition was a great experience for me. I was
coming from the highly structured world of nuclear power, with its
detailed procedures and by the book mentality, to a facility that
was owned by a startup company beginning with virtually a blank
sheet of paper.
I arrived as the fourth employee while the plant was still under
construction. Soon after, the original plant manager resigned, and
www.powermag.com
POWER April 2014
NUCLEAR POWER
I was left to establish programs and procedures from scratch. It was

eye-opening for me to staff a facility on a tight budget that had
been established four years earlier using extremely optimistic wage
and benefit estimates.
The biggest lesson I learned was that hiring local residents with
little or no experience was a better option than bringing in more
qualified personnel from outside the area. The plant was located in
rural Minnesota, which can be a culture shock for many people. What
I found was that employees who moved in from other places soon
left to pursue different opportunities, while local hires learned the
technical skills in time and remained at the facility as stable and
reliable workers.
Training was a challenge for management, but it was critical
for the workforce. With the help of supervisors and some of the
more experienced workers, I established a qualification program
similar to what I had seen used in the Navy. The process included instruction on safety and basic machinery principles. It
also required trainees to perform various tasks in the presence
of a qualified observer in order to demonstrate proficiency and
understanding of the plant operation. The training took time and
relied on careful transfer of knowledge from more experienced
workers to the newly hired employees, but in the end it seemed
to provide satisfactory results.
From Nuclear to Biomass to Coal

As time passed, ownership changes resulted in management changes, and I again chose to look for employment elsewhere. Enter the
local coal-fired power plant.
I was offered the opportunity to join the Big Stone Plant as business supervisor. The position suited me but was a slight change in
emphasis from my previous roles. I had always worked with budgets
and managed costs, but in my new position, that was my primary
focus. I was encouraged to utilize my experience performing additional plant-related duties, such as helping with boiler inspections,
conducting safety walkdowns, and standing weekend duty, but my
main role was compiling the numbers.
Nevertheless, I was at a plant very similar to all the others. In the
end, maintenance workers do maintenance, operators operate, and
managers manage. Yes, there are different policies and procedures
that each entity must comply with, but if power plant workers are
competent in their positions at one power station, they likely can
gain similar competency at another location.
Finding That Dream Job

Currently, I no longer work at a power plant. The fork in my road led
to a new career in the media industry, and I love it! Dealing with
change is rarely easy, but it can be very gratifying.
Although the tasks, tools, schedules, and working environment
are all different from power plant work, I am finding that many of
the personal and professional skills and habits developed over my
power plant career are useful in this new one. Attention to detail,
reliability, time management, clear communication, and a willingness to learn new things are all habits that can make other former
power plant workers successful in many new fields.
Aaron Larson is a POWER associate editor.
April 2014 POWER
4. San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station. Although

Southern California Edison completed replacement of the plants
steam generators in 2011 at a cost of $671 million, design flaws in
the new components resulted in tube failure, forcing the company to
decommission the plant. Courtesy: Southern California Edison
safely stored and subsequently decontaminated to levels that permit

release for unrestricted use.
The entire decommissioning process must be completed within 60
years of ceasing plant operations. Duke intends to redeploy personnel
as they complete their assignments and plans to retain all who want to
continue working for the company. Approximately 40 to 75 employees will work at the site while the plant is in SAFSTOR.
SCE began its staff reduction well in advance of the decision to
close SONGS. The company had been in the process of benchmarking
industry best practices and decided to cut staffing from 2,230 to 1,500
personnel beginning in the fourth quarter of 2012. When the closure
was announced in June 2013, SCE indicated that the staff would be
reduced further to roughly 400 employees. As of late February 2014,
the plant was down to 520 employees.
The VY situation is still playing out at this point. Entergy expects
to retain its entire 630-person staff, which includes the security force,
through defueling. Once that process is complete, the staff will be cut
by more than half (Table 1).
Workforce Options
Entergy claims that it is fully committed to helping employees who
arent offered positions to find new career opportunities both inside
and outside the company. The company does have other nuclear
plants in the northeastern U.S.including Pilgrim, James A. Fitzpatrick, and Indian Pointbut realistically, any employee who transfers
to one of these plants will have to relocate.
Some VY employees are retiring early, but according to Jeffrey
Wimette, business manager for the International Brotherhood of Elec-
Table 1. List of plant closings. Source: Duke Energy, Dominion, Southern California Edison, and Entergy
Operational
staffing
Date closure
announced
Last day of
operation
Crystal River Nuclear

Plant
600
Feb. 5, 2013
Sept. 26, 2009
Kewaunee Power
Station
600
Oct. 22, 2012
May 7, 2013
San Onofre Nuclear

Generating Station
1,500
June 7, 2013
Jan. 31, 2012
Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station
630
Aug. 27, 2013
TBD (estimated
Q4 2014)
Plant name
www.powermag.com
55
NUCLEAR POWER
5. Rancho Seco Nuclear Generating Station. This photo shows the facility today,
nearly 25 years after it was permanently shut down. All plant equipment has been removed, but
the structures still dot the landscape. Courtesy: Aaron Larson
trical Workers Local 300, the early retirement

formula being offered by Entergy does not
bridge the gap for many workers.
Daniel Dominguez, a chief operator at
SONGS and business manager for the Utility Workers Union of America Local 246,
noted that many of SONGS licensed plant
personnel have taken positions elsewhere in
the industry, including with the Tennessee
Valley Authority, at Wolf Creek Station, and
at Diablo Canyon. A few workers went to
conventional plants and others went to poles
and wires jobs, but the majority had to leave
the local area.
Dominguez said that SCE gave severance
packages, extended medical benefits, helped
with job placement assistance, and provided
educational reimbursement, but in the end it
is still difficult for the workforce.
All of the workers here believe in the benefits of nuclear power, said Dominguez. It
is disheartening to see 2,200 MW removed
from the grid.
Stumbling Blocks
Nuclear plant workers frequently have more
detailed procedures to follow than employees at other facilities. In most cases, safety
policies are based on Occupational Safety
and Health Administration requirements, so
they are similar whether one is working at a
nuclear plant or some other electric generation facility. In contrast, nuclear maintenance
work practices and operating procedures are
often more comprehensive and require stepby-step adherence to NRC guidelines.
It might seem as if the transition to a lessstringent work process would be easy for
56
most people, but other aspects can get in the

way of a quick assimilation. Old habits can
be hard for some workers to break. When
a person is used to having certain things
spelled out in black and white, the absence of
guidelines can be difficult.
There can also be personality conflicts and
difficulty fitting into a new crew after years of
adhering to the status quo. Hard feelings can
develop when a more senior employee from
another plant moves to a facility and bumps a
well-liked worker. Old rivalries between workers
from different plants can also make the transition
difficult. However, most people understand that
such situations are out of the employees control
and that developing good workforce cohesion is
in everyones best interest.
One might say the situation is what it is
and now the employees have to work through
it the best they can, and make the most prudent choices they can that have the greatest
outcome for the employee and his/her family, Wimette said. (For an example of how
one power plant worker has weathered multiple career transitions, see the sidebar Thriving Through Job Transitions.)
Not the First Rodeo

According to the NRC, nine reactors larger
than 556 MW (the smallest of the four currently being removed from service) have previously been decommissioned in the U.S. One
of those provides an interesting perspective,
having shut down 25 years ago this summer.
The 913-MW Rancho Seco Nuclear Generating Station (Figure 5) was a single-unit,
Babcock and Wilcox pressurized water reactor. The site is owned by the Sacramento
www.powermag.com
Municipal Utility District (SMUD), and the

plant began commercial operation on Apr. 18,
1975. In the summer of 1989, after a troublesome operating history in which the plants
lifetime average capacity factor was less than
40%, district residents voted to shut the plant
down permanently. The facility had plunged
SMUD under water financially, which had
resulted in electricity rates nearly doubling in
the years leading up to the vote.
Although SMUD declined to comment for
this article, the Lodi News-Sentinel newspaper archives painted a fairly grim picture of
the workforce reduction process. The plant
was hugely overstaffed, with a reported head
count of 969 employees and another 676 contractors and consultants working at the facility in February 1989. At that time, SMUD
announced the layoff of 200 contractors to
trim some of the fat.
On June 8, 1989, following the vote that
confirmed the plants fate, the Rancho Seco
CEO quit and 417 additional contractors received layoff notices. In the weeks that followed, a voluntary separation package was
offered, which allowed workers to quit rather
than being laid off or fired.
The carrot on the end of the voluntary
separation stick was eight weeks of base pay
plus an additional week for each full year
with the company, up to a total of 26 weeks
of pay. Preliminary reports had also noted that
four months of paid health benefits would be
given to employees with less than four years
service, and six months of benefits would
be provided to those having more than four
years with the company. Furthermore, the
plan included counseling services to assist
with resume writing and job search skills.
Employees actually camped overnight in
front of SMUD headquarters to ensure they
didnt miss the opportunity to quit, which
was on a first-come, first-served basis. In the
end, 330 people voluntarily separated on the
first day of the program.
Of course, that wasnt the end of the job
losses. All told, SMUD would eliminate
1,000 positions by the end of 1989. Headhunters from Portland General Electric reportedly swooped in to hire some SMUD
employees. It was looking for the cream of
the crop to work at its Trojan Nuclear Power
Plant. Little did they know that it, too, would
close only a few years later.
This only goes to show that electricity
generation is a business and, like any other
industry, cost matters. If a plant isnt competitive, companies will cut their losses, and
employees can find themselves on the outside looking in.
Aaron Larson is a POWER associate

editor (@AaronL_Power,
@POWERmagazine).
POWER April 2014
NUCLEAR POWER
Worldwide Nuclear Commerce:

Good News and Bad News
Estimates of new worldwide nuclear capacity by 2050 span an order of magnitude: from 67 GW to 740 GW. Regardless of the actual capacity built, it
represents a decent chunk of business. Given that outlook, despite a weak
market for nuclear projects in the U.S., experts say the American nuclear
industry has no reason to be dejectedas long as its prepared to play in
the global marketplace.
Kennedy Maize
ts a hoary setup for a joke, but its no joke

in talking about nuclear power. When it
comes to worldwide prospects for nuclear
expansion, there is good news and there is
bad news.
The bad news is found in the richest
neighborhoods of the developed world: the
U.S., Europe, and Japan. None of these markets show much, if any, prospect for growth
for new nuclear power. Some, Japan and
Germany in particular, are on an atomic energy downslope.
The good news? The rest of Asia, the Middle East, and some countries of the former
Soviet Union all look positive for new nuclear development. China and India are engaged
in big expansion programs. Turkey (see the
story on Turkeys nuclear ambitions in this
months Global Monitor), the United Arab
Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, Jordanall
bullish on nukes. Poland and the Czech Republic also have begun the multi-year process
of acquiring new nuclear power plants.
Is There a Role for U.S. Nuclear

Companies?
When it comes to U.S. companies competitive position in the worldwide market, there
is good news and there is bad newsthat old
refrain again. The good news is that America, historically the leader in worldwide
nuclear commerce, is still widely admired
for its nuclear technology and its culture of
safety. The rules and regulations of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), despite carping from the U.S. industry, are the
gold standard for the rest of the world. That
gives the U.S. an edge, although its preeminent position in global nuclear commerce is
slipping, by all accounts.
The bad news for U.S. nuclear vendors
is that the market for new nuclear plants
around the world is no longer a U.S. monopoly. Its a complicated, global market
with well-equipped, well-financed, and
April 2014 POWER
well-managed competitors, primarily in Japan, Russia, South Korea, and, potentially,

China. Its unclear who is in the lead and
who might prevail.
A Truly Global Market

This good news/bad news tale is the
take-away from this years annual Platts
nuclear energy conference, held in downtown Washington in early February, in the
aftermath of an ice storm that left hundreds
of thousands of electric customers without
power in the territory to the north and west
of the nations capital.
Mark Herlach, a veteran nuclear industry
lawyer with Sutherland Asbill & Brennan,
told the Platts crowd that the world market is
a counterweight to the slumping prospects
for nuclear in the U.S. and the developed
world. U.S. vendors of nuclear technology
must look elsewhere for business growth.
It is there to be found. The international
market is absolutely essential for the continued health of the U.S. nuclear industry, he
said. Export opportunities for U.S. firms, he
added, are quite significant, with some 70
reactors under construction worldwide and
more to come.
How big is the world market? Nobody really knows, said Craig Piercy, the Washington representative for the American Nuclear
Society (ANS). He noted that the International Atomic Energy Agency has come up
with estimates of new nuclear capacity by
2050 ranging from a low of 67 GW to a high
of 740 GW. With a spread that wide, its clear
that precision in this forecast is considerably
less than in the seven-day forecasts commonly seen on the Weather Channel.
Regardless of the forecast imprecision,
said Jonathan Hinze of the nuclear consulting
firm UxC, Nuclear is still in a growth phase.
Only thats not in places where it has been
in the past. Today, 30 countries have civilian
nuclear power plants operating. Of those, he
www.powermag.com
said, 20 are in a steady state or decline. The

remaining 10 are in an expansion phase.
On top of that, some 20 countries could turn
out to be newcomers to nuclear, although
only 10 look like prospects for development
before 2030. According to Hinze, the growth
markets, accounting for two-thirds of the additions for the next decade or so, are China,
Russia, India, and South Korea.
The catastrophe at Japans Fukushima
station, said Hinze, has cut deeply into the
prospects for new nuclear. While UxC sees
nuclear growing by 60% by 2030, that represents a 17% decline from its pre-Fukushima
prediction. (Other reasons for nuclears rough
road are addressed in the sidebar.)
Bob Evans of Enercon Services said he
sees a slowdown in international growth for
nuclear, particularly among new entrants
to the nuclear club. The causes are shifts in
political support; difficulties in finding capital; market forces associated with competing
technologies, such as gas and renewables;
and an apparent declining interest in lowcarbon technologies. Countries continue to
talk the talk of carbon dioxide reduction,
he indicated, while being unwilling to walk
the walk.
Specifically, noted Evans:
The Czech Republic in 2012 said it wanted to add units to the Temelin station and
is evaluating bids. But the government
has changed hands, and the program has
slowed. Evans said its probable that a
decision could come in 20142015, but
that may be unraveled by a lack of political will.
Poland says it wants to build four nuclear
units by 2020, to overcome that countrys
dependence on local lignite and imported
(from Russia) natural gas. But the Poles
have announced delays in the plans for
issuing a tender, in part because national
elections are this year. So Evans said he
57
NUCLEAR POWER
Driving Factors for New Nuclear Power in the U.S. and Abroad
In a conversation between Edward Kee, vice president of NERA
Economic Consulting and a long-time observer of nuclear power
issues worldwide, and POWER Contributing Editor Kennedy Maize,
Kee stressed that these are his views, and may not be the same
as the views of his NERA colleagues or clients.
POWER: What is the most important factor in

determining whether new nuclear capacity will get
built in any given country?
Kee: The most important factor for a nuclear new build decision is how the cost of electricity from a nuclear project compares
to the cost of electricity from other sources.
The availability and cost of alternate generation fuels in a
region or country is a primary driver of this comparison. In North
America, abundant and cheap natural gas prices, combined with
low and predicable capital cost for [combined cycle gas turbine]
plants make gas-fired CCGTs a low-cost electricity option. In
countries or regions that rely on imported generation fuels (for
example, Korea and Japan), power plants burning imported coal
may have lower costs than plants using imported [liquefied natural gas], but nuclear electricity may be the lowest cost option.
Government investments in a nuclear power project depend on
the commitment of the government to the project. In theory, this
should be based on an [integrated resource planning] process
that is similar to those used for regulated utilities. But the government utility is likely to be a nonprofit entity with financing
through government-guaranteed debt, lowering costs. The government may also see benefits from a nuclear power project that
go beyond the electricity sector, including increased energy security (that is, less dependence on imported fuels), development
of nuclear industrial capability, added domestic jobs, and other
factors. For some governments, a nuclear power program may also
be a part of a general national effort to move the economy to a
higher level of technology and skills.
POWER: What about merchant plants? Can

new nuclear plants get built in a market environment that is based on short-term, spot market
prices for energy?
Kee: Any nuclear power project is much harder in restructured
electricity markets. The difficulty is even greater if the only revenue
for a nuclear power project must come from the electricity market
(that is, a merchant nuclear project). No merchant nuclear project
has been developed. The trend appears to be toward revenue guarantees, loan guarantees, and other mechanisms to firm up revenue
and lower costs for nuclear projects in electricity markets.
All existing nuclear power plants were built as either regulated
utility assets or as government utility assets. In the traditional
regulated and government industry approach to the electricity industry, long-term planning was done to develop capacity expansion
plans to meet reliability, cost of service, and other objectives.
An existing and operational merchant nuclear project may be
profitable when electricity market prices are high, but that does
not mean a new nuclear power plant will be profitable. Electricity
market prices in 10 years, when a new nuclear plant would enter
commercial operation, may not be high enough for profitability.
58
There is even less certainty about electricity market prices during

the nuclear power plants 60-year commercial operating life.
The UK Hinkley Point project may provide an example of what
must be done to get a new nuclear power plant built in an electricity market. A package of investment incentives (for example,
long-term [contracts for differences] with high strike prices, loan
guarantees, etc.) are intended to provide long-term financial
certainty for the Hinkley Point investment. The UK Electricity
Market Reform (EMR) process is intended to encourage and guide
investment in nuclear power projects. Decades of a market-based
investment approach left the UK with a thin reserve margin and
no replacement capacity for its soon-to-be-retired nuclear fleet.
The UK EMR and the Hinkley Point deal are considered a massive intervention in the electricity market. The UK was one of
the first countries to restructure its electricity industry (in the
early 1990s) and it now appears to be one of the first countries
to make significant modifications to the electricity market model
needed to ensure appropriate generation investment.
POWER: Is the cooperative, Finnish approach a

useful mechanism for structuring the financing of
a new nuclear build?
Kee: TVO and the Finnish Mankala structure is a viable approach to developing and owning nuclear power plants, as demonstrated by the TVO projects at Olkiluoto (OL1, OL2, and even
OL3). The OL3 nuclear project has project development problems
that are separate from and not caused by the TVO corporate structure and financing approach.
The Finnish Mankala approach allows energy users (including
private for-profit companies) to join together to own a power
plant, with the owners sharing the costs and receiving a share
of the power output, without tax issues. This approach is similar
to the U.S. generation and transmission (G&T) cooperative approach, except that the members of U.S. G&T cooperatives are all
nonprofit entities.
POWER: Some countries have pushed exports

of their technologies and nuclear vendor services.
Is this wise?
Kee: If the benefits to the country implementing an export push
strategy are greater than the costs, this may be a winning strategy.
For the U.S., the options available to push exports are largely
limited to supplying Export Credit Agency loans to non-U.S. buyers of U.S. nuclear technology. Other countries, especially those
with a government-owned nuclear vendor, have more options
available to push exports.
Government-owned companies in the nuclear sector compete
with privately owned companies. While a private company seeks
to maximize long-term profits, a government-owned company
may focus less on earning project profits and more on gaining
market share, increasing domestic nuclear industry employment,
supporting geopolitical goals, or achieving other objectives.
Also, a government vendor may be able to take commercial risks
that a private vendor could not take. When private firms compete
head-to-head with government-owned firms in the world nuclear
power market, the private firms may have difficulty.
www.powermag.com
POWER April 2014
NUCLEAR POWER
doubts Poland can pull off the trick of new

nuclear by 2020.
Vietnam has a very ambitious program to
build eight to 10 units over the next 15 years.
It has signed agreements with Russia and
Japan. But the country recently announced
a two-year delay for the first units and said
it will develop 5,000 MW of new gas-fired
capacity using offshore production.
Jordon has solicited bids for 1,000 MW of
new nuclear capacity and picked Russias
Rosatom as the vendor. But the government recently announced a two-year delay
in the project, said Evans, because Jordan
probably doesnt have enough money to
get it going, even though Russia is offering customers a build, own, operate arrangement, which means the Russians will
finance the deal.
Overall, it looks like further delays for

new entrants into the nuclear generation
family, said Evans, although there are some
positive developments in the UAE, the UK,
Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Finland.
Even SMRs Arent a Sure Bet

Several of the Platts speakers mentioned that
successful development of small modular re-
actors (SMRs) could bring other countries,

which dont need the size and cost of conventional 1,000-MW and larger plants, into
the nuclear club. South Africa, for example,
invested heavily in the small pebble-bed reactor but abandoned the project in 2010 for
financial reasons.
But air seems to be leaking out of the SMR
balloon lately. Westinghouse in February announced it would end its SMR project, after
a decade of development and many millions
of dollars of investment. After losing two attempts to win U.S. Department of Energy
(DOE) funding for its 225-MW SMR, the
Pittsburgh-based company said it will concentrate on its NRC-certified AP1000 fullscale designs, which are actually being built
in the U.S. (four units) and China (also four
units). Westinghouse CEO Danny Roderick
said, The problem I have with SMRs is not
the technology, its not the deploymentits
that theres no customers.
Global Nuclear Trade Politics

Where does the U.S. stand in the now intensely competitive world nuclear market? Thats
unclear (an anagram of nuclear). The U.S.
once possessed a total world monopoly. It
owned all nuclear technology and could dis-
pense it at will. Thats no longer the case.

Richard Stratford, who heads the U.S.
State Departments nuclear energy office,
sketched out the history of the development
of nuclear commerce around the world and of
U.S. involvement. Its a case of moving from
total control to being just another competitor
in a complex global market.
In the days of U.S nuclear exclusivity
and later superiority, in the 1940s and 1950s
through the early 1970sU.S. law specified
that any commerce outside the U.S. had to
come through Washington. As Richard Goorevich at the DOE noted, U.S. policyparticularly the Atoms for Peace program, which
aimed to spread civilian power technology
around the worldwas not about economics. It was aimed at undercutting communism
and the Soviet Union.
During the early period, noted Stratford,
the U.S. used the International Atomic Energy Agency, a United Nations creation, as
a pass-through on nuclear commerce, with
little attention to nonproliferation concerns.
But Indias 1974 detonation of its peaceful
nuclear explosion, using Canadian technology and U.S.-supplied heavy water, changed
the dynamics of the U.S. approach to nuclear
commerce. The Nuclear Non-Proliferation
Building on a Legacy
For 90 years, our direct-hire, purpose-driven
delivery model has made us an industry leader.
With more than 50 years in the power market,
our experience allows us to see the larger
picture by focusing on relationships, not just
projects; and integrity, not just specs. Find out
what it means to work with
a company that has an eye to
the future, and a foundation
in the core values of the past.
For more information, visit www.zhi.com.
D
GRAN
SPONSOR
VISIT US AT
BOOTH
801
w w w. z h i . c o m
ENGINEERING | CONSTRUCTION | INDUSTRIAL SERVICES | FABRICATION | NUCLEAR
facebook.com/ZachryHoldings
April 2014 POWER
www.powermag.com
59
NUCLEAR POWER
CERAWeek Insights
POWER editors attended IHS Energy CERAWeek in early
March. In addition to this issues Speaking of Power column,
we covered the event in these web-only POWER exclusives:

The interdependency of water and power is addressed

in GE Executive Markhoff Talks About the Water/
Energy Nexus.
Curious about how future Environmental Protection

Agency (EPA) regulations may affect grid reliability? EPA
and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission heads have
slightly different views, reported in EPAs McCarthy on
Energy Sector Collaboration, Reliability, and 316(b).
With no mention of nuclear in this years State of

the Union address, many are wondering what the
administration really thinks about the carbon-free
generation source. Learn what the Department of
Energy is doing in Moniz Reveals DOE Progress for
Nuclear Waste.
Act of 1978, and a new Section 123 to the

Atomic Energy Act, resulted.
Those legal provisions gave the State Department the task of reviewing agreements
for nuclear commerce between the U.S. and
foreign countries on a country-by-country
basis. Its a cumbersome, time-consuming
process involving careful, sometimes contentious, negotiations with countries seeking
access to U.S. nuclear technology. But, said
Stratford, it largely has worked.
Congress also created, in Section 57 B of
the Atomic Energy Act, provisions for U.S.
transfer of nuclear technology to foreign
countries. The regulations implementing that
provision are in Section 810 of the Code of
Federal Regulations. The program is called
the 810 program. This is a convoluted process that requires the secretary of energy to
sign off on some agreements between U.S.
vendors and foreign buyers of peaceful, civilian technology.
Given the cumbersome U.S. law and
rules, U.S. nuclear technology vendors feel
disadvantaged in global competition with
firms such as Rosatom, Frances AREVA,
South Koreas Kepco, and multiple Japanese (and Japanese-American) vendors. The
State Departments Section 123 procedure,
and the DOEs Section 810 processwhich
are not coordinated, although the two agencies work closely to harmonize their activitiesrepresent to some U.S. vendors a
serious impediment.
At the Platts meeting, Donald Hoffman,
CEO of EXCEL Services Corp., complained
60
that U.S. vendors face a tilted market. Foreign vendors, often state-owned or stateconnected, can use their alliances with their
governments to be more nimble. He and others highlighted the ability of the Russians
to use state-supplied capital to offer buildown-operate deals to foreign countries. The
customer only faces the financial risks of
buying the power under contract. The U.S.
Congress, Hoffman said, must do more to
streamline law so the U.S. companies can
compete more effectively.
Is this vendor complaint valid? According to the State Departments Stratford,
the cumbersome 123 process has not really
been an obstacle to U.S. vendors. He said
he could point to no cases where the lack
of a state-to-state agreement had derailed
an international deal. Instead, he said, it is
sometimes the case where the foreign governments policies have slowed the ability
of U.S. vendors to supply nuclear technology to non-U.S. markets.
Thats been the case in India, Stratford
said, where the Indian government has a new
law that allows the utility to seek damages
from the nuclear technology vendor in the
case of an accident. In the U.S., the PriceAnderson Act shields vendors from liability, and similar rules operate in most of the
world. But India has specifically repudiated
this approach. That has vitiated the highly
touted 2009 U.S.-India nuclear cooperation
deal. The Indian law has also stymied deals
between India and Canada.
The real problem for U.S. vendors, noted
www.powermag.com
Craig Piercy of the ANS, is the tension between the old atomic mantra of control versus the new reality of influence. The U.S. can
no longer control how the rest of the world
develops its nuclear capabilities. But many
in Congress in both parties dont quite get
it, Piercy said, so going forward is difficult,
particularly when Section 123 agreements
must go to Congress for a 90-legislative-day
review. That period, Stratford mentioned, is
a term of art. It really means something on
the order of six months or more.
At the same time, the DOE Section 810
technology transfer approvals require traveling a byzantine pathway that includes several other federal agency sign-offs and ends
up with the energy secretary himself. The
law specifies that the determination by the
secretary that the transaction does not harm
the interests of the U.S. cannot be delegated
to a lower-level agency official.
Whats ahead for U.S. nuclear technology
exports? The DOE is revising and streamlining its Section 810 rules, hoping to make
nuclear technology transfer easier and more
transparent. The State Department is moving
ahead on a large number of expiring or new
Section 123 export agreements, including
Thailand, Norway, Taiwan, Vietnam, Jordan,
Saudi Arabia, China, and South Korea.
Will Congress change the law to fast-track
nuclear commerce? Not promising. In midDecember last year, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen
(R-Fla.), chair of the House Foreign Affairs
Subommittee on Middle East and North Africa, introduced a bill (H.R. 3766) that would
make exporting U.S. nuclear technology more
difficult. Her bill is aimed at the dispute between the U.S. and Iran over uranium enrichment and the possibility of nuclear weapons
proliferation. The State Departments Stratford
said the bill would add seven new conditions
to 123 agreements, making it more difficult to
approve bilateral export agreements.
Richard Myers at the Nuclear Energy
Institute denounced the bill. If this legislation were enacted, he said, it would
further isolate the United States from the
growing international marketplacewhere
our pre-eminence in civilian nuclear technologies has long since fadedby unilaterally establishing new terms for U.S.
nuclear energy cooperation and trade that
many prospective partner countries have
already rejected. In just the past few years,
contract awards by Vietnam and Jordan for
nuclear energy facilities supplied by Russia and Japan show the folly of H.R. 3766s
paternalistic, one-size-fits-all mandate that
sovereign nations forswear uranium enrichment and reprocessing.
Kennedy Maize is a POWER

contributing editor.
POWER April 2014
ITS A NU DAY
FOR A 60-YEAR OLD
INDUSTRY.
And the winner isNuScale Power. The US Department of Energy selected NuScale
Power for the second round of funding for Small Modular Reactor (SMR) development.
The five-year funding program accelerates the design and certification of the NuScale
Power Module SMR technology. This accelerates commercial availability to support
customer needs for carbon-free baseload electricity, and validates the viability of
smaller, safer, simpler, more economical nuclear power. Its a Nu day.
nuscalepower.com
@NuScale_Power
NuScale Power
WATER MANAGEMENT
Advanced Cooling and Water

Treatment Technology Concepts for
Power Plants
Worldwide awareness of the need to minimize freshwater use for power generationwhile minimizing energy penaltiesis growing. The Electric Power
Research Institute is involved in several programs that are developing innovative technologies.
Sean Bushart and Jessica Shi
echnology development to reduce

freshwater withdrawals and consumption for all types of thermoelectric
power plants is emerging as a top research
and development (R&D) priority. Thermoelectric plants in the U.S. account for
approximately 40% of the nations total
freshwater withdrawals and approximately
3% of overall consumptiondue primarily
to evaporative and blowdown losses from
cooling systems with wet cooling towers.
These freshwater use rates at plants using
current technologies might not be sustainable in some locations. Already, some plants
operate under water use restrictions or are
installing water-conserving technologies.
Furthermore, the siting of new capacity is
challenged by water supply constraints.
As a result, the Electric Power Research
Institute (EPRI) and other research organizations worldwide are seeking to develop
technologies with high potential for significant water consumption reductions, such as
advanced cooling technologies and those that
enable the use of degraded water sources.
Advanced R&D Areas

Research and development on advanced cooling technologies for power plants focuses on
several targets. For wet cooling systems, research is aimed at reducing evaporative loss
in cooling towers and advancing hybrid wetdry cooling systems. For dry cooling systems,
research is aimed at reducing steam condensation temperature by improving the air side
heat transfer coefficient without significantly
increasing fan power consumption or the size
of air-cooled condensers, and by developing
alternative dry cooling technologies.
In this arena, EPRI is pursuing early-stage,
high-risk concepts and developing advanced
technologies with game-changing potential
for reducing freshwater withdrawal and con62
sumption while improving energy conversion

efficiency at existing power plants.
Since 2011, EPRI has released three global request for information solicitations and
conducted innovation scouting to help identify ideas with breakthrough potential. Among
the 168 proposals received to date, 12 projects involving wet, dry, and hybrid cooling
technologies are under way, and eight more
projects will soon be started.
Some of the technologies under development are described below.
Advanced Cooling Technologies

The following three advanced cooling technologies take different approaches to the
challenge of making water use more efficient.
The thermosyphon cooler system has made
the furthest progress to date through EPRIs
technology development pipeline, having
nearly completed in-plant pilot testing.
Thermosyphon Cooler System. Hybrid
cooling systems typically incorporate conventional wet cooling towers and air-cooled
condensers, with the latter operating the majority of the time and the former employed to
mitigate performance penalties at high ambient temperatures. A novel hybridization concept, developed by Johnson Controls, applies
a dry-heat-rejection technology, called a thermosyphon cooler (TSC), originally developed
for reducing water use associated with chillers
used in building space conditioning (Figure
1). TSC units, consisting of an evaporator, an
air-cooled condenser, and controls, sensibly
precool the hot water from the steam condenser prior to the wet cooling tower.
By reducing the heat load on the cooling
tower, TSC hybrid systems have the potential to
lower annual evaporative losses, makeup water
requirements, and blowdown volumes for thermoelectric power plants by up to 75%without
sacrificing output on the hottest summer days.
www.powermag.com
Relative to other dry cooling options, TSC

technology promises easier, more flexible,
lower-cost integration at existing plants and
in new builds in incremental, modular sections, with minimal plant outages required.
Ongoing design and modeling research is
addressing issues of scale-up, cooling tower
integration, and cost and performance relative to other cooling configurations for conceptual 500-MW plants at five locations with
differing climates.
A pilot-scale system incorporating a
1-MW equivalent TSC unit and pilot cooling
tower is also under test at the Water Research
Center, an EPRI/Georgia Power collaborative effort located at Plant Bowen. That project will determine how much water can be
saved by operating a TSC unit in series with
a conventional wet cooling tower. Researchers also will determine the energy penalty
incurred and the most effective means for
1. Hybrid. This hybrid cooling concept applies a dry-heat-rejection technology called a

thermosyphon cooler (TSC), originally developed for reducing water use by chillers used
in building space conditioning. TSC units consist of an evaporator, an air-cooled condenser,
and controls, and precool hot water from the
steam condenser prior to the wet cooling tower. Courtesy: Johnson Controls
POWER April 2014
G E N E R AT E
NEW
ideas.
NEW
connections.
NEW
opportunities.
NEW
resources.
SAVE THE DATE

APRIL 21-23, 2015
Donald E. Stephens Convention Center
ROSEMONT, ILLINOIS, USA
www.electricpowerexpo.com
WATER MANAGEMENT
scale-up. In 2014, the possibility of a field
validation of a 16-MW thermosyphon cooler
module optimized for retrofit applications
will be explored.
Dew-Point Cooling Tower. Traditional
cooling towers can only approach the wetbulb temperature of ambient air for their
cold water return temperature. EPRI, in collaboration with the Gas Technology Institute,
is investigating a concept called dew-point
cooling to attempt to lower this temperature
further. This technology enhances the standard tower performance by constructing dry
channels between wet channels in the tower
fill with a thin-walled fill material and exploiting evaporative cooling on the wet side
of the fill to cool the ambient air passing over
the dry side. This precooled air is then used
for contact evaporative cooling with the condenser water (Figure 2).
Dew-point cooling offers the potential to
improve the water efficiency and productivity of steam-electric plants with conventional
wet and hybrid wet-dry cooling towers. Preliminary evaluations indicate that tower fill
replacements that allow the precooling of
ambient air could reduce evaporative losses
and makeup water requirements at existing
plants sited in arid regions while lowering
the temperature of cooled water.
Design development and proof-of-concept
modeling initiated in 2012 focused on optimizing the fill configuration to maximize the
precooling of incoming air in dry channels
and to reduce evaporative losses. In 2013,
EPRI conducted experimental proof-ofconcept studies on a test section of cooling
tower fill to quantify potential water savings.
Engineering and economic modeling for a
representative 500-MW coal-fired plant assessed water and energy impacts across a
range of ambient conditions, investigated
system integration issues, and compared cost
and performance with conventional cooling
tower fill for both retrofit and new construction applications. In 2014, a section of dewpoint cooling tower fill engineered to provide
0.1 MW of cooling will undergo testing at an
industry-certified facility.
Hybrid Dry/Wet Dephlegmator. One
of the chief disadvantages of dry cooling systems is capacity reductions and efficiency penalties during periods with hot
temperatures. EPRI is sponsoring research
at the University of Stellenbosch in South
Africa to address this issue. The research
is developing a new design for the part of
an air-cooled condenser (ACC) called the
dephlegmator (Figure 3). In ACCs, the
dephlegmator provides a secondary condenser that facilitates vapor flow through
the primary condensers, flushing them of
any noncondensable gases.
This research project proposes to develop a novel hybrid (dry/wet) dephlegmator
(HDWD), which would replace the conventional all-dry dephlegmator unit in an ACC.
The HDWD consists of two stages. A dry
first stage is an ACC with inclined finned
tubes, similar to those in a conventional Aframe configuration. The dry/wet second
stage consists of a near-horizontal, dry/wet
heat exchanger.
The operating mode of the second stage
can be controlled in response to changing
ambient conditions. During periods of low
ambient temperature, when air cooling is sufficient, the second stage is operated dry. During hotter periods, deluge water is sprayed
over the plain tubes, and the second stage is
operated as an evaporative condenser.
This technology has the potential to increase power production on the hottest days
as compared to conventional ACCs. It would
also use less makeup water than wet cooling
tower systems and less water than currently
is used by dry cooling with the aid of evaporative precooling of the inlet air.
2. Dew-point cooling concept. This diagram compares conventional and dew-point

cooling tower fills. The temperature of the cold water produced in a conventional cycle is limited
to the outside air wet bulb temperature. The psychrometric chart illustrates the theoretical differences in cooled water temperature achievable between the conventional process (blue line
1-4) and the dew-point process (green line 1-3). Source: Gas Technology Institute
Warm
water
Air
outlet
nced
Absolute humidity
on
ati
fill
Air
Dry channel
64
tur
Sa
Warm
water
Adva
Air
dh
dhA
Air
Co
lin
ll
l fi
na
tio
n
ve
Wet channels
Air
Wet channel
tDP=53F
tWB=65F
Dry bulb temperature
www.powermag.com
tDB=85F
3. New design for familiar part.

The hybrid dry/wet dephlegmator shown here
adds a dry/wet second stage to the traditional
dry first stage. Source: University of Stellenbosch
Dry/wet cooling addition
Drift eliminator
Spray nozzles
Tube bundle (2nd stage)
Collecting troughs
Finned tubes (1st stage)
Fan drive
Fan
Inlet airflow
End elevation
This EPRI project aims to further develop

the design concept, perform modeling and
experimental investigations of various options, and conduct technical and economic
feasibility studies.
Using Degrading Water Sources

Several projects are also studying advanced
water treatment technologies to enable the
use of degraded water sources for cooling
systemssomething that is of increasing interest (out of necessity) worldwide.
Membrane
Distillation/Degraded
Water Source. EPRI is collaborating with
Sandia National Laboratories and WEN

Engineering to evaluate the feasibility of
integrating membrane distillation water treatment technology into cooling tower systems
to treat unconventional types of water that
could serve as alternatives to freshwater for
makeup water.
Membrane distillation (MD) technology
uses latent energy from waste heat to drive
a membrane separation process that removes
salts and other total dissolved solids from an
unconventional water type such as brackish
groundwater or seawater (Figure 4). By using
waste heat sources at a power plant, MD could
desalinate water without added energy costs,
representing a new low-cost method to treat
brackish groundwater for makeup water.
MD technology may represent an innovation that allows many power plants in
semi-arid areas to maintain full utilization
of wet-cooling systems by using alternative
sources of water.
Current research will assess the economic
feasibility of integrating MD water treatment
technology into wet cooling tower technology. Economic modeling is being conducted
on selected coal power plants in Arizona,
Texas, and Kentucky. Integration of MD into
wet cooling tower technology has the potential to reduce freshwater requirements from
POWER April 2014
Mark Your Calendars
ELECTRIC POWER EXECUTIVE CONFERENCE
LAS VEGAS, NV
NOVEMBER 5 6, 2014
THE BELLAGIO HOTEL
Western electric power markets face daunting challenges that command the attention of policy makers,
power providers, and myriad stakeholders all across the WECC region. Chief among these are issues related
to transmission, renewable energy integration, carbon emission reductions, water availability, and federal land
use policies.
EPEC West addresses strategic issues at the first annual conference in Las Vegas, Nevada:
t
Energy Imbalance Markets in California and Across the West
t
Implications from Californias Energy Storage Directive
t
Replacing SONGS and the Role of Small Modular Reactors in the Wests Energy Future
t
Power Imports and Exports and Factors that Impact Cross-Border Cooperation
t
Water Resource Challenges and Regional Approaches to Cooperation
t
And much more!
EPEC West is exclusively for executives and will provide an environment to discuss
challenges and explore a range of strategies that address the rapid change impacting
Western electricity providers.
Join us November 5 6, 2014 in Las Vegas

www.EPECevents.com
From the organizers of ELECTRIC POWER
WATER MANAGEMENT
4. Waste not. Membrane distillation technology cuts energy costs by using latent energy
from waste heat to drive a membrane separation process that removes salts and other total
dissolved solids (TDS) from an unconventional water type such as brackish groundwater or
seawater. Source: Sandia National Laboratory/WEN Engineering
Proposed stub
stack(s)
Condensing heat
exchanger in stub
stack(s)
Treated municipal water
Hot treated
municipal wastewater,
gas well production water,
Existing boiler
stack(s)
oil well production water,

brackish groundwater
Flue gas
Membrane distillation
heat exchanger
High-TDS wastewater to
WWTP influent
River water makeup

Reduced volume
LP steam from
turbine(s)
Cooling
tower
Heat
exchanger
Hot
distillate
Existing
condenser
Cool distillate
Blowdown
reduced volume
Condensate
Warmer condensate return to boiler(s)
30% to 100%. Economic analysis will also

evaluate a combined wet cooling plus MD
system versus a dry cooling system.
Although freshwater acquisition costs vary
by geographical region, arid and semi-arid areas will likely benefit most from the new technology. The economic model will establish
a range of freshwater acquisition that makes
MD/cooling tower integration feasible.
Carbon NanotubeEnabled Membrane
Distillation. Carbon nanotube immobilized
membranes (CNIM) could enable the generation of pure water from saline and brackish
water, as well as support the use of degraded
water sources for power plant cooling.
EPRI and the New Jersey Institute of

Technology are researching the use of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) to create breakthrough
membrane properties for generating pure water via membrane distillation (Figure 5). As
noted above, MD is a membrane-based thermal evaporative process that operates at relatively low temperatures (50C to 90C); as such,
it is particularly attractive for producing highpurity water in power plants where waste heat
is available in the form of boiler blowdowns,
flue gases, and low-pressure steam.
This fundamentally new approach could reduce the cost and energy requirements for using waste and brackish water in power plants
5. Enlisting nanotubes for advanced membranes. This drawing shows the preferred water molecule movement pathways made possible through the addition of carbon nanotubules (CNTs) to a traditional membrane distillation membrane. Source: New Jersey Institute
of Technology
Membrane
Fast transport along

CNT surface
Activated diffusion via

adsorption on CNT surface
Sweep air
Sample
Direct permeation through

membrane pores
Hydrophobic effect
Liquid water
molecule
66
Carbon nanotube
(CNT)
Water vapor
molecule
www.powermag.com
and could change the competitive landscape

of conventional methods such as reverse osmosis (RO) and thermal evaporation.
In addition to being an enabling technology for the use of alternative water sources
for cooling, CNIM-MD would also allow
cooling towers to operate at higher cycles
of concentration by treating highly saline
cooling tower effluent. CNIM-MD can be
implemented by itself to replace RO, or the
effluent from RO can be used as the feed to
CNIM-MD for increasing overall recovery.
The effluent from CNIM-MD can be used as
boiler feedwater with minimal or no further
treatment and also for other high-quality water required in power plants.
CNIM-MD can also potentially replace
evaporators, or the high-ionic-strength effluent from MD can be used to reduce the load
on the evaporators and crystallizers. CNIMMD can move power plants towards zero
liquid discharge.
Reverse Osmosis Advanced Membrane Monitoring. EPRI is collaborating
with the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Water Technology Research
Center to develop and demonstrate a novel
RO operational paradigm for treating cooling tower blowdown (CTB) water. Building
on a UCLA-patented membrane monitor
(MeMo), the technology could recover up to
80% of CTB for reuse.
In the electric power sector, significant interests have emerged regarding the use of RO
technologies for the treatment of CTB wastewater and reuse as cooling tower makeup
water or other beneficial uses (such as boiler
feed). Although RO is a relatively mature
technology, its application for treatment of
CTB water for on-site reuse (including cooling water makeup) remains a challenge due
to membrane mineral scaling, which leads
to water permeate flux decline and potential
membrane damage.
Direct, real-time mineral scale monitoring
using MeMo will enable RO plants to operate self-adaptively near the maximum water
recovery levels while maintaining operational reliability in mitigating mineral scaling.
In addition, automated self-cleaning via
cyclic mode of feed flow or other cleaning
methods, triggered by MeMo, can potentially
eliminate or reduce antiscalant use and thus
reduce operational costs (Figure 6).
Application of the MeMo-Feed Flow Reversal (FFR) technology in RO plants for
cooling tower water treatment would enable
RO operation at optimal water recovery levels, improve plant operational reliability and
robustness (with respect to changing feedwater quality), and thus reduce membrane
cleaning frequency and their associated
costs. In some applications, a MeMo-FFR
POWER April 2014
WATER MANAGEMENT
Adaptive Brush
Seal Solutions for
Air Preheaters
6. Improving reverse osmosis performance.
Direct,
real-time mineral scale monitoring using a UCLA-patented membrane
monitor (MeMo) will enable reverse osmosis plants to operate selfadaptively near maximum water recovery levels while maintaining operational reliability in mitigating mineral scaling. Source: UCLA Water
Technology Research Center
Permeate
Feed
Concentrate
Normal feed flow mode
Feed
Permeate
Concentrate
Reversed feed flow mode
JOIN US AT
operational strategy may potentially eliminate or reduce antiscalant

usage, thereby reducing operational costs.
EPRI research is funding further development and testing of the
MeMo-FFR concept for recovering cooling tower blowdown water
for reuse. EPRI also is providing expertise to evaluate the technologys overall feasibility, supporting codes and standard studies, and
providing guidance for estimating the economics of MeMo deployment, including in a MeMo-FFR process.
Future Opportunities for Collaboration with EPRI

Several of these technologies are anticipated to successfully complete pilot scale level testing in the next six months to two years, after
which they would be ready for large-scale demonstrationthe final
step before commercialization.
A major focal point for future research is a new Water Research
Center (WRC) at Georgia Powers Plant Bowen, a 3,500-MW coalfired plant. This first-of-its-kind, industry-wide resource offers a pilot-scale infrastructure for conducting scaled-up, plant-based water
research. The WRC provides electric generating companies, research
organizations, and vendors with access to a field demonstration facility that has treatable water, monitoring and analysis facilities, and
specialist staff. Research conducted at the WRC may help develop insights on best practices for sustainable water management and meeting wastewater restrictions.
In addition, EPRI and the National Science Foundation recently
released a joint solicitation to advance dry cooling and dry-wet hybrid
cooling technologies for power plant applications. Continuing power
plant integration studies will quantify water savings and compare cost
and performance with conventional cooling systems across a range of
ambient conditions.
This project is a $6 million joint collaboration, which aims to
engage some of the worlds leading researchers in the development
of power plant cooling innovations and to fund five to 10 projects.
Award notifications will be announced in early 2014 and may include
R&D on novel air-cooled condenser advancements, high-efficiency
adsorption chiller technology, and advanced indirect dry cooling
tower design.
Sean Bushart (sbushart@epri.com) is director, generation

environmental sciences, at EPRI; Jessica Shi (jshi@epri.com)
is senior technical leader/manager for technology innovation
research for cooling and water treatment technologies at EPRI.
Electric Power
BOOTH: 661
108&3
High performance. Long life.

Sealezes patented brush-based
sealing system delivers reliability and
extended functional service life.
Replace seals less often
t$POTJTUFOUFGGFDUJWFTFBMJOH UJNFTMPOHFSUIBO
standard seals.
t*OIFSFOUIJHIFMBTUJDJUZBMMPXTEJTTJQBUJPOPGTUSFTT
under deformation; reducing drag, wear and sudden
failures.
More effective than other seal
t$POGPSNTUPTFBMJOHTVSGBDF
t&BDIMBNFOUJTFYJCMF DPOGPSNJOHUPWBSZJOHHBQ
sizes and surface irregularities for a continuous seal.
t5IPVTBOETPGMBNFOUT OFTUMFUJHIUMZUPHFUIFS
creating a high integrity seal. Under pressure these
MBNFOUTQBDLFWFOUJHIUFS
For more than 25 years, Sealeze has helped design and manufacturing
engineers design solutions.
800.787.7325
e-mail: power@sealeze.com
www.sealeze.com
ISO 9001 Certified
April 2014 POWER
www.powermag.com
67
Australias Carbon Policy

Predicament
Australia and the U.S. have much in common in terms of energy resources, but Australias attempt to mirror the European Unions climate policies has challenged
its power sector.
Sonal Patel
n the energy front, Australia seemingly

has it all. It is endowed with significant
reserves of coal, natural gas, uranium,
and thoriumas well as resources that excel
by world standards for wind, solar, biomass,
geothermal, wave, and tidal energy. (See the
online version of this article for a sidebar,
Diverse Energy Resources, on the countrys
current and planned generation mix.) It has an
adequate transmission and distribution infrastructure plus open markets. Furthermore, it
is geographically well-positioned to engage
with ravenous energy markets in the Asia Pacific region. In all respects, the country with a
sparse population of 23 million should have a
solid basis for continued high living standards
and a booming economy.
But over the last six years, largely owing
to policy or regulatory interventions, and aggravated by needed but costly infrastructure
1. A coal transition. Owing to their higher

utilization factor, Australias coal plantswhich
made up 54% of the nations total installed capacity between July 2011 and July 2012produced 69% of total generation that year. Yet
that share has declined dramatically compared
to 77% in 2002, due mostly to stronger growth
of gas and renewables. Source: Bureau of Resources and Energy Economics
Solar PV (0.6%) Wind (2.4%) Biogas (0.5%)
Bagasse and wood (0.5%)
Renewables
3.9%
Oil and
other fuels
2.19%
Natural gas
19%
Hydro
5.5%
Total Generation
July 2011July 2012
253.9 TWh
Brown coal
22%
68
Black coal
47%
investments, the countrys power and natural

gas prices have seen an extraordinary escalation of more than 100% in some states.
The effect has been swift and dramatic:
High costs have throttled power demand,
leaving a supply glut, and have forced energyintensive or energy cost-exposed businesses
to restructure or move production abroad. As
many more citizens are pushed into energy
poverty, the government is flailing in its attempts to underpin its environmental ambitions with day-to-day reliability, longer-term
security, and affordable energyall while retaining an efficient and competitive market.
The Carbon Policy Rollercoaster

Long-term security was Australias paramount
priority after the energy crises of the 1970s and
1980s, when it sought to promote development
by investing heavily in power infrastructure
and later, in large coal-fired power plants, which
were built in Queensland, New South Wales,
and Victoria to attract energy-intensive industries. While the era fostered growth for sectors
like aluminum and copper refining, it came at
a toll realized only decades later: The National
Greenhouse Gas Inventory ballooned to 542.1
million metric tons of CO2 equivalent (Mt CO2-e)
in September 2013 from 415.5 Mt CO2-e in the
1990 base yeara stretch that came primarily
from the power sector, whose greenhouse gas
(GHG) emissions swelled 40%.
In spite of declining coal-fired generation
(Figure 1), Australia has led the list of the
developed worlds largest carbon emitters
since 2007, a year in which the nation suffered a crippling drought, water restrictions,
and bush fires. Amid climate change panic
fanned by the release that year of Al Gores
An Inconvenient Truth, and the UKs Stern
review, Australia ratified the Kyoto Protocol,
and Australias former Prime Minister John
Howard (19982007) and then-leader of the
conservative Liberal-National Coalition advocated a carbon emissions trading system
(ETS) during his failed bid to win reelection.
Howard is now a self-proclaimed climate
agnostic, who is skeptical about the climate
www.powermag.com
science consensus and who says his dalliance

with an ETS was purely political. But his lastminute ETS proposal sowed the seeds for future carbon reduction plans, including former
Labour Party Prime Minister Kevin Rudds
(20072010) three failed attempts to push
the proposed Carbon Pollution Reduction
Scheme through the House of Representatives and the Senate. The carbon tax issue
lapsed until the democratic socialist Labour
Party administration of Prime Minister Julia
Gillard (20102013) announced its Clean Energy Future (CEF) plan in July 2011, a complex package of 18 bills that sailed through
both houses by November (with amendments) and became law soon after, receiving
Royal Assent on Nov. 18, 2011.
That law set the initial level of the carbon
tax, which began on July 1, 2012, for about
370 major emitters at A$23 per metric ton
(mt) of CO2-e; as designed, it soared to the
worlds highest carbon price of A$24.15 in
July 2013, and in July 2014, it will rise again
to A$25.40. In July 2015, the tax is designed
to transition to a flexible price or cap-andtrade scheme; permit prices will fluctuate
with market conditions, and Australian firms
can buy permits from the European Union.
Or not, because the September 2013 prime
ministerial election of Liberal-National Coalition leader Tony Abbott, a Howard protg,
has thrown the countrys plans into limbo. In
November, as the first order of the new parliaments business, he introduced a package
of 11 bills to scrap the punitive carbon levy
and replace it with a so-called Direct Action
Plan to curb Australias carbon emissions by
5%, based on 2000 emissions, by 2020.
The centerpiece of that plan, as described in
the governments Dec. 20released Green Paper
which acknowledges the science of climate
changeis the $2.5 billion Emissions Reduction Fund, a pool of capital to support direct
action by industry to reduce emissions. While
more details are forthcoming in a white paper
due later this year, it essentially allows entities
that reduce their emissions below a baseline
to sell CO2 abatement to the government via
POWER April 2014

a market mechanism in order to achieve the
lowest cost per mt. It also envisions long-term
contracts for abatement, overseen by the Clean
Energy Regulator, to help entities to secure financing or undertake projects.
Industry observers note that the package
of 11 repeal bills will easily pass the lower
house, where the Liberal-National Coalition
has a clear majority, but it could face a standoff in the Senate, which is dominantly held by
the Labour, Greens, independents, and several
smaller parties. Abbott has vowed to call a
double dissolution of parliament if the Senate blocks the bills, but even if this occurs, the
earliest that the law may be repealed is in September 2014. Irrespective of the date of repeal,
CEF rules can only cease to apply on the first
June 30 after repeal, industry experts say.
According to consulting firm Energetics,
the proposed fund could reward business
for undertaking meaningful action to reduce emissions. Significantly, if the carbon
price is removed, power and gas prices could
plunge by about 15%, it says.
Lower Consumption but Higher

Prices
Since 2006, against the backdrop of Australias climate politics, electricity consumption
that had climbed at an average rate of 6% for
nearly 40 years before it suddenly slowed,

plateaued, and then dropped, surprising even
some market specialists, including the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO),
which releases annual energy forecasts. Yet
during the same period, average household
power bills soared 85%. The reason lies in
the structure and regulation of the electricity
market. Generators and retailers both operate in competitive markets, which means if
demand deflates, so do profit margins, which
are pegged to wholesale power prices.
But grid operators, which are regulated monopolies, may actually increase prices to meet
regulator-determined revenues they are allowed
to collect over a five-year period, transferring
the cost of falling consumption to grid users instead. A bigger problem over the last decade
is that some network businesses have spent
too much on their network assets, explains
Australian think tank Grattan Institute. The
independent Australian public policy organization suggests that regulatory incentives for grid
companies have led to excessive investment.
The need for new assets isnt unfounded,
the entity admits. Upgrades have been warranted to address the risk of bush fires being
ignited by faulty power lines, to help the rollout of smart meters, and to support the high
penetration of rooftop solar systems. However,
allowed returns for grid companies have been

higher than they should have been, it says.
Also underlying the nations demand dilemma is a general long-term decline in energy intensity, which the government otherwise
attributes to energy efficiency improvements,
fuel switching, and structural changes, including the growth of less-energy-intensive sectors over manufacturing. The manufacturing
sectors share of economic output nosedived
from 13% in 1990 to just 6% in 2013. This
February, for example, aluminum giant Alcoa announced the closure of its Point Henry
smelter, making it the second of Australias
six smelters to be retired after the demise of
Kurri Kurri in 2012 and dealing a blow to
Australias status as one of the worlds biggest aluminum-producing countries.
The overall statistics are alarming: Electricity demand plunged nearly 5% across the
National Electricity Market (NEM, see sidebar A Disconnected Market in the online
version of this article) between 2009 and
2013, according to the AEMO.
Over the next decade, annual electricity
demand has been forecast to spurt a paltry
1.3%. Yet, as recent heat waves in Victoria and South Australia showed, peak demand has not been eroded in the same way
as overall consumption, notes the Energy
Make us your sole resource for

world-class service solutions.
NRG Energy Services is on call, around the clock.
Major Maintenance Programs
Technical Services
Steam and Gas Turbine Repair
Field Services
Engine Services
Operation and Maintenance Services:
Fossil Wind Solar
Rotor Life Assessment Programs
nrgenergyservices.com
NRG is a registered servicemark of NRG Energy, Inc. The plus signs and plus clusters are servicemarks of NRG Energy, Inc. 2014 NRG Energy, Inc. All rights reserved.
April 2014 POWER
www.powermag.com
69

Supply Association of Australia (ESAA), a
coalition of 34 power and downstream gas
companies. Price signals arising from the
current market appear unlikely to drive an efficient transition in the near term. Significant
financial and commercial barriers to exit for
existing generation plants are a likely factor
in this regard, it adds, echoing power firm
EnergyAustralias recent submission to the
government that suggests about 50% of all
generators bore losses last year and that many
are trying to hang in there and reduce costs.
Instead, the government should consider the

rationale for encouraging any new supply of
any type, says the ESAA.
Operating in a Fog of Policy

Uncertainty
An unexpected benefit of the demand decline
is that, as the Department of the Environments
National Greenhouse Accounts shows, annual
GHG emissions from the power sector in September 2013 fell 5.5% compared to a year beforethough the power sector still accounted
for 33% of the nations GHG emissions.

Industry group ESAA doesnt dispute that
the government has a key role to play in implementing climate change and energy policy. Its
complaint is rooted in the impact of policy uncertainty posed by a potential repeal of the carbon tax. Investment in generation capacity is
not a pertinent issue at present given declining
demand, but continued uncertainty over climate
change policy could discourage investment in
the future, or potentially exacerbate the current
oversupply situation even further, it says.
Researchers from Murdoch University
in Perth, meanwhile, posit that even if the
carbon tax is repealed in the short term,
the generation sector still faces uncertainty.
The effect of the electoral cycles and more
stringent global mitigation efforts mean that
a carbon price may be reinstated in the future, said Matt Shahnazari, whose research
team has developed a decision framework
for long-lived generation facilities caught
up in the carbon tax limbo. Their scenario,
to be published in the April 2014 issue of
the journal Applied Energy, considers three
options: whether a coal plant owner should
spend money to convert the facility to a lower-emission combined cycle gas turbine plant
(CCGT), abandon the plant, or do nothing.
The findings show that although the current political uncertainty may delay investment in CCGT conversion, the expectation
that carbon pricing will be reinstated reduces
the amount of option premium to defer the
decision, Shahnazari told POWER. If stability cannot be achieved, policy makers should
consider setting a higher carbon price, he offered. That would improve the business case
for converting to lower emission systems.
Renewables Wary of Policy Pivots

Meanwhile, uncertainty about the future of the
carbon policy has even more implications for
Australias seemingly healthy renewables sector, because, as the Bureau of Resources and
Energy Economics (BREE) notes, the carbon
price has directly improved the competitiveness of renewable energy technologies.
In 2012, the arm of the Department of Resources, Energy, and Tourism published its pivotal Australian Energy Technology Assessment
(AETA), including carbon price considerations
in assessments of the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE, or the price per megawatt-hour required to cover all costs incurred over the life
of the plant) for various technologies, including
nuclear. BREE concluded that with the carbon
price, a number of renewable technologies already have costs that are comparable to natural
gasbased technologies (Figure 2).
Though BREE admits that considerations
such as dispatchability and intermittency are
not factored into LCOE calculations, it proCIRCLE 34 ON READER SERVICE CARD
70
www.powermag.com
POWER April 2014

2. Levelized costs of electricity (LCOE) for selected technologies in
2012. This graph shows estimates for the LCOE of selected technologies for New South Wales
made in 2012, with and without carbon price considerations. Sources: BREE, Australian Energy
Technology Assessment (AETA) 2012
AETA 2012 (with carbon price) AETA 2012 (no carbon price)
450
400
LCOE (A$/MWh)
350
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
Nuclear
(Gen +3)
Combined
cycle gas
turbine
Wind,
onshore
Supercritical Supercritical
pulverized
pulverized
black coal
brown coal
jected that renewables could be more cost

competitive with fossil fuels over the next four
decades. That means, under current carbon
price projections, by 20492050, the share of
renewable energy sources in the generation
mix could rise from 9% to a stunning 51%.
But in a preliminary December 2013 update to the document (more data is expected
in 2014), BREE set the carbon price modifier
to 0% as the base value, noting that the outlook for fuel costs for gas, coal, and carbon
was claimed to have materially shifted since
the AETA 2012. Still, in the new assessment,
wind-based generation is estimated to already
have a lower LCOE than many new-build,
comparable fossil-fueled generation technologies owing to an 18% reduction in onshore
wind operation and management costs. And
by 2050, even without a carbon price, the
LCOE will vary substantially across technologies. For example, the LCOE estimate for
photovoltaic (PV) non-tracking technologies
in 2050 is A$73/MWh while for an integrated gasification black coalfired power plant
with carbon capture, it is A$247/MWh.
The Renewables Glut

Renewables have already gained a moderate
share of the countrys generation portfolio
owing to its renewable energy target (RET),
which currently mandates that 20% of estimated generated power (in GWh) comes
from accredited renewable sources by 2020.
Designed to increase the market share of
renewables by funding the difference between
the average wholesale price of electricity and
the cost of producing renewable power, the
program has two componentsthe large-scale
renewable target (LRET) and the small-scale
renewable scheme (SRES). The LRET requires electricity retailers to purchase a certain
April 2014 POWER
IGCC black
coal
Photovoltaic,
Solar thermal,
nontracking
parabolic
trough
amount of large-scale generation certificates

(whose market price is determined by market forces) from renewable sources. In 2014,
the LRET stands in absolute terms at 16,950
GWh; in 2020 it will soar to 41,850 GWh.
The SRES incentivizes residents and businesses to install small-scale power sources such
as solar water heaters, panels, or small-scale
wind or hydro systems, but it also legally obliges energy retailers to purchase a government-set
number of small-scale technology certificates
(STCs) based on displaced megawatt-hours
and surrender them on a quarterly basis.
The RET has forced in, as ESAA CEO
Matthew Warren puts it, 1.8 GW of large-scale
renewable generation into the electricity market, such as AGL Energys 420-MW Macarthur Wind Farm (a 2013 POWER Top Plant).
Over 20112012, the nations hydro plants
generated 14,083 GWh while non-hydro installationswood bagasse, biogas, wind, and
solar PVgenerated another 9,945 GWh.
More than 3 GW of small-scale solar PV
capacity had been installed at the end of 2013,
mostly in Queensland, where households
rushed to meet a July 2013 installation deadline to remain eligible for a state-set premium
feed in tariff of $0.44/kWh. If 2013 taught us
anything, its that solar isnt going anywhere,
says the ESAA in a recent solar PV assessment. Its here to stay and it will continue to
grow even without significant subsidy.
But theres a problem, said Warren. The
RET was passed in 2001 when it was assumed
demand for energy would soar. With demand
falling, the RET target is now approaching 30%
[because total generation has fallen but the RET
is a fixed amount of generation]. This means we
will have to build even more renewable power
stations trying to sell electricity into an already
over-supplied electricity market.
www.powermag.com
Responding to these concernsand citing

compliance with the Renewable Energy Act
of 2000, which requires periodic review of the
operation, costs, and benefits of the lawthe
Abbott government on Feb. 17 launched a review of Australias 20% RET. To the chagrin
of renewables proponents, Dick Warburton,
a senior business figure and notable climate
change skeptic, is to head the review. The
review team will explore whether the RET
is still appropriate, assess how it affects
power prices, and identify risks or transition
issues that could arise from policy changes
to the RET. Findings will be reported to the
prime minister mid-year in 2014.
The renewable sector is lobbying against
a radical alteration of the RET, arguing that
while it could make investors nervous, it will
certainly push the country to rely more on
increasingly expensive natural gas. And already one project, Origin Energys ready to
go A$900 million Stockyard Hill wind project planned for western Victoria, has been
halted as the company awaits the outcome of
the governments review.
The Coal Conundrum

Whereas the global market for natural gas has
made domestic availability of that fuel problematic (see the online version of this article for details), supply issues arent as apparent for coal.
In fact, coal is one of Australias largest and
most reliable commodity exports that earned
the country A$48 billion in 2011-12and with
which the country generates about 70% of its
power. Australia accounts for around 6% of
world coal production but 27% of world coal
trade (18% of thermal coal exports), mostly
to China, where imports from Australia have
increased sevenfold over the past seven years.
Over the medium term, coal production is likely
to increase significantly as a result of investment
in new mining and export capacity.
Even so, some observers note that rising
global suppliesand particularly exports
from the U.S., which have surged as domestic consumption shifts to natural gascould
hamper Australian coal exports, which have
the worlds highest marginal costs. Last August, Australian thermal coal prices dipped to
about $82/mtbelow the $87/mt bottom line
set by some analysts before profits and mining
capital expenditures are threatenedforcing a
freeze in new mining developments and greenfield projects until spot prices improved.
For generators, the issue is not so much
fuel insecurity as it is the widespread surplus
of capacity, the emissions constraints, and the
so-called merit order effect, which ranks
generation capacity by price that it is bid into
the market and is exacerbated by increased
renewables. Along with the mothballing of
Stanwells two 350-MW Tarong units, last
71

year saw the closure of the 600-MW Munmorah power station, Stanwells 125-MW
Swanbank B power station and 240-MW
Playford B, and the 520-MW Northern brown
coal generators in South Australia.
Balancing Carbon and Costs

So what is Australias most promising shortterm solution to lowering carbon emissions
while keeping electricity affordable? It isnt
renewables or distributed generation for the
Abbott administration.
Australias government blatantly ac-
knowledges that policies to encourage uptake of low-emissions energy technologies

have potential to distort the market or impact on reliability at very high levels of penetration, and it cautions that the transition
must have parameters that minimise costs
and market distortions. Notwithstanding the
range of issues posed by a rapid expansion
of distributed generation to grid operators,
the scale-up of renewable energy generation
also poses scientific and engineering challenges that could require investment in
skills, expertise, infrastructure, research and
3. Down Under.
The government has

committed A$60 million to the A$2 billion Gorgon Carbon Dioxide Project that will begin operations in 2015 to capture carbon dioxide from
a natural gas processing plant and bury it about
2.3 km into a deep saline formation below Barrow Island in Western Australia. When operational, it will be the worlds largest CCS project.
One of the countrys other much-watched CCS
ventures is CS Energys A$208 million Callide
Oxyfuel project in central Queensland, which
began a two-year-long demonstration of oxyfuel carbon capture in December 2012. Courtesy:
Chevron Australia
development, it says.
Curiously, the governments December
2013released Issues Paper, drafted to
prepare for its energy policysetting Energy White Paper due this September, hints
that the use of small modular reactors could
offer myriad benefits for the country. But,
though Australia has one of the worlds largest deposits of uranium and thorium, it has no
nuclear plants, and the ban on nuclear power
introduced by the Howard government has
longstanding bipartisan backing. The Industry Ministry confirms that the Coalition has
no plans to pursue nuclear energy.
However, Australia does champion carbon capture and storage (CCS) and advanced
coal technologies as means of high efficiency low-emissions intensity generation.
It has been pivotal in the establishment of the
Global CCS Institute, and through its CCS
Flagships Program, it fostered five CCS projects that are in various stages (Figure 3). But
even here there is turmoil. Industry observers
point out that while there is a general lack
of industry advocacy for CCS, likely due to
costs, the governments own position on CCS
has flip-flopped with political leadership.
One possible solution with multi-pronged
benefits that has industry patronage is to increase the uptake of electric vehicles. As well
as increasing electricity demand, electric vehicles could deliver energy efficiency across
the power sector, indirectly improve energy
security, mitigate the intermittency of renewables, and reduce carbon emissions from the
transport sector, which spews about 15% of
the countrys carbon emissions.
Sonal Patel is a POWER associate editor (@POWERmagazine, @sonalcpatel).

72
www.powermag.com
POWER April 2014
NATURAL GAS
About That Gas-Fired Power

Boom . . .
The U.S. gas market served up an emphatic reminder of its traditional volatility this
winter, as unusually severe weather sent regional spot prices spiraling to record highs. Despite the boom in production from shale, the sector remains
handicapped by constraints that are unlikely to ease in the near term.
Thomas W. Overton, JD
f you were thinking the shale gas boom

had permanently changed the natural gas
business in the U.S., gas market fundamentals have some news for you.
Natural gas prices have traditionally risen
during the winter, when heating demand intensifies the competition with power burn.
These price spikes, naturally, tend to be larger during colder-than-normal winters. But a
series of mild winters combined with a glut
of gas on the market led to a certain degree of
complacency about supply constraints over
the past few yearsa state of affairs largely
blown to bits this past winter.
Supply Constraints
Gas market regulators and observers have been
warning for several years that the rapid shift toward reliance on natural gas was creating a risk
of shortages in the event of unplanned demand
shocks. The mild winters in the early 2010s reduced demand for heating, freeing up supplies
and pipeline capacity for power generation.
Even last winters supply constraints in

New England, which led to several episodes
of plants being unable to secure fuel to operate, seemed to have little impact elsewhere in
the country, even though officials such as Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)
Commissioner Phillip Moeller warned that
other areas were at risk of similar disruptions
(see New England Struggles with Gas Supply Bottlenecks in the June 2013 issue of
POWER, online at powermag.com).
Those warnings proved prophetic this winter.
Driven by unusually cold weather and a
series of brutal winter stormsdubbed the
Polar VortexJanuary set a parade of records
for natural gas demand. According to Bentek
Energy, that month saw seven out of the top
10 demand days on record, reaching an alltime high of 134.3 billion cubic feet (Bcf)
on Jan. 7. Demand averaged 102 Bcf per day
(Bcf/d), nearly 8 Bcf/d more than the previous high. The January total of 3,162 Bcf was
also 241 Bcf higher than any other month on
1. Spiking prices. Natural gas spot prices in February jumped to levels not seen in years
on the back of severe cold and supply constraints. Futures markets also climbed on concerns of
shortages later this spring. Source: Energy Information Administration
Henry Hub Month-ahead futures
9
8
7
$/MMBtu
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
2 4 6 8 0 2 4 6 8 0 2 4 6 8 0 0 1 3 5 7 9 1 3 5 7 9
n. n. n. n. . 1 . 1 . 1 . 1 . 1 . 2 . 2 . 2 . 2 . 2 . 3 . 1 b. b. b. b. b. . 1 . 1 . 1 . 1 . 1
Ja Ja Ja Ja Jan Jan Jan Jan Jan Jan Jan Jan Jan Jan Jan Jan Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Feb Feb Feb Feb Feb
April 2014 POWER
www.powermag.com
record, according to Bentek data.

Spot prices for natural gas hit records
near $100 per million British thermal
units (MMBtu) in several areas. Henry
Hub prices topped $5.60/MMBtu the last
week of Januarya level not seen since
early 2010then spiked over $8 twice in
the following month (Figure 1). The February futures contract expired at $5.56/
MMBtu, a four-year high. Meanwhile, gas
for March delivery briefly traded at $6
levels in mid-February before dropping
into the $4 range as temperatures rose.
The price run-up was largely a reaction
to short-term scarcity. Withdrawals have run
well ahead of five-year averages all winter
(Figure 2). Storage levels fell almost 1,000
Bcf in January and another 727 Bcf in February, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), hitting the lowest level
for an end-of-February total since 2004. Cumulative net withdrawals for the 20132014
season set an all-time recordon Jan. 17.
Pulling the Plug

As might be expected, the impact on the
power generation sector has been intense.
Numerous pipeline companies had to issue operational flow orders restricting delivery in January, and no interruptible service
was available on the worst days of the Polar
Vortex. According to estimates by consulting
firm ICF International, PJM Interconnection
lost 20% of its capacity on Jan. 738 GW.
The Midwest Independent System Operator
(MISO) was also hit hard, losing 28 GW,
also around 20% of its total. The New York
Independent System Operator (NYISO) lost
around 10%, about 4 GW. ISO-New England (ISO-NE), having boosted its dual-fuel
capacity after last winters debacle, was successfully able to transition to fuel oil, and
lost only about 1.5 GW of capacity, around
5%. Even the Electric Reliability Council of
Texas (ERCOT) lost about 5% of its capacity.
While not all of this lost capacity was due to
73
NATURAL GAS
2. Falling stocks. Withdrawals this winter have reduced gas in storage to levels not seen in
years. (Trend for missing years folllowed years shown.) Source: Energy Information Administration
2008 2010 2012 2014
Working gas in storage, Lower 48 (Bcf)
4,500
4,000
3,500
3,000
2,500
forced to issue a conservation alert because

of gas shortages in Southern California.
The chaos in the gas market sent wholesale electricity prices skyrocketing. Dayahead prices topped $500/MWh on several
days. On Jan. 23, 2013, PJM had to seek
FERC approval to exceed its electricity
price cap of $1,000/MWh in an attempt to
boost power supplies. Real-time, hourly
prices during Jan. 78 climbed into the
$800/MWh range, with 15-minute periods
topping $2,000/MWh.
2,000
Overreliance?
1,500
1,000
500
0
n.
Ja
b.
Fe
ar.
r.
Ap
ay
gas shortages, the lack of fuel was a major

factor.
To put those figures in perspective, PJM
had never lost more than 9% of its capacity
due to weather. Even with the lost capacity,
PJM, NYISO, MISO, ISO-NE, and ERCOT
all set or neared records for peak demand.
n.
Ju
l.
Ju
g.
Au
p.
Se
t.
Oc
v.
No
c.
De
Yet even when the severe weather eased,

the impact continued to be felt. The enormous demand for gas sent ripples across the
country, and California, though spared the
blast of cold that hit the rest of the nation,
still found itself short of gas. On Feb. 6, the
California Independent System Operator was
Januarys events have renewed concerns about

a too-rapid shift toward natural gas. ICF International noted that had planned and projected
coal plant retirements in PJM already occurred
this winter, the region would likely have suffered rolling blackouts on the worst days.
Higher-than-bargained-for electricity
costs and an unreliable gird are part and parcel of what will happen as coal-fueled power goes offline, Laura Sheehan, senior vice
president of communications for the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity told
POWER. This has been predicted for years,
and what we are experiencing now is likely
to become even more prevalent as more coal
2014
Enhanced PDF version now available
The 2014 UDI Whos Who Directory covers more than 4,500
U.S. and Canadian generating plants. The directory provides:
Nearly 8,100 plant management and support
contact names, titles, and primary job functions.
Basic plant operating statistics for more than 1,500
power stations, including:
Generation (MWh)
Availability (%)
Heat rate
Capacity Factor (%)
Power plant design characteristics
Choose which purchase option that best suits your needs:
Hardcopy Book
Enhanced Directory PDF (CD-ROM)
Mailing List (CD-ROM), Enhanced Directory PDF & Hardcopy Book
UDI WHOS WHO AT ELECTRIC POWER PLANTS

For more detailed information and a list of all available data, visit us online at UDIDATA.COM or contact the UDI Editorial team at UDI@Platts.com.
74
www.powermag.com
POWER April 2014
NATURAL GAS
Developments in Europe
Gas-fired power in Europe continues to be moribund at best. Construction of new plants has essentially ceased in Western Europe,
and around 30 GW of gas-fired capacity is currently mothballed. IHS
CERA recently projected that a further 110 GW of currently operating capacity is at risk of being shut down, with around 25 GW likely
to be shuttered in 2014. The situation has gotten bad enough that
bottom-feeding investors are beginning to buy up idled plants that
the majors are ready to unload.
The culprits remain cheap coal, expensive gas, and depressed
wholesale electricity prices stemming from renewable subsidies
and flat demand. Rising gas prices in the U.S. are unlikely to
provide any relief to European generators. Should gas-to-coal
switching in 2014 reach meaningful levels, however, this is likely to reduce U.S. coal exports to Europe, which could ease the
current glut and create upward pressure on coal prices. (For an
overview of recent and projected coal export markets globally,
see THE BIG PICTURE: Coals Export Future in the March issue
at powermag.com.)
The continuing problem of depressed carbon prices on the European Union Emissions Trading System (ETS), which has largely
eliminated any penalty for coal-fired generation, may or may not
see improvement this year. The European Commission is proposing reforms of the ETS that are intended to boost carbon prices
and clear the current backlog of allowances.
Essentially, the new scheme would create an automated stability reserve that would withhold allowances from the market
until the amount in circulation falls below 400 million, or until
the carbon price rises to three times the previous two-year average and remains there for six months. A previous plan to simply
delay release of allowances in order to raise the pricea practice known as backloadingwas scuttled after objections from
the European Parliament and member states.
Opinions are mixed on whether the reforms will make a meaningful difference in the near and medium term. Carbon prices
have climbed slightly (from about 5 to 7 at this writing) since
the announcement, but they are still well below levels that observers see as necessary for gas to begin making a comeback.
ity Commission of Texas. The situation in the U.S. remains far better
than in Europe, where gas-fired power is still looking for the light at
the end of a very dark tunnel (see sidebar).
Effects on Production
Its unclear at the moment whether higher prices on the spot market
will lead to an increase in production this summer. Many producers
plan their output well in advance, and with significantly lower prices
last fall, may not have planned for increased drilling this year. Canadian stocks are also very low, which may limit exports to the U.S.
Analysts expect the U.S. withdrawal season to end with stocks at
around 1 Tcf, the lowest in at least 10 years. Levels below that, should
they occur, may send summer prices back over $5/MMBtu, a level
that could spur substantial gas-to-coal switching. Morgan Stanley
analysts projected in February that an average price of $4.35/MMBtu
during this summers injection season would support adequate refilling of storage because of reduced demand.
Some increase in production seems certain, given the number of
shut-in wells that were drilled but not brought into production during
the glut in 2012. Higher prices this spring are likely to bring many
of those wells online. Bentek Energy estimates a 4.5% increase in
production in 2014, though the EIA expects production growth for
2014 to be only 2.2%.
One key fact to keep in mind is that takeaway capacity in the
Marcellus region is still constrained. This means that only so much
production can be brought online without creating bottlenecks and
a regional glut that would cause a rapid price dropa situation that
producers will wish to avoid.
Thomas W. Overton, JD is a POWER associate editor

(@thomas_overton, @POWERmagazine).
is forced offline due to unachievable [Environmental Protection

Agency] carbon regulations.
Switchback
The spike in gas prices has caused a rebound in coal-fired generation,
with coal plants producing around 4.5 million MWh per day this winter, the highest levels since 2011. After falling to around a 32% share
of total generation during the gas glut in early 2012, coal has returned
to around 40% this year.
The EIA projected in its February 2014 Short Term Energy Outlook that coal-fired generation will rise from 4,326 GWh/d last year
to 4,519 GWh/d in 2014, while gas-fired generation will fall slightly
from 3,050 GWh/d to 3,023 GWh/d this year.
Still, construction of new natural gas plants continues to far outstrip coal, in large part because such decisions are made outside
short-term pricing concerns. California, for example, has more than
3 GW of gas-fired capacity under construction or in active development, according to the California Energy Commission, while Texas
has around 3.5 GW under construction, according to the Public Util-
April 2014 POWER
www.powermag.com

75
What You Need to Know Before

Replacing Your Control System
Many power plants have a distributed control system nearing the end of its
useful life. Heres how to determine when to replace itand how to plan
the upgrade project.
Tyrone Bowman
ower plants were among the leaders

in implementing distributed control
systems (DCSs), starting in the 1980s
with systems based on mini-computers and
continuing through the turn of the century.
Although many of these older plants are
sound mechanically, in many cases their control systems are now reaching the end of their
useful life, necessitating migration to a new
automation system.
But before such a project can begin, the
business case for a migration must be made
so that funding can be secured. Unfortunately, stakeholders often struggle to fund
projects that replace something thats working, albeit poorly, as is often the case with an
older DCS.
Another issue germane to automation system upgrades is perception. Its often easy to
see a railcar unloading station is in desperate need of replacement by just looking at it.
By contrast, an existing DCS will usually be
tucked away in a climate-controlled room,
apparently doing its duty, at least to an untrained eye. However, experienced automation engineers know that a new automation
system will improve efficiency and productivity while reducing downtime. The challenge is to prove to others that these benefits
will justify the cost and risk of a migration.
This article details the best approach for
DCS migration, starting with justification
and ending with commissioning and startup.
Do You Need a New Automation

System?
At some point, an older DCS must be replaced with a newer automation system, but
the challenge is determining exactly when the
replacement should be made. A number of
factors will drive this decision, and judgment
must be used, as theres no single, quantitative formula for making this determination.
The following list includes some of the
factors driving the decision:
76
Discontinued technical support and spare

parts service
Reliability issues
Hard-to-procure replacement parts and accompanying services
Sharp increases in vendor support costs
Difficult-to-provide internal and thirdparty support
Major plant expansion that cant be accommodated by the existing DCS
DCS cant connect with new or existing
third-party applications
Desire to standardize automation systems
among plants
Better plant performance needed
Improved cybersecurity required
The first five factors are all related to

obsolescence of the DCS. Vendors tend to
encourage their customers to buy new automation systems by reducing support for older
DCSs, and they also face their own internal
issues when trying to support designs that are
decades old.
As a result, vendor support will sharply
decline at some point in terms of services,
parts, and patches. This will result in significant price increases to keep a DCS running
and will push many issues to internal support
personnel, who will face many of the same
challenges. Both DCS vendors and power
plants will find it harder with each passing
year to find personnel familiar with older
DCS hardware, operating systems, and application software.
Another factor driving DCS replacement
is a plant expansion or a major upgrade to the
facilitys mechanical infrastructure, often in
response to a regulatory issue. It can be very
expensive, if not impossible, to expand or
modify the DCS, so in this case replacement
can be the lowest cost option, particularly
when other advantages of a new automation
system are taken into account.
Nearly every power plant has auxiliary processes with their own controls, such as water
treatment, fuel delivery, and ash removal systems, and interfacing these control systems
with an old DCS can be very problematic.
Regulatory and other issues may drive the
www.powermag.com
addition of continuous emissions monitoring

or other systems, which ideally would also
interface with the DCSa difficult task if the
new control system is PC-based and the old
DCS is driven by a mini-computer, for example. These subsystems often have critical
inputs and outputs into the primary process,
giving rise to not only compatibility issues
but also maintainability concerns.
Power companies are continually optimizing
their mix of generation sources, often through
acquisitions and divestitures, and this can create a hodgepodge of automation systems, making support difficult. Replacing a DCS with a
modern automation system can promote standardization, easing internal support.
In almost all cases, a new automation system will provide superior performance as
compared with an older DCS. This performance can result in improvements that will
create an attractive return on investment for
the new automation system investment. For
example, improving a plants heat rate by
just one or two percentage points can result
in fuel savings sufficient to pay for the DCS
replacement in short order. An improved operator interface can enable quicker response
to incidents, preventing a small problem from
escalating into expensive downtime.
Finally, a new automation system will
have superior cybersecurity (see sidebar and
EPRI and Luminant Collaborate to Create
Common Understanding of Cybersecurity
Requirements in this issue).
Taking all of these factors into account and
quantifying the items listed above will show
if and when its time to replace your plants
DCS. Once the decision is made to replace an
existing DCS, the next step is implementation, which requires careful planning.
Proper Planning Predicts Success

When the decision is made to replace a DCS,
the new automation system will be a modern
DCS, PLC-based system, or PAC-based system. Whatever option is chosen, its critical
to follow a project plan, which should start
with a front end loading (FEL) evaluation or
POWER April 2014
Cybersecurity Concerns Encourage Upgrades

For regulatory and practical reasons, compliance with North American Electric Reliability Corp. Critical Infrastructure Protection
(NERC-CIP) and other cybersecurity guidelines is now more critical
than ever. In addition to complying with current NERC-CIP requirements, a new automation system must also be flexible enough to
take advantage of new security measures and patches.
An older DCS will have little or no built-in cybersecurity, making compliance with current standards extremely difficult. In some
cases, the only way to make an older DCS secure is to completely
isolate it from other systems, which isnt an attractive option, as
it greatly interferes with optimal power plant operation.
By contrast, a modern automation system will have a host of
built-in functions that ease implementation and ongoing maintenance of cybersecurity measures, including a high level of application security, access control, and auditing.
Application security ensures that critical software such as human machine interface (HMI) programs executing on the underlying operating system will have priority access to key computing
resources such as processing time, memory, and bandwidth. It also
prevents interference among applications by limiting communications to noncritical times.
Access control features help plant personnel enforce policies
concerning who is permitted to interact with the system and what
they are permitted to do. For example, an operator may have full
access to the HMI parameters, including the ability to change
setpoints, whereas maintenance personnel might be limited to
view-only privileges.
The new automation system should have sophisticated user acsimilar type of study.
The FEL evaluation is a multistep process
and will include a comprehensive evaluation
of the facility. It will yield a comprehensive
plan to achieve success, a list of project tasks
with budget data, durations, and an overall
project schedule.
If a plant owner typically undertakes major capital projects internally, then the FEL
may be performed by staff, assuming theres
sufficient automation expertise. But because
major automation system upgrades arent
performed regularly by most power companies, its often more cost effective to engage an outside service provider to produce
the FEL evaluation. That provider should be
independent of any particular vendors automation system to ensure that the best new automation system for a particular power plant
application is recommended.
The right provider will have produced
many FEL evaluations for automation system upgrade projects and will have extensive
power industry experience, enabling the provider to work with internal staff to produce a
thorough study. The FEL evaluation will produce a budget, show potential problems, and
provide a clear route to project success.
April 2014 POWER
count management systems to facilitate access control such that

each user can be assigned a password that gives only the access
each individual needs to perform his or her job.
Auditing provides a centralized log of interactions with the
automation system so that all actions with the automation system can be tracked. Auditing provides a way of detecting security
breaches and can act as a deterrent to inappropriate actions if
plant personnel are aware that their activities are being tracked.
In addition, auditing can be used to track root causes of incidents, providing benefits over and above increased security.
Another cybersecurity feature to look for in a new automation
system is a network security perimeter system, used to restrict
access points where foreign software can enter the automation
system. A related feature is built-in hardening of the automation
system workstations, cutting off another access point for malicious software to find its way into the system.
No matter how well the automation system is designed in terms
of cybersecurity, there will be an ongoing need for updates and
patches as new threats emerge. The right automation system supplier will provide a means to test these changes before they are
implementeda necessity, as some updates and patches can
cause problems with the operating system, the application software, or between the two.
The complexity of implementing and maintaining cybersecurity
compliance will be greatly eased by selecting an automation system that contains built-in security features and by selecting a
supplier that will work with customers to provide short- and longterm cybersecurity support.
A DCS replacement is a major undertaking requiring significant expenditures

and staff training. There are risks involved,
and in most cases there will be some downtime, although it can be minimized through
careful planning. In some cases, the FEL
will show that a DCS replacement should
be postponed, maybe until the end of the
plants useful life, in which case no replacement is required.
In other cases, where replacement is justified, the effort invested in the FEL evaluation
will often be directly proportional to overall
project success. Skipping the FEL evaluation
or performing it in a perfunctory manner will
increase risks and can lead to missed opportunities for plant improvements.
The main items that should be addressed
in a DCS replacement FEL are:
Server-level applications such as humanmachine interfaces (HMIs), historians,

and the like
Controllers
I/O
Networks among servers, HMIs, controllers, and I/O
Field wiring, networks, and components
www.powermag.com
Interfaces to ancillary systems

Space requirements for new automation
system components
Demolition, installation, and commissioning plans
Compliance with safety standards and
regulatory requirements
Alarm management
For each of these items, decisions must be

made including what, when, and how to replace. For example, it may be best to replace
the HMIs first, often by installing the new
HMIs in parallel with the old ones, to ease
operator anxiety and reduce risk (Figure 1).
New automation system hardware will
need to be tied together with a variety of
digital interfaces such as multiple variants
of Ethernet and one or more permutations of
fieldbus networks. Interfaces to ancillary systems will be required, some via networks and
others via simple hardwired I/O. All of these
networks and interfaces must be evaluated
for compatibility with existing systems.
New automation systems may require different types of climate-controlled spaces,
which will affect demolition, installation,
and commissioning plans. Compliance with
77

1. A fresh look.
A new automation system provides power plant operators with a better

view into the process via PC-based human-machine interfaces and should also include an improved alarm management regime. Courtesy: ControlsPR
regulatory requirements will probably require

enhanced cybersecurity, and a new alarm
management regime will be desirable in many
cases.
When a proper FEL evaluation is conducted, the result is a successful DCS replacement,
as illustrated in the following examples.
Ripon Finds Reasons to Upgrade

Maverick Technologies frequently performs
DCS upgrades for clients in various industries, including the power industry. A recent
project was a DCS replacement for Ripon
Cogen LLC, a firm that owns and operates
gas-fired cogeneration plants in California
(Figure 2). The main equipment that needed
to be migrated to a new automation system
was the heat recovery steam generator, deaerator and feedwater system, gas compressor system, compressed air system, and water
treatment plant.
In the initial phases of the project, Maverick worked with Ripon to determine its goals
from a technical and business perspective, a
process that allowed the client to objectively look at the technology available to best
achieve its objectives.
Ripons goals were to take advantage of
its existing HART smart instrumentation
and to standardize on a new automation
platform that would allow for increased
productivity of its maintenance teams. The
company also wanted a system that included a central and actionable alarm system
2. Upgrade time. The existing DCS at this cogen plant needed to be replaced to improve
operations, cut downtime, and minimize maintenance. Courtesy: Maverick Technologies
to reduce required operator action by giving the operators a means to quickly react
and provide a solution to any process upset.
Another area of concern was compliance reporting and ease of access to plant operating
and performance data.
As with most power generators undertaking a major automation upgrade, Ripon was
concerned with the impact to operations due
to possible downtime, and managers wanted to
take advantage of existing field wiring and infrastructure. In addition, they wanted an open
architecture automation system that would allow
seamless interface with their critical subsystems.
Finally, they wanted a system that they could
support primarily with internal resources.
These were the reasons Ripon needed
a new automation system. Those reasons
framed the case for the DCS replacement and
indicated what type of new system should be
selectedin this case a Rockwell Automation PlantPAx.
As part of the FEL evaluation, Maverick
worked with Ripon to develop a cutover plan
that would minimize downtime and risk. Existing processor and I/O drops were replaced,
but all existing field terminations were left
intact, a course of action that greatly reduced
required new wiring and associated cost and
downtime issues (Figure 3).
The plant experienced no unscheduled outages during the migration process, and the facility started up on schedule with output ramped
up to full power on the first day of operation.
As confirmation that an upgrade was the
right decision, the plant has experienced fewer outages, due in large part to the improved
automation system. Performance has also
improved, and all of the other goals outlined
above were attained.
Upgrading from the 1960s to the

21st Century
A municipal utility in Louisiana needed to
3. Time management. Upfront planning can reveal many ways to minimize downtime when migrating from an old DCS to a
new automation system, as with this new
system, which allowed existing field terminations to remain intact. Courtesy: Maverick
Technologies
78
www.powermag.com
POWER April 2014

4. Old school. When operator interface panel boards are replaced with modern PC-based
HMIs, extensive training is needed to bring plant personnel up to speed. Courtesy: ControlsPR
replace the existing pneumatic and relaycontrolled combustion, steam, and burner
management systems on two of its units.
Each of these units uses a natural gasfired
boiler to supply steam to a turbine generator.
The capacity of each unit is in the 50-MW to
100-MW range, and the two units were commissioned decades ago.
Although the existing automation system
was not a DCS, the challenges were similar
in that the reasons for the upgrade had to be
determined to ascertain the goals, and then a
plan had to be made to perform the upgrade
and meet those goals.
The city engaged Maverick Technologies for the upgrade project, and Maverick
found that the initial challenges were to develop conceptual designs with basically no
data from the original configuration and with
minimal information on any subsequent upgrades and/or changes to the facility. The first
steps were to identify the customers goals
and develop a baseline for the project.
During that process, it was determined that
the reasons for replacing the existing automation systems were to stabilize critical control
variables (such as steam pressure, temperature,
and drum level) in order to produce power
based on varying dynamic load changes. The
utility also needed to ensure it could maintain
load during peak operating periods.
Plant operators needed an efficient operational management system that would enable
them to quickly address system upsets, and
the facility needed to generate regulatory reports from historical trend data. To achieve
these goals, it was important to design a system offering seamless control while providing operators with centrally located operator
consoles. As with most upgrades, it was also
critical to minimize downtime during system
cutover and to provide the operations staff
with an automation system that they could
April 2014 POWER
maintain with existing internal resources.

The evaluation study showed that the best
way to satisfy operator demands was with a
centralized HMI console that would include
a number of PC-based operator interface terminals. This was a big step for the plant, as
the console replaced antiquated operator interface panel boards (Figure 4), so extensive
training would be required prior to commissioning and startup.
Study and planning also revealed that

maintaining unit uptime was essential, as
these units provide baseload to the city. To
address this issue, a redundant automation
system was selected. New coordinated combustion control and burner management systems were provided for each unit, and each
of these systems was provided with tripleredundant controllers and dual-redundant
power supplies.
The new automation system is a GE
Mark VI Integrated Control System with
Cimplicity HMI, as this combination of
hardware and software was found to be best
for this particular application. To meet the
customers reporting and compliance goals,
an OSIsoft PI data historian was purchased,
installed, and integrated with the new automation system.
The data historian allows plant personnel
to quickly generate reports to ensure regulatory compliance and to identify operational
performance trends. Identification and analysis of these trends enables performance improvements and also can pinpoint problem
issues before they escalate.
Tyrone Bowman
(tyrone.bowman@mavtechglobal.com) is
industry manager, Pulp & Paper, Power
& Energy Solutions, Field Services for
Bolting solutions
With Superbolt tensioners you no longer need

high powered tooling. Any size tensioner can
be installed or removed with hand tools.
The simple solution to bolting problems!
ADVANTAGES:
Increases worker safety
Accurate & reusable
Reduces downtime
Download brochure & case studies:

www.superbolt.com
*Superbolt, Inc. is part of the Nord-Lock Group.
www.powermag.com
79
PLANT SAFETY
Safety Is Not an Accident

The safety and security of employees remains the number one priority for every
utility, public and private, not only because workers have the right to a safe
workplace but also because it is just good business. Four case studies illustrate safety failures that resulted in death and equipment destruction principally
due to management inattention, poor supervision, and worker mistakes. All the
incidents were avoidable.
Dr. Robert Peltier, PE
any generation companies have

made safety a cultural norm, often
beginning internal meetings with a
safety note and requiring monthly safety training sessions. Zero lost time accidents during
the two- or three-year construction period of a
new power plant has become the norm, and an
expectation. In many plants, a safety pause is
taken before beginning work on even the most
straightforward repair job to ensure directions are clear and the right tools are available.
Some companies have gone to the extreme of
requiring employees departing on a business
trip to take a cab to the airport because of the
potential dangers (and liabilities) when driving
a personal vehicle. Home safety is a growing
concern of companies with remote workers.
U.S. Occupational Safety and Health
Administration (OSHA) statistics reveal
that worker injuries and deaths in the power industry are a fraction of those across
U.S. industry in general. Utility workers
are safer at work than at anytime in the
pastoften safer at work than at home.
However, company safety processes may
be in writing and training logs signed off,
but it only takes a split second of inattention for an accident to occur.
OSHA statistics tell us that the most cited

actions were when workers failed to follow
prescribed safety rules or workers (and supervisors) failed to identify a situation where
safety was compromised. Unfortunately,
OSHA citations usually occur after a workplace accident occurs (see sidebar).
Catastrophic industrial accidents occur
in the U.S. each year, and the after-accident
reports usually find a breakdown of existing
safety processes was the root cause. Often
these plants had a safety culture only on paper, or one never existed in the first place.
This article presents four case studies where
worker safety was compromised, either
through negligence or apathy, and the results
were dreadful. The names of the facilities are
not included because our focus is on lessons
learned, not news reporting.
Hydro Plant Flash Fire

A hydroelectric power plant in the West,
owned by a large multi-region utility, experienced a flash fire that killed five and injured
three construction workers in October 2007.
Painting contractors had begun epoxy recoating of the 1,530-foot interior steel wall portion of the penstock, which is a total of 4,300
Top 10 OSHA Citations Issued in FY2013

The following were the top 10 most frequently cited standards by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration
(OSHA) in fiscal year 2013 (Oct. 1, 2012,
through Sept. 30, 2013):
80
Fall protection, construction (29

1926.501)
Hazard communication standard
CFR 1910.1200)
Scaffolding, construction (29
1926.451)
Respiratory protection (29
CFR
(29
CFR
CFR
1910.134)
Electrical, wiring methods, components,
and equipment (29 CFR 1910.305)
Powered industrial trucks (29 CFR
1910.178)
Ladders,
construction
(29
CFR
1926.1053)
Control of hazardous energy (lockout/
tagout) (29 CFR 1910.147)
Electrical systems design, general requirements (29 CFR 1910.303)
Machinery and machine guarding (29
CFR 1910.212)
www.powermag.com
feet long. The penstock is the conduit or tunnel that delivers the water from the reservoir
to the hydroelectric turbine-generators. The
tunnel interior diameter varies between 12
and 14 feet at this plant. Recoating of the
walls is a common maintenance requirement
to maintain structural integrity, maintain water tightness, and prevent corrosion of steel
surfaces (Figure 1).
Workers experienced problems with their
paint spray equipment shortly after beginning the epoxy application. The spraying was
stopped and the sprayer system was cleaned
using the industrial flammable solvent methyl ethyl ketone (MEK). The cleaning work
was done at the work location within the
penstock. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) lists MEK
as a highly flammable solvent, with a flash
point below 73F.
A flash fire occurred when a static spark
ignited the solvent inside one of the two epoxy feed hoppers. The fire spread quickly
when other plastic containers of the solvent
(later determined to be approximately 16 gallons) and epoxy erupted. Four workers near
the exit were able to quickly exit the penstock
with minor injuries. Emergency response
teams were unable to reach the five workers
trapped behind the fire in the penstock before
they succumbed to smoke inhalation. The fire
occurred when the safety inspector and general foreman were away from the worksite
having lunch.
The subsequent investigation conducted
by the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB)
focused on the technical and organizational
causes of the fire. The CSB investigated the
incident to determine the root and contributing causes to help other plant owners prevent
similar tragedies from occurring.
The investigation determined the technical
cause of the incident was the ignition of the
MEK that was circulated through the sprayers for purposes of cleaning. The work occurred in an open area within the penstock,
although a number of ignition sources pres-
POWER April 2014
PLANT SAFETY
1. Penetrating the penstock. A 4-foot by 6-foot opening was cut into the penstock for
contract worker access. Two wooden bulkheads were constructed to contain and remove sandblasting and grinding debris and to provide work area ventilation via flexible ducts. The result
was a confined space with only a single means of egress. Source: U.S. Chemical Safety Board
Lower outlet
(powerhouse)
Upper intake
(Mushroom)
Flame-cut
access door
Temporary
east bulkhead
Elevation:
11,065 ft
11,000 ft
ft
20
1,0
55
at
Turbines
20 ft at 90
Temporary
west bulkhead
10,200 ft
1,563 ft a
t 10
10,056 ft
10,000 ft
1,560 ft at 2
Paint sprayer at
time of incident
2. Inside the penstock.
Five workers were trapped between the west bulkhead and

fire that began with the solvents and epoxy compounds. Properly equipped and trained rescue
workers were about 75 minutes away. Source: U.S. Chemical Safety Board
Epoxy components
Temporary
west bulkhead
Solvent
Two-part
epoxy paint
sprayer
Spray wands
Static mixing
block
15-ft-diameter
concrete penstock
12 ft diameter
steel-lined
penstock
ent or created by the work activity were not

eliminated or controlled. Specifically, the
MEK circulating through nonconductive
hose was a likely source of a static spark that
ignited the MEK. The other possible ignition
source was halogen lamps used to illuminate
the penstock, none of which were of explosion-proof construction (Figure 2).
There were also a number of administrative causes of the fire. First, the facility management knew about the epoxy application
and the intended use of MEK for cleaning
the paint guns but failed to perform a hazard
April 2014 POWER
MEK solvent
pump
evaluation of the epoxy recoating work and

thereby failed to identify the hazard of using
flammable liquids within the penstock. In addition, there was no pre-job safety planning
or option of using a nonflammable solvent.
Next, although the penstock is very long,
it is still classified as a permit-required confined space. OSHA defines a confined space
as one that is: large enough to enter and perform work, limited access and egress, and
not designed for continuous occupancy.
Further, OSHA defines a permit-required
confined space as one that contains or has the
www.powermag.com
potential to contain a hazardous atmosphere,

contains material that has the potential for
engulfing an entrant, has an internal configuration such that an entrant could be trapped or
asphyxiated by inwardly converging walls or
by a floor that slopes downward and tapers to
a smaller cross section, or contains any other
recognized serious safety or health hazard.
Neither the painting contractor nor the
plant owner treated the penstock as a permitrequired confined space, and neither evaluated the hazards of a confined space when
flammable solvents were introduced in the
vicinity of where hot work and abrasive blasting were part of the recoating of the penstock
interior walls.
Also, the plant owner did not have policies and procedures in place that addressed
a confined space monitoring plan or continuous monitoring of the workspace where
flammables were to be used. OSHA has
identified a hazardous atmosphere as flammable gas, vapor or mist in excess of 10%
of its lower flammable limit (LFL) [29 CFR
1910.146(b)]. The National Fire Protection
Association (NFPA) defines LFL as that
concentration of combustible material in air
below which ignition will not occur, in its
Recommended Practice for Handling Releases of Flammable and Combustible Liquids
and Gases, NFPA 329 (2005).
The documentation obtained by CSB confirmed that the owner and contractor recognized that there was only a single point of
egress within the penstock before the work
began but failed to address the problem in
the work plan. On the day of the incident,
the contractor took only a single flammable
atmosphere readingat the entrance to the
penstock, 1,450 feet from the work area.
The owners contracting process was also
found to be inadequate. The owners contractor selection process was to rank contractor
proposals based on specific performance factors, such as past performance, work quality,
and safety record. In the evaluation process,
this contractor received a zero in the safety
category, which according to the owners selection process should have disqualified the
contractor. However, the contractor was not
eliminated by management but was selected
primarily based on low price.
As the project proceeded, the owner was
aware of ongoing contractor safety problems,
including a recordable injury, evacuation of
the penstock due to high carbon monoxide
readings, and electrical problems caused by
the contractor. The owner took no action subsequent to these incidents.
Finally, the plants emergency response
plan for the penstock recoating project was
to call 911. No emergency responders with
confined space technical rescue certifications
81
PLANT SAFETY
were at the hydroelectric plant and immediately available for rescue on the day of the
incident. The CSB investigation determined
that the closest community rescue service
was approximately 75 minutes away. Rescue
workers talked with the trapped workers on
hand-held radios for 45 minutes before they
died from smoke inhalation. There were no
fire extinguishers located inside the tunnel.
The owner and contractor subsequently
failed to cooperate fully in the CSB investigation, particularly with providing requested
documentation. In fact, the CSB eventually

had to request the assistance of the U.S. Attorneys Office to obtain requested documentation from the parties. Several contractor
managers even asserted their constitutional
right against self incrimination.
When the CSB was ready to release its final
report, the owner and contractor, each facing
criminal charges in relation to the fatalities,
unsuccessfully went to federal court in an attempt to block its release. The CSBs August
2010 final report is available at www.csb.gov.
In June 2011, the owner was acquitted

in the criminal case of willfully violating
OSHA regulations causing death, pleading the accident was not foreseeable.
However, the owner paid an OSHA fine of
$150,000 to settle the citations issued after
the investigation and paid millions to the
dead workers families to settle civil lawsuits. The contractor paid $1.55 million
to satisfy workplace safety violations, and
criminal charges are pending.
Pressure Pipe Explodes
RELIABLE PROTECTION
FOR CRITICAL GENERATORS
Generator protection and control solutions simplify power
system design and installation while improving availability.
SEL-700G Generator Protection Relay
Protect generators from damage.
Monitor critical systems to ensure fast, reliable startups
with built-in autosynchronizer.
Simplify integration with flexible communications.
Learn more about generator protection
at www.selinc.com/generators.
The plant maintenance staff at a power plant

was charged with replacing a high-pressure
steam piping spool piece that connects the
main steam stop valve to the non-return
valve. The piping configuration at this particular plant interconnects the high-pressure
steam piping across four boilers.
On the day work began, workers noticed
that the main steam stop valve on an adjacent
boiler was leaking steam. The workers were
unfamiliar with the steam piping arrangement
and dismissed its importance. In addition,
because the welders were very experienced,
the company elected not to test the welders
prior to beginning the work or follow welding procedure inspections required by the
American Society of Mechanical Engineers
(ASME) Piping and Boiler and Pressure Vessel Codes.
The welders began fabricating the new
spool piece in place on a Friday afternoon,
completing the first 3/32-inch circumferential welding root pass connecting the pipe
to flanges located on both ends of the pipe.
The root pass filled in about one-fifth of the
pipe thickness, which was sufficient to seal
the spool piece. The crew then secured their
work and left for the weekend. Unbeknown
to the crew, the leaking valve on the adjacent boiler slowly filled the new spool piece
with steam. The steam condensed into water as the pipe cooled over the weekend. A
drain line on the spool piece was left closed,
causing hot water to slowly accumulate instead of drain.
The crew returned to their work on Monday morning and none of the workers or
plant staff thought to open the drain valve to
ensure the spool piece was dry inside. The
welder went to work to complete the four
remaining welding passes on one end of
the pipe spool. The pipe heated from welding (the heat-affected zone ranged from
1,200F up to the weld puddle temperature of
3,000F) caused the trapped water to evaporate and superheat, thus pressurizing the
pipe spool. The welders next began making
the final 1/16-inch passes on the other end
of the pipe spool.
The welder was about two-thirds of the

82
www.powermag.com
POWER April 2014
PLANT SAFETY
3. Dangerous work environment.
A still shot taken from

a CSB animation shows the location of the workers at the time the
fumes in the tank were ignited by the welding. Source: U.S. Chemical
Safety Board
way around the spool with his second pass when the pressure vessel
exploded. A portion of the reheated root pass and the second pass weld
material struck the welder in the chest, causing serious injuries, and hit
the welders helper in the face and eyes, causing what was probably a
permanent loss of vision.
These preventable injuries were caused by a series of mistakes by
the workers and plant supervision. The lessons learned from this tragedy are self-evident:
Welding on an enclosed structure when you dont know what is

on the other side of the weld surface is extremely dangerous. Also,
any enclosed volume must be thoroughly vented before and during
a weld repair because any liquids present will evaporate and pressurize the container. The strength of the molten weld to contain a
buildup of pressure inside the container is essentially zero.
Any welding on plant piping, particularly high-pressure steam piping, regardless of how insignificant the repair appears, requires
up-to-date welding qualifications for the work to be performed, in
accordance with the ASME piping and pressure vessel codes. Its
unclear whether the quality of the welding was an issue. However,
playing fast and loose with well-established welding processes is
always a safety mistake.
Plant supervision and management failed to instill a safety culture
in these employees and failed to have safety inspectors present during the work. Supervisors should have also recognized the safety
implications of a steam valve leak in an adjacent boiler.
tall, with a volume of 10,800 gallons.

The tank shell and top were quarter-inch-thick stainless steel. A
flash tank vented small amounts of VP as a gas to the atmosphere and
drained to the tank, and the area was equipped with flammable vapor
air monitoring to alert operators when an explosive gas mixture is
present. An alarm was set at 10% of the lower explosion limit (LEL)
and the high alarm was at the 2% LEL. The sample monitor was located directly under the flash tank vent. At the time of the incident,
the area surrounding the three VF slurry tanks was classified as general purpose electrical at ground level, on the top of the tanks, and on
the elevated catwalks connecting the tanks.
The plants three VF slurry tanks were locked out by the plant
owner on Oct. 22, the day after the plant began a two-week outage
for repairs. Emergent work on the roof of Tank 1 was delayed due to
lack of materials and was rescheduled for Nov. 9, when the contract
welder was available, which was after the plant was restarted.
In the meantime, a loop seal pipe (separating the VF slurry from the
vapors) located inside of Tank 2 split open. An engineer inspected the
pipe and determined that the damage was not significant and the tank
was returned to service. The engineer that performed the inspection
did not recognize that the split in the loop seal provided an open path
for flammable vapors to travel to adjacent tanks, a low hazard area.
The engineer did not recognize that the split overflow line could not be
secured as part of the lockout process.
On Nov. 6 the plant was restarted, and Tanks 2 and 3 were returned
to service while Tank 1 waited on parts. On Nov. 8 a plant process
compressor malfunctioned with the effect of doubling the amount of
waste vapor sent to the tanks. The following day, a lockout card was
completed for Tank 1 that confirmed that all five pipes connected to the
tank were secured and isolated from the online processes. The overflow
Aluminum Cable Tray Systems
NEW
NO
DRILLING!
BX4 SERIES
CSA, Class D
4" High
Hot Work Ignites Flammable Fumes

In November 2010 at a process plant in upstate New York, a welder and
foreman were repairing equipment located on top of an atmospheric
storage tank. The hot work ignited flammable fumes contained within
the tank, and the subsequent explosion killed the welder. Although the
fumes present in the tank were from a unique source, the result was
no different than if the tank contained fuel oil or another of the many
flammable liquids found in a power plant. The lessons learned remain
the same (Figure 3).
In this particular incident, the tank contained flammable vinyl fluoride (VF) gases produced from the liquid VF used in the manufacture
of photovoltaic panel films and other consumer goods. VF is a colorless, heavier-than-air, highly flammable gas at ambient conditions.
The tank containing the VF vapor was 11 feet in diameter and 19 feet
NEW
NEW
BW6 SERIES
CSA, Class C
6" High
BX6 SERIES
CSA, Class D
6" High
3 NEW PRODUCTS
1 866 818 0299

Made in
Canada
www.RangeRack.ca
April 2014 POWER
www.powermag.com
83
PLANT SAFETY
4. Explosive opening. The explosion folded over the roof, killing the welder and severely
injuring the foreman. Source: U.S. Chemical Safety Board
line was not referenced in the lockout report

because it had no valves.
The welder began work on Tank 1 after
completing a hot work permit on Nov. 9, as
planned, although the welder did not confirm
the valves were locked out before beginning
work. A plant lab technician also manually
checked the area on top of the tank before
weld repairs began and found no flammable
vapors present, but failed to sample the interior of the tank. The interior of the tank
wasnt tested because when empty of slurry,
it was considered as low hazard.
Just after 9 a.m., the welder attached his
safety harness to the tank and began using an
electric arc welder to weld a C-channel beam
to the roof of the tank. The arc welding increased the metal temperature to in excess of
1,200F, well above the VF autoignition temperature of 725F (the autoignition temperature of diesel oil is about 410F). The foreman
was stationed on the catwalk adjacent to
the closed manway cover serving as the fire
watch. Two hours later, an alarm in the main
control room reported a fire inside Tank 1.
Shortly after the alarm, the overpressure
within the tank blew the manway cover off
the tank roof, landing over 100 feet away.
The explosion also tore open a 25-foot
length of the top-to-shell weld, leaving only
a 2-foot seam acting as a hinge. The roof of
the tank folded completely over the side of
the tank pivoting on the remaining weld. The
welder was killed immediately by blunt force
trauma. The foreman faired better, suffering
first-degree burns and other minor injuries.
The fire quickly consumed the flammable
vapor and self-extinguished (Figure 4).
The incident investigation determined
that an earlier plant hazard analysis model84
ing did not consider that VF could accumulate in sufficient amounts in a tank to reach
flammable levels, although the hazard analysis did determine that loss of the compressor would double the VF vapor produced.
The cracked looped seal pipe in Tank 2
had the unfortunate effect of increasing the
amount of flammable vapor present in Tank
1. In addition, the insulation was removed
from Tank 1 during the overhaul and not yet
been replaced at the time of the incident,
which also resulted in the production of
more flammable vapor due to condensation
(colder tank metal temperatures).
The subsequent investigation found that

the contractor correctly completed the required hot work permit paperwork. The
plant safety procedures required the area
proprietor to inform the worker of any
process changes or of any additional safety
information that might affect the work. The
final incident report noted, On the day of
the incident however, neither the construction field engineer nor the employee signing
off as the area proprietor had understanding
of the area, the process, or potential hazardous conditions.
The portion of the hot work permit that
asked if flammable material would be within
35 feet of the work was left blank. The owners construction engineer was also found to
have had no working knowledge of the . . .
process and did not recognize the impact of
the failed compressor on the production of
flammable vapor. Also, the area proprietor
that signed the hot work permit was from the
service department and knew little about the
process, a safety shortcut that had been going on for months. Internal controls require
the area proprietor to be knowledgeable
and to walk down the area where the work
was to be done.
It was later determined that the area proprietor who signed the permit didnt even know
where the hot work was to be performed.
OSHA issued 10 citations to the plant
owner and eight to the construction company doing the work for violations of OSHA
29CFR 1910.147 (Control of Hazardous Energy (lockout/tagout standard) and 29 CFR
1910.252 (Welding, Cutting and Brazing).
5. Explosive mixture. A pharmaceutical manufacturing plant allowed polyethylene dust

to collect above a suspended ceiling that eventually led to an explosion, destroying the plant.
Workers were not informed that the dust residue was a safety concern. Source: U.S. Chemical
Safety Board
www.powermag.com
POWER April 2014
PLANT SAFETY
The owner was fined for not including a process to completely isolate the tank and for
failing to install blind flanges in the overflow
line. The contractor was fined for failing to
ensure the lockout/tagout procedure was
rigidly followed and the tank was properly
isolated. OSHA fined both companies for
failing to inform employees about the explosion potential when performing hot work on
Tank 1.
The CSB subsequently issued the bulletin Seven Key Lessons to Prevent Worker
Deaths During Hot Work in and Around
Tanks in February 2010, which discusses
11 incidents in which hot work ignited flammable vapor in or near storage tanks, three
of which were violated during this incident.
The CSB report can be found at http://tinyurl.
com/mmqv7t3.
got mussels?
Destructive Dust Explosions

The danger of dust explosions is common to
many industry sectors, although the magnitude and carnage from these explosions appears to have steadily grown over the past
decade. In its 2006 Investigation Report,
Combustible Dust Hazard Study, the CSB
identified 281 combustible dust incidents
between 1980 and 2005 that killed 119 workers and injured 718, and extensively damaged
industrial facilities.
Many of these explosions occurred in utility
plants that burn coal, but the ubiquitous nature
of these explosions is apparent; the incidents
occurred in 44 states, in several different industries, and involved a variety of materials.
The CSB report specifically discusses
seven catastrophic explosions that occurred
during the decade preceding release of its report. The common factor was secondary dust
explosions that caused most of the damage,
principally due to inadequate housekeeping
and excessive dust accumulations. A secondary explosion occurs when a primary, and
often small, explosion or other event occurs
that produces a blast wave that lofts dust accumulated on floors and structures into the
air and then is ignited by the primary explosion or other ignition source.
In effect, a weak primary explosion often
causes a very strong secondary explosion.
The NFPA defines an explosive dust as fine
material that can pass through a U.S. No. 40
Standard Sieve (about 430 microns).
The CSB completed three in-depth dust
explosion investigations in 2003 prior to the
report release. The first was at a pharmaceutical manufacturing plant, located in North
Carolina, which killed six workers and completely destroyed the facility. That explosion
was caused by polyethylene powder accumulation above the suspended ceiling used
in the production of rubber medical devices.
GET ZEQUANOX.
Highly effective, bio-based aquatic molluscicide for controlling
invasive zebra and quagga mussels.
Safe for workers

Short application times
No detox needed upon
discharge
Nonvolatile/Noncorrosize
No equipment to procure
or maintain
Environmentally friendly
Approved by the U.S. EPA and the Health Canada PMRA

Chlorine and other chemical treatments, and the risks that go
along with them, can now be a thing of the past. With Zequanox
you benefit from powerful mussel control without risking
downtime, employee injury, equipment damage, or regulatory
penalty.
Contact us today and let us design a Zequanox treatment program
to meet your specific mussel control needs.
gotmussels@marronebio.com
1-877-664-4476
www.gotmussels.com
2014 Marrone Bio Innovations, Inc. Zequanox is a product and registered trademark of
Marrone Bio Innovations, Inc. U.S. Patent No. 6,194,194; Canada Patent No. 2,225,436.
April 2014 POWER
www.powermag.com
85
PLANT SAFETY
Also, electrical equipment located above
the suspended ceiling was not rated for use
around combustible dust (Figure 5).
The post-incident investigation found that
employees were not trained about the hazards of combustible dust. OSHA, local fire
department, and insurance company inspectors inspected the plant, although none made
comment about the potential for a dust explosion. The CSB determined that if the company had adhered to NFPA standards for
combustible dust, the explosion could have
been prevented or minimized.
The second incident occurred in an aluminum products manufacturing plant in Indiana, where an explosion killed one worker
and injured several others. The plant recycled
scrap aluminum produced by its production
line and fed it into a melt furnace. Transporting the aluminum scrap produced aluminum
dust that was sucked into a dust collector.
The explosion occurred in an inadequately
vented and cleaned dust collector that was located too close to the scrap processing area.
The initial explosion spread through ducting, causing a large fireball to emerge from
the melt furnace. Dust was also present on
overhead beams and other structures that was
lofted as a result of the first explosion.
The proximate cause of the fire that
burned the facility to the ground was a dust
collector that was not designed or maintained to prevent dust explosions. Neither
the owner nor regulators adequately investigated earlier dust fires at the facility, nor
were any process changes made. Again, the
CSB determined that if the company had
adhered to the NFPA standard for combustible metals, the explosion could have been
prevented or minimized.
The third major eruption occurred in a
facility located in Kentucky that produced
acoustic insulation for automobiles. The explosion claimed the lives of seven workers,
injured 37, and completely destroyed the
facility. According to the CSB, the manufacturing process began by impregnating a
fiberglass mat with phenolic resin, and then
used air to draw the resin into the fiberglass
webs. On the day of the explosion, a curing
oven that had been left open because of a temperature control problem likely ignited the
combustible resin dust stirred up by workers
cleaning the area near the oven.
With the knowledge of plant managers,
dust had accumulated throughout the manufacturing facility in dangerous amounts. The
production process used compressed air for
cleaning, often blowing large amounts of resin dust into the air. Again, Kentucky OSHA,
state fire marshals, and insurance company
safety inspectors had inspected the facility,
but all failed to recognize the combustible
86
dust hazard. Again, the CSB determined that

if the company had adhered to NFPA standards for housekeeping and fire/explosion
barriers, the explosions could have been prevented or minimized.
OSHA Resists Issuing Dust Safety

Regulations
The CSB report on the hazards of dust in the
workplace was released to the public at a
Washington, D.C., press conference on Nov.
9, 2006. The CSBs two-year study called for
OSHA to prepare a new regulatory standard
designed to prevent combustible dust fires
and explosions. The report noted that there
is no comprehensive federal safety regulation
designed to prevent dust explosions and that
engineers, regulators, fire inspectors, and insurance companies are generally unaware of
dust explosion hazards.
Also, there were common causal factors
shared by the three tragedies mentioned
above. First, the hazards of dust were not
adequately communicated to employees. The
Material Safety Data sheets do a poor job of
informing workers of dust explosion hazards
and the OSHA regulation for hazard communication . . . do not address combustible
dust. Second, each plant produced dust that
accumulated on structures in excess of the
NFPA standard that warns that layers 1/32nd
of an inch thick, less than the thickness of a
dime, can constitute a hazardous condition.
Finally, any material that will burn in air can
become a combustible dust.
OSHAs response since release of the CSB
report has been silence. On July 25, 2013,
the CSB at a follow-up public meeting in
Washington, D.C., declared the response by
OSHA . . . on combustible dust . . . to be unacceptable.
The CSB also voted to make adoption of
a combustible dust standard . . . first priority in the CSBs recently established Most
Wanted Safety Improvements Program. To
its credit, the CSB has taken its case public
and promises stepped-up advocacy for
regulations that can prevent dust explosions.
The CSB stated that it strongly believes the
regulatory changes suggested in its 2006 report will prevent similar incidents and will
save lives.
The CSB noted that OSHA recognized
the importance of NFPAs dust standards
by including fugitive dust as a National
Emphasis Program that OSHA began last
year and reissued earlier this year [2013].
However, without a comprehensive standard,
businesses and regulators dont know which
NFPA standard applies, so compliance requirements arent clearly stated.
Since the release of CSBs 2006 investigative report, dust explosions have continued
www.powermag.com
to occur. For example, an explosion occurred

at a sugar company in February 2008 caused
by large accumulations of powdered sugar, in
a plant were the powder accumulations were
often up to mid-leg height or was airborne
in the facility, often making it difficult to
see across the plant. Fourteen workers were
killed and 36 were injured. The subsequent
investigation found much of the electrical
equipment in the plant was not dust-tight and
the dust collection system was inadequate.
Another CSB investigation continues on
the December 2010 dust explosion at a West
Virginia plant processing titanium powder
that claimed the lives of three workers and
at a Tennessee plant where multiple iron dust
flash fires combined with a hydrogen explosion that destroyed a plant in January 2011,
killing three workers.
In the power industry, there have been
many coal-dust related explosions that
caused injury and property damage over the
years for these very same reasons. It appears
the turning point for the power industry was
the secondary coal dust explosion at Fords
River Rouge manufacturing plant, located in
Dearborn Mich., in February 1999 that killed
six workers and injured 36. According to the
Michigan OSHA investigative report, housekeeping failed to control accumulations of
coal dust throughout the plant. The triggering event was a relatively small natural gas
explosion in the power plant, but the shock
wave shook free suspended dust accumulations that produced a massive secondary coal
dust explosion that caused the majority of the
damage to the plant.
In 2000, the Powder River Basin Coal
Users Group (PRBCUG) was formed to address the safe, efficient, and economic use
of PRB coal, which is more prone to secondary explosions than other types of coal.
Members of the PRBCUG and POWER have
written extensively about how to avoid coal
dust explosions since that time. The PRBCUG has also produced webinars on the
topic and its Powersafe Combustible Dust eLearning course, Combustible Dust Awareness for Coal, is available online (www.
prbcoals.com).
The excellent work of the PRBCUG in educating plant owners and workers about the
danger of poor coal dust housekeeping and
for providing a forum in which experiences
can be shared has helped make a significant
reduction of major coal dustcaused incidents in the power industry over the past few
years. Complacency often follows success so
learn from the experiences of others and take
a fresh look at your plants safety program.
There is always room for improvement.
Dr. Robert Peltier, PE is POWERs

consulting editor.
POWER April 2014
POWERGRAPHIX: IMPROVED SITUATION

AWARENESS AT A GLANCE FOR POWER GENERATION FACILITIES
PAS launches high performance HMI solution for the
power industry PowerGraphiX. It is a collection of
pre-designed graphics and object libraries for coal fired,
combined cycle, and super-critical power plants. These
graphics were designed based on industry recognized
best practices of high performance HMI.
These predefined set of operator graphics have been
implemented and tested at numerous power plants.
Using these displays has proven effective at improving
operator situation awareness.
Contact PAS to learn how one of the largest power
producers in the USA is reducing costs and increasing
reliability by implementing PowerGraphiX across their
entire fleet. You can attend an upcoming open house event
in which you can see PowerGraphiX in action.
www.pas.com
281.286.6565
s premium product
showcase for the latest

products and technologies in
the power generation industry.
To subscribe to the e-letter, please Contact
Cristane Martin
cmartin@accessintel.com
23389
April 2014 POWER
www.powermag.com
87
POWER PROFESSIONALS
Opportunities in Operations and Maintenance,
Project Engineering and Project Management,
Business and Project Development,
First-line Supervision to Executive Level Positions.
Employer pays fee. Send resumes to:
P.O. Box 87875
Vancouver, WA 98687-7875
email: dwood@powerindustrycareers.com
(360) 260-0979 l (360) 253-5292
www.powerindustrycareers.com
CAREERS IN POWER
NAES Corporation is a leading provider of
3rd party O&M services to the Independent
Power Industry. As we continue to grow, we
have constant needs for power professionals
across the nation.
For more info, log onto:
www.naes.com/careers
READER SERVICE NUMBER 202
FOR SALE/RENT
24 / 7 EMERGENCY SERVICE
BOILERS
20,000 - 400,000 #/Hr.
DIESEL & TURBINE GENERATORS

50 - 25,000 KW
GEARS & TURBINES

25 - 4000 HP
WE STOCK LARGE INVENTORIES OF:
Air Pre-Heaters Economizers Deaerators

Pumps Motors Fuel Oil Heating & Pump Sets
Valves Tubes Controls Compressors
Pulverizers Rental Boilers & Generators
Media Blasting Services
GEORGE H. BODMAN, INC.
Xkmgxjrkyy"ul"znk"y{xlgik2"
SurkSgyzkx"ngy"g"skjog"
hrgyzotm"yur{zout"lux" u{4
George H. Bodman
From Dry Ice to Walnut Shells,

SurkSgyzkx"juky"Ghxgyo|k"
Hrgyzotm"yglkr "gtj"klioktzr 4
wabash
EQUIPMENT CO.
444 Carpenter Avenue, Wheeling, IL 60090
Pres. / Technical Advisor

BoilerCleaningDoctor.com Office 1-800-286-6069
Office (281) 359-4006

PO Box 5758
E-mail: blrclgdr@aol.com
Kingwood, TX 77325-5758
Fax (281) 359-4225
847-541-5600
FAX: 847-541-1279
WEB SITE: www.wabashpower.com
POWER
Chemical cleaning advisory services for

boilers and balance of plant systems
Zurr"Lxkk@">6649884<<;9""Lg~@"=:649=:4;?6>
otluFsurksgyzkx4ius
www.molemaster.com
Layup Desiccant
Dehumidification
& Filtration Units
for long term layup
of power generation
equipment. For over
35 years of drying
solutions contact:
Tom Haarala
612-202-0765
thaarala@cdims.com
Todd Bradley
810-229-7900
tbradley@cdims.com
www.cdims.com
CONDENSER & HEAT EXCHANGER TOOLS

CLEANERS, PLUGS, BRUSHES
John R Robinson Inc.
PH # 800-726-1026
e-mail: jrrinc@earthlink.net
www.johnrrobinsoninc.com
88
NEED CABLE? FROM STOCK

Copper Power to 69KV; Bare ACSR & AAC Conductor
Underground UD-P & URD, Substation Control Shielded
and Non-shielded, Interlock Armor to 35KV, Thermocouple
BASIC WIRE & CABLE
Fax (773) 539-3500 Ph. (800) 227-4292

E-Mail: basicwire@basicwire.com
WEB SITE: www.basicwire.com
www.powermag.com
Turbine Controls
Woodward, GE, MHC
Parts and Service
TurboGen (610) 631-3480
info@turbogen.net
POWER April 2014
PRODUCT
Showcase
Get the
ESSENTIAL
INTELLIGENCE
you need on the
North American
power markets
with Platts
MEGAWATT
DAILY
GAS TURBINES FOR SALE

LM6000
FRAME 9E
FRAME 5
50/60Hz, nat gas or liq fuel,
installation and service available
Available for Immediate Shipment
Tel: +1 281.227.5687
Fax: +1 281.227.5698
John.clifford@woodgroup.com
CONDENSER OR GENERATOR AIR COOLER TUBE PLUGS

THE CONKLIN SHERMAN COMPANY, INC.
Easy to install, saves time and money.

ADJUSTABLE PLUGS - all rubber with brass insert. Expand it,
install it, reverse action for tight fit.
PUSH PULL PLUGS- are all rubber, simply push it in.
Sizes 0.530 O.D. to 2.035 O.D.
Tel:(203)881-0190Fax:(203)881-0178
E-mail:Conklin59@aol.comwww.conklin-sherman.com
OVER ONE MILLION PLUGS SOLD

April 2014 POWER
www.powermag.com
89
Cooling Water & Condensers Guidebook

This guidebook exclusively features cooling water and
condensers articles, including full charts, photographs,
graphs and step-by-step instructions, previously
featured in POWER magazine.
Table of Contents:
Oak Creek Power Plant Upgrades
Cooling Water System
Enhanced Condenser Tube
Designs Improve Plant
Performance
Appraising Our Future Cooling
Water Options
Real-Time Monitoring System
Measures Air In-Leakage
Taming Condenser Tube Leaks,
Part I
Taming Condenser Tube Leaks,
Part II
Titanium Tubing Still Going Strong

After 40 Years
Acceptable alternatives to
titanium tubing
Improving Condenser O&M
Practices
Condenser Tube Failure
Mechanisms
Condenser Retubing Optimizing
Condenser Tube Selection
CWA 316(b) Update: Fish
Guidance and Protection
Keep Condensers Clean
Cooling Water
& Condensers
Guidebook
23416
Available in a PDF format. 57 pages.
Order your copy online at http://store.powermag.com/ or call 888-707-5808.

23546
4 th ANNUAL
OCTOBER 13 - PLANT TOUR

OCTOBER 14-16 - CONFERENCE
BANGKOK, THAILAND
AMARI WATERGATE HOTEL
Participate in Asias premier

Sub-Bituminous Coal Users Conference!
TYPEFACES
The Asian SBC Users Group is THE place to be

for power generating companies:
ASIAN SBC > VERLAG

BOLD
Network with
hundreds of generating company industry professionals in one place
ANNUAL MEETING
HOST UTILITY:
Glow Group
Discover best practices to safely and efciently handle and burn SBCs
Access in-depth industry solutions
Visit
(NOTE: new
APOSTROPHE
IS ENLARGED
FROM BALANCE
Experience
technologies impacting
the SBC consumer
industry OF TYPE SIZE SO IT
INPublic
BETTER
PROPORTION,
ESPECIALLY
TourAPPEARS
Glow Energy
Companys
GEHCO 1 Coal-
red Plant WHEN REDUCED)
USERS GROUP > VERLAG BLACK
of ASBCUG 2014
Place: GHECO 1 Power plant
Date: 13
www.asiansbcusers.com
215-1 > C = 100, M = 40,
Y = 0, K = 10
th
90
www.powermag.com
229-1 > C = 100, M = 5, Y = 5, K = 0
October 2014
23646
LOGO :
Glow GDF Suez
ORANGE :
C0 M50 Y100 K0
DATE :
22 May 2012
BLUE :
C100 M70 Y0 K0
POWER April 2014
Advertisers Index
Enter reader service numbers on the FREE Product Information Source card in this issue.
Page
ABB
Reader
Service
Number
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 . . . . . . . 22

CIRCOR
www.winsted.com
Zachry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 . . . . . . . 29
www.hawkmeasure.com
April 2014 POWER
www.westinghousenuclear.com
Winsted . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 . . . . . . . 34
www.insituform.com
Kenda Industrial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 . . . . . . . 36
www.teaminc.com
Westinghouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 . . . . . . . . . 5
www.harcolabs.com
Insituform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 . . . . . . . 15
www.structint.com
TEAM Industrial Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 . . . . . . . . 6
www.ge-mcs.com
Harco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 . . . . . . . 35
www.siemens.com/ruggedcom
Structural Integrity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 . . . . . . . 11
www.fluor.com
General Electric . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 . . . . . . . . . 4
www.sealeze.com
Siemens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 . . . . . . . . 8
www.fibrwrap.com
Fluor Corp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 . . . . . . . 21
www.selinc.com
Sealeze . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 . . . . . . . 32
www.enercon.com
Fibrwrap Construction Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 . . . . . . . 15
www.rentechboilers.com
Schweitzer Engineering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 . . . . . . . 38
www.diamondpower.com
Enercon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 . . . . . . . 23
www.rangerack.ca
Rentech . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cover 2 . . . . . . 1
www.cutsforth.com
Diamond Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 . . . . . . . 28
www.processbarron.com
Range Rack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 . . . . . . . 39
www.corrpro.com
Cutsforth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 . . . . . . . 24
www.nuscalepower.com
Process Barron . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 . . . . . . . 19
www.cleaverbrooks.com
Corrpro Companies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 . . . . . . . 15
www.nrgenergy.com
NuScale Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 . . . . . . . 30
www.circorenergy.com
CleaverBrooks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 . . . . . . . 25
www.superbolt.com
NRG Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 . . . . . . . 33
www.burnsmcd.com
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 . . . . . . . 26
www.mpshq.com
Nord-Lock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 . . . . . . . 37
www.brandenburg.com
Burns & McDonnell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 . . . . . . . 12
www.mdaturbines.com
Mitsubishi Power Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-3 . . . . . . . . 2
www.beis.com
Brandenburg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cover 4 . . . . . 41
www.matrixservice.com
MD&A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 . . . . . . . 17
www.piping.bilfinger.com
Brand Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 . . . . . . . 13
www.martin-eng.com
Matrix Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 . . . . . . . . 7
www.baldor.com
Bilfinger Piping Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 . . . . . . . 14
www.gotmussels.com
Martin Engineering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 . . . . . . . 10
www.aprenergy/fastpower
Baldor Electric. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 . . . . . . . . 9
www.corzancpvc.com
Marrone Bio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 . . . . . . . 40
www.amec.com/power
APR Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 . . . . . . . .
www.kiewit.com
Lubrizol/Corzan Industrial Systems.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 . . . . . . . 18
www.ajweller.com
AMEC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 . . . . . . . 27

Kiewit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 . . . . . . . 16
www.abb.com/powergeneration
A.J. Weller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 . . . . . . . . . 3

Reader
Service
Page Number
www.powermag.com
www.zhi.com
91
COMMENTARY
Energy Systems Integration:

Innovative Solutions for an
Integrated World
Dr. Bryan Hannegan
he U.S. Department of Energys (DOEs) National Renewable

Energy Laboratory (NREL) is spearheading innovation in
Energy Systems Integration (ESI) research. ESI is a comprehensive strategy that brings together many energy carriers,
such as electricity, fuels, heating and cooling, and adds other
infrastructures, such as water and transportation. This integration will bring about new, more sustainable solutions for energy
generation, delivery, and use.
We are undergoing an unprecedented transformation of our
nations energy systemchanging the way we have been producing, delivering, and consuming energy over the past 100 years.
This new energy era will include renewable sources such as wind,
solar, and hydropower as well as nuclear energy and fossil energy
such as oil, coal, and natural gas.
This energy supply is delivered through systems that occur
at a variety of scalesfrom individual homes and businesses to
energy systems that stretch across the continent. And, these systems are evolving to provide clean energy to consumers, using
increasingly variable sources of electricity, to meet new variable
consumer demands from smart appliances to electric and alternative fuel vehicles entering the market.
New Connections
Connections are also developing among the energy infrastructure and communications networks as well as other traditional
infrastructures such as water and wastewater systems. As we see
these connections evolve, it is causing us to rethink the traditional paradigms of energy system planning and operation with a
strong focus on how we achieve the most efficient, flexible, and
reliable energy systemone that enables planning and operations across interdependent domains (fuels, electricity, thermal,
water, communications) to provide the required energy services
to consumers at an affordable cost.
NREL is leading a worldwide conversation on how these connections will change the way we generate, deliver, and use energy. While we cant anticipate the nearly infinite number of
combinations of technologies, data, and devices that will interact in an integrated energy system, we do know that ESI is much
broader than just building a smarter grid. By focusing on the
optimization of our entire energy system, new research in ESI
can increase efficiency, reliability, and performance while reducing cost and minimizing environmental impacts.
Looking ahead, we see ESI research examining the following
interconnected and evolving elements of our energy system:
92
A layer of physical energy devices that produce, consume,

store, or transport energy, such as high-voltage wires, a wind
turbine, or even a refrigerator motor or a dishwasher.
An electromechanical-, electronic-, or software-based local
controls layer necessary to allow these physical devices to

respond to external signals in an optimized way.
A communications layer, consisting of secure and private information and computation platforms necessary to support
control applications at the system level.
A layer of systems controls, ensuring the reliability of the
physical devices interconnected to hosting infrastructures.
This could include monitoring and energy network security
assessment.
A dynamic market layer, responsible for addressing economic,
optimization, regulatory, financial, and policy aspects of the
energy system and its environment.
By focusing on the optimization of

our entire energy system, new research in ESI can increase efficiency, reliability, and performance
while reducing cost and minimizing environmental impacts.
New Tool in the Toolbox
To help NREL bring all of these elements together, the DOE has
built the 182,500-square-foot Energy Systems Integration Facility (ESIF) on NRELs campus in Golden, Colo. ESIF provides
researchers with a unique set of resources and capabilities in
one location, including megawatt-scale hardware testing; selfcontained electrical, thermal, and fuel distribution busses; high
-performance computing; and data analysis and visualization.
ESIF offers utility executives and other decision-makers a
place to research new technologies in an environment that is
friendly to exploration. ESIF will allow utility companies and investors to touch the technology and see it working in real time
and on a large scale. Industry is eager for this experience; we
have many partners already doing work at ESIF and many more
have expressed interest.
Looking ahead, ESI is about tapping into the combined
strength of these systems and squeezing more value out of every
unit of energy we use while reducing costs and minimizing environmental impacts. The Energy Department has long-term energy
goals of providing 80% of electricity with clean energy sources
by 2035. A commitment to ESI can help us reach that goal.
Dr. Bryan Hannegan is associate laboratory director for ESI
at NREL and has led several research programs for the Electric
Power Research Institute and served as a senior energy advisor
to the White House and the U.S. Senate.
www.powermag.com
POWER April 2014
June 3-5, 2014

Atlantic City, NJ Sheraton Atlantic City Convention Center Hotel
Dedicated to the Advancement of the

Offshore Renewable Energy Market
Every year, hundreds of the most influential players in the industry attend Energy Ocean to
strategically collaborate on new technologies, regulation, financial opportunities, case studies and
research to work towards the advancement of ocean energy.
You should be there too.
Across 3 days, youll gain access to:
Cutting-edge presentations led by speakers from key offshore renewable energy development
projects and organizations such as Flumill, BOEM, Schottel Tidal and the Cape Wind Project.
Premier exhibitors showcasing the newest innovations in products and services for the industry.
A highly interactive format to deliver unprecedented networking opportunities between thought
leaders, executive-level attendees and industry leading companies.
Take advantage of this once a year opportunity and come join the industry on June 3-5, 2014 to
discover whats next.
Register now to reserve your seat at

www.energyocean.com
VIP Code: EOAPR
23050

April 2014

Hochgeladen von

Dokumentinformationen

Copyright

Verfügbare Formate

Dieses Dokument teilen

Dokument teilen oder einbetten

Freigabeoptionen

Stufen Sie dieses Dokument als nützlich ein?

Sind diese Inhalte unangemessen?

Copyright:

Verfügbare Formate

April 2014

Hochgeladen von

Copyright:

Verfügbare Formate

April 2014 Vol. 158 No.

Vol. 158 No. 4 April 2014

Drones in Your Boiler!

Nuclear Decommissioning &

We didnt build the rst Boiler.

CIRCLE 1 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Established 1882 Vol. 158 No. 4

COVER STORY: PLANT MAINTENANCE

SPECIAL REPORT: NUCLEAR POWER

44 EPRI and Luminant Collaborate to Create Common Understanding of

50 Nuclear Plant Closings: What About the Workers?

57 Worldwide Nuclear Commerce: Good News and Bad News

More POWER Online

GE Executive Markhoff Talks About the Water/Energy Nexus

April 2014 POWER

MITSUBISHI HITACHI POWER SYSTEMS

The global merger of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and

Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems Americas, Inc.

CIRCLE 2 ON READER SERVICE CARD

62 Advanced Cooling and Water Treatment Technology Concepts for Power

ENERGY POLICY AND POLITICS

68 Australias Carbon Policy Predicament

73 About That Gas-Fired Power Boom . . .

INSTRUMENTATION & CONTROL

76 What You Need to Know Before Replacing Your Control System

80 Safety Is Not an Accident

8 How Competitive Are You?

Momentum for Turkeys Nuclear Ambitions

20 3D-Printed Turbine Replacement Parts Could Cut Repair Times by 90%

LEGAL & REGULATORY

24 Federal Cybersecurity Framework Spotlights Need for Increased Vigilance

Connect with POWER

By Margaret H. Claybour and Robert G. Scott, Jr., Davis Wright Tremaine

92 Energy Systems Integration: Innovative Solutions for an Integrated World

Become our fan at facebook.com/

POWER April 2014

CIRCLE 3 ON READER SERVICE CARD

EDITORIAL & PRODUCTION

GENERATING COMPANY ADVISORY TEAM

Visit POWER on the web: www.powermag.com

ACCESS INTELLIGENCE, LLC

POWER April 2014

CIRCLE 4 ON READER SERVICE CARD

How Competitive Are You?

gas/electric trading day coordination is a

noted that the Chinese Premier Li Keqiang

Power Plant Competitiveness

POWER April 2014

Westinghouse AP1000 plant under construction in Sanmen, China

Westinghouse Electric Company LLC

CIRCLE 5 ON READER SERVICE CARD

6Momentum for Turkeys

port venturesand won lucrative nuclear

Units 3 and 4) at a fixed price of $0.12/

POWER April 2014

Whats wrong with this picture?

Japans Energy Policy Still Murky Three

Matrix NAC, formerly Kvaerner North American Construction,

NEW BUILD - RETROFIT - MAINTENANCE

P 724 416 6900

2. Rising costs in the absence of nuclear. Fuel costs for

power, along with renewables and fossil fuels, will be integral to

CIRCLE 7 ON READER SERVICE CARD

POWER April 2014