Rapid implementation of R-stamp repairs meet rigorous requirements without compromising timeline.
The Challenge
As the spring 2021 outage season approached, a U.S. utility determined their R-stamp would not be active for the outage. Nuclear utilities typically maintain a National Board R Certificate of Authorization for repairs to pressure vessels in accordance with National Board Inspection Code (NBIC) and American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Boiler and Pressure Vessel (B&PV) Code. When the utility did not have a certificate, they turned to Westinghouse and their vast network of experts to meet the rigorous requirements.
Our Solution
The utility contracted WEC Carolina Energy Solutions (CES), a subsidiary of Westinghouse, to perform inspections and necessary repairs leveraging our existing R-stamp program. The preparation for performing repairs to a pressure vessel under an R-stamp is extensive, sometimes taking several months, in addition to obtaining alignment from a certified Authorized Inspector (AI). CES had just days to accomplish the activities required before it would impact the outage.
The Impact
The rapid deployment of key knowledgeable personnel, along with program standards already in place allowed the project to meet their milestones without impacting outage duration. CES Quality and Project Engineer personnel were mobilized to site, with remote programmatic Quality Assurance support from Westinghouse headquarters.
