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At least 19 records

Equipment Qualification Report Environmental Qualification of GNB Absolyte Valve Regulated Lead Acid (VRLA) 1600 Ah100G33 Battery Rack Assembly (24590-QL-POA-EDB0-00001-11-00002_00A)

Greenberry Environmental Qualification Report 550001.001-35.0.5 provides basis for assignment of qualified life for: GNB Absolyte Valve Regulated Lead Acid (VRLA) 1600 Ah 100G33 Battery Rack Assembly in accordance with the requirements specified 24590-WTP-3PS-G000-T0015 (Rev 2) and Environmental Qualification Plan 550001.001-35.0.1 (Rev. 3). The equipment qualification basis represents the most conservative capability of the equipment. The analysis performed for the qualification is not less conservative than the bounding environmental conditions detailed in contract documents issued to Greenberry in contract 24509-QL-POA-EDB0-00001 Rev.0. The qualified life of 10 years has been established based upon an end-condition objective of the equipment condition indicators that correlate to the ability of equipment to perform its safety function. The VRLA Battery Cell Assembly was aged by 10 years (minimum) in accordance with conditions specified by Bechtel Equipment Qualification Datasheet 24590-LAW-EUQ-UPE 00003 Rev. 3 and the process conditions specified by the Instrument Data Sheet 24590-LAW EUD-UPE-00009 Rev. 2. Greenberry Industrial has contracted with GNB Industrial Battery Co located at 4115 S Zero St, Fort Smith, AR 72908 to perform age conditioning, monitoring, and capacity testing in accordance with Environmental Qualification Plan 550001.001-35.0.1 Rev. 1. The required process at the stated conditions set by the parameters established by the plan were completed satisfactorily. The details of the of the test process observed by Greenberry is detailed in the attached Seismic Test Log 550001.001-7.0.3, including examples of the objective evidence collected during the qualification process.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Qualification Requirements of Guided Ultrasonic Waves for Inspection of Piping in Light Water Reactors

Guided ultrasonic waves (GUW) are being increasingly used for both NDT and monitoring of piping. GUW offers advantages over many conventional NDE technologies due to the ability to inspect large volumes of piping components without significant removal of thermal insulation or protective layers. In addition, regions rendered inaccessible to more conventional NDE technologies may be more accessible using GUW techniques. For these reasons, utilities are increasingly considering the use of GUWs for performing the inspection of piping components in nuclear power plants. GUW is a rapidly evolving technology and its usage for inspection of nuclear power plant components requires refinement and qualification to ensure it is able to achieve consistent and acceptable levels of performance. This paper will discuss potential requirements for qualification of GUW techniques for the inspection of piping components in light water reactors (LWRs). The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has adopted ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code requirements in Sections V, III, and XI for nondestructive examination methods, fabrication inspections, and pre-service and in-service inspections. A Section V working group has been formed to place the methodology of GUW into the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code but no requirements for technique, equipment, or personnel exist in the Code at this time.

Guided Ultrasonic Waves↗

Pathways to IEC Standards for Heliostat Design Qualification and Site Acceptance in Central Receiver CSP Applications

This paper surveys the existing landscape of standards relevant to heliostats, identifies their gaps, and proposes a path forward to a comprehensive set of heliostat guidelines, technical specifications, and standards under the framework of International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) TC 117. Gaps in existing guidelines and standards are surveyed using a three-tiered taxonomy: component-level, heliostat-level, and field-level. At each level, the gap analysis is followed by a proposal for a coordinated path forward on the development of standards. At the component level, advances in the understanding of wind loading should inform a technical specification for drives and structures. Reflectors require consolidation of measurement guidelines into existing standards documents. Communications & controls require technical standards to inform their selection and secure implementation. At the heliostat level, IEC 62817 (solar trackers) adequately characterizes drive systems, structures, and electronics, but requires adaptation to heliostats' use patterns, operating modes, and expected life cycles. IEC 62817 does not address heliostat beam quality and pointing accuracy, but the process for determining both is elaborated in the SolarPACES Guideline for Heliostat Performance Testing. This SolarPACES document requires two main modifications: adaptation to IEC language and inclusion of testing after heliostats which have undergone accelerated weathering and mechanical cycling (to understand performance degradation). At the field level, IEC 62862-4-2 addresses the function and control of heliostat fields but does not cover the statistically rigorous testing of heliostat groups, or field performance factors like security and soiling. The addition of documents under IEC-62862-4 is proposed to address this gap.

beam↗

Modeling and Qualification of a Modified Emission Unit for Radioactive Air Emissions Stack Sampling Compliance

A planned laboratory space and exhaust system modification to the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Material Science and Technology Building indicated a new evaluation of the mixing at the air sampling system location would be required for compliance to ANSI/HPS N13.1-2011. The modified exhaust system would add a third fan thereby increasing the overall exhaust rate out the stack thus voiding the previous mixing study. Prior to modifying the radioactive air emissions exhaust system, a three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics computer model was used to evaluate the mixing at the sampling system location. Modeling of the new original three-fan system indicated that not all mixing criteria could be met. A second modeling effort was conducted with the addition of an air blender downstream of the confluence of the three fans which then showed satisfactory mixing results. The final installation included an air blender, and the exhaust system underwent full-scale tests to verify velocity, cyclonic flow, gas, and particulate uniformity. The modeling results and those of the full-scale tests show agreement between each of the evaluated criteria. The use of a computational fluid dynamics code was an effective aid in the design process and allowed the sampling system to remain in its original location while still meeting the requirements for sampling at a well-mixed location.

atmospheric emissions, air monitoring, environment↗

Qualification of the U.S. Conductors for ITER TF Magnet System

The U.S. Domestic Agency is one of the six suppliers of the toroidal field (TF) conductor for ITER. To qualify conductors per ITER requirements, we prepared or provided to the Swiss Plasma Center (SPC) eight test articles, sixteen conductors total, that were tested in the SULTAN facility at SPC in the ITER relevant conditions. The strands that were used in these SULTAN samples were fully characterized in the laboratories. In this paper, we report both test results and analysis of the conductors' performance against expected strand performance. The U.S. TF conductors showed a slightly better than average current sharing temperature and a relatively low sensitivity to warm up-cooldown cycles in comparison with other suppliers' conductors. However, the trend in current sharing temperature versus cycles and warm ups did not saturate, which means a continuing slow degradation of the conductor performance if the number of warm up and cooldown cycles will be significantly higher than expected. The ac losses in the U.S. TF conductors are in line with losses in the other TF conductor suppliers.

Martovetsky, Nicolai↗

Qualification and Re-Qualification of NDA Instruments

Non-Destructive Assay (NDA) instruments are a large component of nuclear material (NM) measurement at LANL. Nuclear Material Control and Accountability Group (SAFE-NMCA) personnel in the Safeguards Division are responsible for oversight of the instruments used for material accountability measurements. It is the responsibility of SAFE-NMCA to ensure that all instruments are operating as expected and can produce quality measurements to provide assurance that requirements of the DOE approved NMCA Plan are being met.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Development of a Macro-Batch Qualification Strategy for the Hanford Tank Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant

The Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) has evaluated the existing waste feed qualification strategy for the Hanford Tank Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) based on experience from the Savannah River Site (SRS) Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF) waste qualification program. The current waste qualification programs for each of the sites are discussed in the report to provide a baseline for comparison. Recommendations on strategies are then provided that could be implemented at Hanford based on the successful Macrobatch qualification strategy utilized at SRS to reduce the risk of processing upsets or the production of a staged waste campaign that does not meet the processing requirements of the WTP. Considerations included the baseline WTP process, as well as options involving Direct High Level Waste (HLW) and Low Activity Waste (LAW) processing, and the potential use of a Tank Waste Characterization and Staging Facility (TWCSF). The main objectives of the Hanford waste feed qualification program are to demonstrate compliance with the Waste Acceptance Criteria (WAC), determine waste processability, and demonstrate unit operations at a laboratory scale. Risks to acceptability and successful implementation of this program, as compared to the DWPF Macro-Batch qualification strategy, include: Limitations of mixing/blending capability of the Hanford Tank Farm; The complexity of unit operations (i.e., multiple chemical and mechanical separations processes) involved in the WTP pretreatment qualification process; The need to account for effects of blending of LAW and HLW streams, as well as a recycle stream, within the PT unit operations; and The reliance on only a single set of unit operations demonstrations with the radioactive qualification sample. This later limitation is further complicated because of the 180-day completion requirement for all of the necessary waste feed qualification steps. The primary recommendations/changes include the following: Collection and characterization of samples for relevant process analytes from the tanks to be blended during the staging process; Initiation of qualification activities earlier in the staging process to optimize the campaign composition through evaluation from both a processing and glass composition perspective; Definition of the parameters that are important for processing in the WTP facilities (unit operations) across the anticipated range of wastes and as they relate to qualification-scale equipment; Performance of limited testing with simulants ahead of the waste feed qualification sample demonstration as needed to determine the available processing window for that campaign; and Demonstration of sufficient mixing in the staging tank to show that the waste qualification sample chemical and physical properties are representative of the transfers to be made to WTP. Potential flowcharts for derivatives of the Hanford waste feed qualification process are also provided in this report. While these recommendations are an extension of the existing WTP waste qualification program, they are more in line with the processes currently performed for SRS. The implementation of these processes at SRS has been shown to offer flexibility for processing, having identified potential processing issues ahead of the qualification or facility processing, and having provided opportunity to optimize waste loading and throughput in the DWPF.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

SRNL Phase 1 Assessment of the WTP Waste Qualification Program

The Hanford Tank Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) Project is currently transitioning its emphasis from an engineering design and construction phase toward facility completion, start-up and commissioning. With this transition, the WTP Project has initiated more detailed assessments of the requirements that must be met during the actual processing of the Hanford Site tank waste. One particular area of interest is the waste qualification program. In general, the waste qualification program involves testing and analysis to demonstrate compliance with waste acceptance criteria, determine waste processability, and demonstrate laboratory-scale unit operations to support WTP operations. The testing and analysis are driven by data quality objectives (DQO) requirements necessary for meeting waste acceptance criteria for transfer of high-level wastes from the tank farms to the WTP, and for ensuring waste processability including proper glass formulations during processing within the WTP complex. Given the successful implementation of similar waste qualification efforts at the Savannah River Site (SRS) which were based on critical technical support and guidance from the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL), WTP requested subject matter experts (SMEs) from SRNL to support a technology exchange with respect to waste qualification programs in which a critical review of the WTP program could be initiated and lessons learned could be shared. The technology exchange was held on July 18-20, 2011 in Richland, Washington, and was the initial step in a multi-phased approach to support development and implementation of a successful waste qualification program at the WTP. The 3-day workshop was hosted by WTP with representatives from the Tank Operations Contractor (TOC) and SRNL in attendance as well as representatives from the US DOE Office of River Protection (ORP) and the Defense Nuclear Facility Safety Board (DNFSB) Site Representative office. The purpose of the workshop was to share lessons learned and provide a technology exchange to support development of a technically defensible waste qualification program. The objective of this report is to provide a review, from SRNL's perspective, of the WTP waste qualification program as presented during the workshop. In addition to SRNL's perspective on the general approach to the waste qualification program, more detailed insight into the specific unit operations presented by WTP during the workshop is provided. This report also provides a general overview of the SRS qualification program which serves as a basis for a comparison between the two programs. Recommendations regarding specific steps are made based on the review and SRNL's lessons learned from qualification of SRS low-activity waste (LAW) and high-level waste (HLW) to support maturation of the waste qualification program leading to WTP implementation.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

Elimination of the Characterization of DWPF Pour Stream Sample and the Glass Fabrication and Testing of the DWPF Sludge Batch Qualification Sample

A recommendation to eliminate all characterization of pour stream glass samples and the glass fabrication and Product Consistency Test (PCT) of the sludge batch qualification sample was made by a Six-Sigma team chartered to eliminate non-value-added activities for the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF) sludge batch qualification program and is documented in the report SS-PIP-2006-00030. That recommendation was supported through a technical data review by the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) and is documented in the memorandums SRNL-PSE-2007-00079 and SRNL-PSE-2007-00080. At the time of writing those memorandums, the DWPF was processing sludge-only waste but, has since transitioned to a coupled operation (sludge and salt). The SRNL was recently tasked to perform a similar data review relevant to coupled operations and re-evaluate the previous recommendations. This report evaluates the validity of eliminating the characterization of pour stream glass samples and the glass fabrication and Product Consistency Test (PCT) of the sludge batch qualification samples based on sludge-only and coupled operations. The pour stream sample has confirmed the DWPF's ability to produce an acceptable waste form from Slurry Mix Evaporator (SME) blending and product composition/durability predictions for the previous sixteen years but, ultimately the pour stream analysis has added minimal value to the DWPF's waste qualification strategy. Similarly, the information gained from the glass fabrication and PCT of the sludge batch qualification sample was determined to add minimal value to the waste qualification strategy since that sample is routinely not representative of the waste composition ultimately processed at the DWPF due to blending and salt processing considerations. Moreover, the qualification process has repeatedly confirmed minimal differences in glass behavior from actual radioactive waste to glasses fabricated from simulants or batch chemicals. In contrast, the variability study has significantly added value to the DWPF's qualification strategy. The variability study has evolved to become the primary aspect of the DWPF's compliance strategy as it has been shown to be versatile and capable of adapting to the DWPF's various and diverse waste streams and blending strategies. The variability study, which aims to ensure durability requirements and the PCT and chemical composition correlations are valid for the compositional region to be processed at the DWPF, must continue to be performed. Due to the importance of the variability study and its place in the DWPF's qualification strategy, it will also be discussed in this report. An analysis of historical data and Production Records indicated that the recommendation of the Six Sigma team to eliminate all characterization of pour stream glass samples and the glass fabrication and PCT performed with the qualification glass does not compromise the DWPF's current compliance plan. Furthermore, the DWPF should continue to produce an acceptable waste form following the remaining elements of the Glass Product Control Program; regardless of a sludge-only or coupled operations strategy. If the DWPF does decide to eliminate the characterization of pour stream samples, pour stream samples should continue to be collected for archival reasons, which would allow testing to be performed should any issues arise or new repository test methods be developed.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗