UESI’s Bob Walcheski will attend the February 2018, ASTM Committee D33 meeting on Protective Coatings Standards for Power Generation Facilities. This year Bob will serve as Vice Chair.  D33 was formed in 1979 to address the needs of the commercial nuclear power industry with regard to standards for safety related coatings. Utility and vendor members attend two days of technical meetings, including representation from regulatory agencies. The committee, with a membership of approximately 100 industry professionals and experts, currently has jurisdiction over 30 standards, published in the Annual Book of ASTM Standards.

The Nuclear Utility Coatings Council (NUCC) was formed to assist in handling safety related service level one coatings in the nuclear facilities. NUCC now addresses Service level III coatings, regulatory sensitive coatings issues, and specific issues such as coatings on buried pipe. This group is comprised of industry personnel and coatings experts that help develop guidance and assist in resolving issues related to nuclear coatings. This meeting provides an open forum for all those affected by coating systems in their plant to gather and share problems and provide solutions to those problems.  UESI will speak on remote inspection techniques at operating nuclear plants.

No, we’re not competing in the figure skating competition at the winter Olympics, but a team of UESI experts is there to assist a South Korean Nuclear utility in making the operation of one of their plants safer.  UESI will be working with the utility and other Korean companies to ensure the fuel pool is leak tight so that the spent fuel stored there remains in a safe storage environment.

The techniques used to do this were developed by UESI and have been used in South Korea, Japan, China and throughout the U.S.  The process involves the underwater application of a specially formulated epoxy coating to restore the integrity of the fuel pool liner.  Divers apply the coating using tools adapted for this purpose while working safely near high radiation nuclear fuel storage racks.

Diver using hand-dredging technique

UESI is helping nuclear utilities protect marine life while maintaining uninterrupted power production.  Half a million gallons of cooling water per minute is needed to operate a typical nuclear reactor safely.  Multi-unit plants need double or triple that amount.  Because an inexhaustible source is necessary to supply such a huge volume of water, many plants are located near, and draw their water from, the sea.  The proximity of a wide variety of marine life requires that plants take great care to avoid endangering delicate ecosystems.

Our divers are working hard to salvage boats damaged by the hurricane. Read more about what our team is doing.