16:18 uur 29-06-2015

Westinghouse vernieuwt centrale voor nucleaire stroomopwekking Palo Verde

Westinghouse Electric Company heeft een contract afgesloten met Arizona Public Service voor de levering van het Mobius-systeem, dat zorgt voor constante borering en is ontworpen voor een station voor nucleaire opwekking in Palo Verde. De werkzaamheden voor het project zijn al begonnen. De oplevering van het Mobius-systeem vindt volgens planning eind 2015 plaats.

Het Mobius-systeem levert onafgebroken geboreerd water, dat op hoge snelheid doorstroomt. Westinghouse ontwikkelde en patenteerde de methode op verzoek van internationale klanten, die daarmee inspeelden op de veiligheidsmaatregelen na de aardbeving en tsunami in Fukushima. De aanpak werd in samenwerking met Palo Verde op maat gemaakt, wat specifieke voordelen opleverde. Een van die voordelen is een geautomatiseerd controlesysteem met een aanraakscherm als interface voor de operateur.

Westinghouse Wins Safety Upgrade Contract at Palo Verde Nuclear Generation Station

Westinghouse Electric Company was contracted by Arizona Public Service to provide
the first Mobius™ system, a continuous mobile boration system
designed for use at the Palo Verde Nuclear Generation Station. Work
already is underway on the project. Delivery of the Mobius system to
Palo Verde is scheduled for late 2015.

The Mobius system provides a continuous supply of highly borated water
at high flow rates. Westinghouse developed this patented approach at the
request of international customers in response to post-Fukushima safety
requirements. Working with Palo Verde, the approach was customized to
provide plant-specific operational benefits, including an automated
control system with touch screen operator interface.

At Palo Verde, the Mobius system will be used at the start of outages to
borate the plant to refueling boron concentrations much faster than
current methods, resulting in reduced outage duration. The system then
will be used as part of the defense-in-depth outage risk mitigation
strategies.

“Other systems on the market were batch systems that were limited in
flow rate and duration,” said Palo Verde Engineering Director Panos
Paramithas. “This was the only system on the market that could provide a
continuous flow of highly borated water and meet our needs. By
pre-deploying this system at the beginning of an outage, we will reduce
our outage time and will increase our level of safety through
defense-in-depth by having an alternate method of borating the plant if
needed.”

Terry Rudek, Westinghouse vice president, Systems and Components
Engineering, stated: “The fact that we could apply this system to also
obtain operational benefits is an added advantage. The system provides
additional defense-in-depth to respond to the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission Mitigating Strategies Order for plants that have not
implemented low-leakage seals or that do not have enough protected
borated water sources to support shutdown modes.”

The Westinghouse Mobius system requires four main inputs: water, a power
source, boric acid powder and a pH control agent powder. Both discharge
flow rate and concentration are controlled using an automated platform.

Westinghouse Electric Company, a group company of Toshiba
Corporation
(TKY:6502), is the world’s pioneering nuclear energy
company and is a leading supplier of nuclear plant products and
technologies to utilities throughout the world. Westinghouse supplied
the world’s first pressurized water reactor in 1957 in Shippingport,
Pa. (USA). Today, Westinghouse technology is the basis for approximately
one-half of the world’s operating nuclear plants. Mobius (name and
design) are trademarks of Westinghouse Electric Company LLC, and its
affiliates and/or its subsidiaries in the United States of America and
may be registered in other countries throughout the world. All rights
reserved. Unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.

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