OVERVIEW

BCP served as a prime technical and engineering consultant to support the First-Of-A-Kind (FOAK) AP1000 new builds in China and the U.S. Our role over the 10-years consisted of a broad array of consulting that utilized the full spectrum of BCP expertise. Types of consulting provided include technical and contractual gap analysis for China constructed AP1000; mentoring for project start-up managers; support, review, and consulting for FOAK testing, Initial Test Program (ITAAC), and startup testing; operation readiness consulting; engineering programs consulting; project training, scheduling, procedures, and staffing consulting; and digital I&C program development and implementation.

CLIENT ISSUE/PROBLEM

Westinghouse was experiencing problems with a vendor and the Chinese regulatory body (NNSA) regarding irradiation testing deficiencies, and service qualifications for certain equipment commodities. To move the project forward, these differences needed to be reconciled and resolved.

SOLUTION

BCP consultants approached the problem by working with the Westinghouse vendor to review, assess and ensure that the equipment was qualified (EQ) for identified service, and worked directly with the Chinese regulatory (NNSA) to resolve restrictions associated with equipment commodities identified in EQ program.

To accomplish this, BCP consultants performed radiation exposure calculations to determine accumulated dose by type for various commodity classes as part of the EQ program. This effort addressed deficiencies in the vendor’s process and quality controls in irradiating AP1000 components and commodities. BCP consultants reviewed affected commodity classes of components justifying acceptability for performing preoperational testing such as reactor coolant system cold hydrostatic testing through to fuel load without completion and acceptance of the equipment qualification packages.

CLIENT BENEFITS

The results of the BCP consulting effort avoided retesting and re-irradiating AP1000 components which would have delayed both Sanmen and Haiyang projects. Upon final review, the China NNSA permitted the test program to proceed at Sanmen and Haiyang.