Framatome successfully supported 44 scheduled outages at nuclear energy facilities across North America, including 16 emergent outages in 2017. The maintenance and inspection work, completed by over 3,600 passionate employees, enables these plants to continue efficiently and reliably generating electricity from the reactor fleet.
Work during the outages included examinations, inspections, fuel moves, refurbishments, and a variety of other jobs. These tasks extend the life of nuclear plants by supporting long-term operation and enhancing safety for employees.
“We utilized expert teams and advanced technologies to maintain and improve the performance of nuclear energy facilities across the continent,” said Gary Mignogna, CEO of Framatome in North America. “We are proud of our high-quality, creative, and cost-effective work that will benefit our customers, and their consumers, for years to come.”
In total, the company’s employees completed 2.4 million safe hours, accomplishing 7,654 fuel moves and 281,343 steam generator tube inspections. Framatome not only effectively supported nuclear energy facilities, but did it safely. In 2017, the company was named “Safety Supplier of the Year” by Duke Energy.
Last year was full of accomplishments for Framatome, and some of the season highlights include:
- Completed cavitation peening on four units, which began in spring 2016. Following the work, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission granted inspection relief to Exelon’s Byron Unit 2 and Braidwood Unit 1, reducing inspection visits on their reactor vessel closure head from every 18 months to once every 10 years.
- Worked with Newton Research Labs Inc. to make Newton’s non-destructive evaluation (NDE) inspection technology, the most advanced NDE tank inspection and robotic repair service in the nuclear industry.
- Conducted the first fully encoded, automated Materials Reliability Program (MRP)-277 exam on a Combustion Engineering (C-E) pressurized water reactor. The inspection team has performed MRP examination on 13 reactors, limiting personnel exposure in nuclear facilities. These examinations assure the safety of plants during their extended operating life.
