Services
Amidyne has built a solid technical team with significant depth of knowledge in the nuclear industry. We can help you in the following areas:
Qualification
Qualification testing can be required for equipment used in “safety-related” applications in a nuclear plant.
Safety-related applications are systems, structures, components, procedures, and controls (of a facility or process) that are relied upon to safely shut down a plant and maintain the plant in a shutdown state while the residual heat is safely removed without the release of radioactive substances into the environment.
Qualification testing can be necessary to ensure that the safety-related equipment will still work in extreme circumstances such as an earthquake (“seismic event”), a coolant line break, or a steam line break.
Although some qualification can be done by analysis, in many cases the equipment must be physically tested in a laboratory where the extreme circumstances can be re-created. This can include seismic (earthquake) simulation, as well as Environmental Qualifications (EQ).
Environmental Qualifications can be specified for “mild environment”, or “harsh environment” depending upon its location and application.
Other qualification testing is often required to ensure that equipment used in a nuclear plant meets radiation exposure requirements, aging requirements and standard industry requirements such as IEEE 323.
Amidyne provides a full suite of qualification services for the nuclear power industry, either to the 10CFR 50 App B, NQA-1, or to Canadian CSA Standards.
Seismic Services
Seismic Qualification is often required in safety related nuclear applications where there is concern that equipment will not continue to operate during or after a “seismic event” (earthquake). In many cases, this can be determined through engineering analysis.
In other cases the equipment must be shaken on a “Seismic Table” to simulate an earthquake in order to be seismically qualified. A Seismic Table is a device for shaking structural models or components with a wide range of simulated ground motions. It is used in the nuclear industry for seismic qualification of safety related components.
Amidyne’s provides seismic testing on its state-of-the art triaxial seismic table can shake a 10,000 lb load up to 18 G force (ZPA) at 200 Hz. The 3’ X 3’ table can be extended to accommodate larger test requirements. Amidyne can provide seismic testing services for a long-list of equipment including instrumentation and control equipment, valves, circuit breakers, and panels.
Amidyne performs these tests to the American QA program 10CFR50 Appendix B, or to the applicable Canadian QA programs (CSA CAN Z299.2, applicable parts of N286.1 and N286.2, and applicable parts of ISO 17025).
Seismic Table:
A device for shaking structural models or components with a wide range of simulated ground motions. Used in the nuclear industry for seismic qualification of safety related components.
• 3ft x 3ft tri-axial t-slotted shaker with 10,000 lb capacity
• 10-inch stroke actuators
• 160,000 ft-lb overturn capacity
• Random, sine-sweep, continuous sine-wave or white noise excitation
• Capacity to operate with ZPA of up to 18 g
• Frequencies of up to 200 Hz
Commercial Grade Dedication
The Versatile Measuring Instruments Division of the Amidyne Group performs Commercial Grade Dedication (CGD) services for the North American Nuclear Power Industry. Versatile provides this service to the existing nuclear power plant fleet as well as vendors to the industry.
The company believes in an “open book pricing” policy, where the cost of the materials, the markup and the dedication costs are all disclosed. This strategy has helped our customers understand where the true costs are in the Commercial Grade Dedication process, and help reduce those costs.
The company is also performing process mapping and cycle time studies with its customers to establish strategies to remove unnecessary costs from the overall CGD process and accelerate the delivery of dedicated products.
DEFINITION AND DESCRIPTION:
Commercial Grade Dedication is an acceptance process undertaken to provide reasonable assurance that a CGI (Commercial Grade Item) to be used as a basic (safety-related) component will perform its intended safety function.
Dedication is performed following guidelines established by the Electrical Power Research Institute (EPRI) and ASME NQA-1 requirements. Specifically, EPRI NP-5652 and ASME NQA-1 Subpart 2.14 are applied under our CSA Z299.2 and 10CFR50 Appendix B quality programs.
The process begins with a “Technical Evaluation” and the selection of “Critical Characteristics. Credible failure modes of the item in its operating environment and the effect of these failures on the safety function are considered in the technical evaluation and the selection of critical characteristics.
The critical characteristics are then verified by one or a combination of the four industry accepted methods described in EPRI NP-5652. For the most part, dedication is conducted in accordance with Method 1 of EPRI NP-5652 “Special Tests and Inspections” supplemented by method 2, “Commercial Grade Survey” of suppliers. When sampling is required for “Special Tests and Inspections”, EPRI document “TR-017218 R1, Guideline for Sampling in the Commercial-Grade Item Acceptance Process” is referenced.
Dedication plans are submitted as required to customers for acceptance. On completion of the dedication process, the final CGD report is submitted to the customer as per the purchase order requirements.
Amidyne's Commercial Grade Dedication Processs Chart:
Plant Engineering Services
Amidyne’s Nuclear Plant Engineering Services team has decades of practical experience in nuclear plant engineering, procurement and training. We have access to a large pool of nuclear engineering talent on a contract basis.
Risk Management Services
You can never eliminate risk, but you can mitigate and manage it. Two of the most significant threats to the Nuclear industry today are the lack of availability of obsolete equipment, and the onslaught of counterfeit, suspect and fraudulent components.
Amidyne can help you assess your organization’s exposure to these threats, and can help you put systems in place to mitigate them.
Product Engineering Services
Amidyne has years of experience in designing instrumentation, electrical, mechanical and pressure-boundary equipment for the nuclear power industry. The company specializes in Form Fit and Function reverse engineering of analog instrumentation.
The company also has experience in panel design and refurbishment of obsolete equipment to “like new” status.
Case Studies
View our case studies for an in-depth look at the processes we follow and to learn more about our products and service capabilities.
