Nuclear Ventilation Systems

Ventilation System, Fuel Pelleting Plant,
Babcock and Wilcox

Fabrication of nuclear fuel pellets involves handling of enriched material (SNM) in a fine powder form. This powder must be strictly controlled since it is toxic, radioactive, subject to criticality concerns and is very expensive. All these factors combine to require the highest quality ventilation and filtration system possible. NUCON designed and engineered the complete air handling system for a Babcock & Wilcox fuel fabrication facility. The design included individual air take-off points with local filtration at each generation source to localize the highest SNM loading and reduce SNM loading in the ducts. A variety of efficiencies and types of local filtration assemblies were used to maximize filtration for each type of equipment and dust generated. Two banks of HEPA filters in series were the final filtration prior to exhaust. These were bag-out housings to eliminate release or loss of SNM. The system was started up and fully tested by NUCON personnel for a successfully operating installation.

Rule-making for Kr-85 in Fuel Reprocessing,
US EPA

Under a subcontract from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), NUCON performed a review of the available Kr-85 removal technologies. The initial data gathering task required visiting potential manufacturers and various reprocessing plants to establish required Kr-85 removal efficiencies. A survey was made of available processes and the capital, installation and operating costs were developed and compared. The information generated by this study was used by the EPA for Rule-making for the control of Kr-85 from nuclear fuel reprocessing plants.

Supply of Control Room Nuclear Air Treatment System,
Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant

The nuclear air treatment unit originally installed at the Seabrook plant did not meet the requirement for redundant systems. The client was required to retrofit a separate 1,000 scfm unit. NUCON participated in the development of specifications for the unit and was awarded the contract to design and fabricate it. The geometric size was fixed because the unit had to be transported through standard size doors into the control room and into a utility room behind it. The Control Room NATS is Nuclear Safety Related. (It is required to operate in order to safely shut down the plant in the event of an emergency.) Therefore, stringent Quality Assurance requirements were imposed on the design and construction of the equipment to ASME N509. The NUCON QA Program was audited to confirm compliance to USNRC requirements, 10 CFR50, Appendix B. NUCON also performed the acceptance testing of the system at the client's site in accordance with requirements of ASME N510.