FTG Finds New Frontier In Asia
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Chinshan Unit 1 Weld Overlay
FTI recently completed a weld overlay repair on a recirculating system piping weld at Taiwan Power Company’s Chinshan Nuclear Power Plant Unit 1, a GE BWR. According to Dave Waskey, FTI’s Manager of Welding Services, the new weld on the 22-inch valve repaired a stress corrosion crack, and resulted in a weld with no UT indications following the weld overlay procedure.

“Besides installing a weld that Ultrasonic Testing showed to have no flaw indications, we also beat the schedule we had to meet by a considerable amount,” Waskey said. “This saved Chinshan time in their outage and reduced dose, even though we had a couple of serious challenges to meet.”

The primary challenge facing the FTI welding crew was a cap obstruction discovered during Waskey’s walk-down inspection four days before welding was to begin.

“The obstruction required us to reconfigure our welding head,” said Waskey. “Fortunately, FTI’s tooling group is experienced in meeting these kinds of challenges. They worked around-the-clock in Lynchburg to reconfigure the weld head in time to have it shipped to Taiwan to arrive before we were scheduled to begin work.”

The pipe weld overlay done at Chinshan does several things to alleviate effects from the crack and prevent future recurrences. The weld puts the crack tip in compression, removing tensile stress, and thus arresting the crack. In addition, the new weld uses materials of superior chemistry to eliminate any future stress corrosion cracking.

“We are really proud of the work we did in Taiwan,” said Waskey. “Our crew did an outstanding job in its first welding job in Asia, exceeding the customers expectations in a plant that has very tight quality controls. We look forward to going back to Asia to do other work.”