Two Awards for Jeumont Industrie Jeumont Industrie, a subsidiary of Framatome ANP, specializing in the manufacture and maintenance of reactor coolant pumps (RCP), received two significant orders in Asia in 2000. Five reactor coolant pump 93A1 Model shafts were delivered in May 2000 for the nuclear power plant of Maanshan in Taiwan. They are replacing the original RCP shafts, due to discovered cracking problems, during the next scheduled outages.        A complete Model 100 RCP internal and rotor will be delivered in July 2002 to the Ulchin Nuclear Power Plant Units 1 & 2 in South Korea. This RCP is scheduled for a possible change out during the 10 year inspection outage in September 2002. Angra 2 in Full Operation A 28-day trial run of Brazil's new 1309-MWe pressurized water reactor (PWR) nuclear power plant, Angra 2, successfully ended at midnight local time on December 21, 2000. Commissioning of the plant has been completed. The unit was built to the same design as Germany's most modern nuclear power stations. Angra 2 plays a crucial role in supplying electric power to the over 50 million inhabitants of the São Paulo/Rio de Janeiro industrial region. Steam Generator Replacement: A New Order From EDF At the end of 2000, Framatome ANP received a new order for seven additional steam generator replacements (SGR) from Electricité de France (EDF), scheduled from 2001 to 2011. An option for one more is included.        The first two SGRs of this new order will be performed in Tricastin 3 in 2001 and Fessenheim 1 in 2002. Framatome ANP has constructed nine SGRs in France, eleven in Europe, outside of France, and participated in five in the USA. CERCA's Contract for FRJ2 Fuel CERCA, a wholly owned subsidiary of Framatome ANP, and the world's leading research reactor fuel manufacturer, has been selected by the Jülich Research Center in Germany to supply some 100 fuel elements for the new FRJ2 reactor. Supply of the DIDO type fuel will be phased in over 18 months beginning in November 2001. This commercial success, the product of many years of hard endeavour, means that CERCA now has 100% of the German research reactor fuel market and is well placed to pick up similar contracts.        CERCA also supplies the fuel for the FRM 2 reactor in Munich, built by Siemens. The reactor is expected to begin operation in 2001 and will be the most efficient high-flux neutron source in the world. Research reactors are low power nuclear reactors designed specifically to conduct experiments on nuclear fission material research or to produce radioisotopes used in industry and for medical purposes. More FOCUS Fuel Assemblies for Trillo On November 24, 2000, Siemens signed a contract with the operator of Spain's Trillo PWR to supply an additional three batches of reload fuel. Using the advanced FOCUS™ fuel assemblies with DUPLEX clad tubes, the fuel is scheduled for delivery up to 2005. Siemens has supplied fuel assemblies to this plant consistently since 1988. In the course of this long period of cooperation, the economic efficiency of the fuel has been steadily increased through higher fuel discharge burnups. Success of Jeumont Industrie Jeumont Industrie (JI), a subsidiary of Framatome ANP, was selected last summer to inspect and refurbish the 13 reactor coolant pump sets at the Almaraz and Asc— plants.        Somanu, a JI subsidiary specializing in the maintenance of radioactive nuclear components in special off-site workshops, will work on the two contracts, to be phased in over four years. The Jeumont Industrie solution, using a tested welding method, was preferred over that of the original pump manufacturer. Replacement of RPV Internals at Ringhals The plant operator of Sweden's Ringhals Unit 1 BWR nuclear power plant unit has awarded Siemens and its consortium partner, Ansaldo of Italy, a contract to supply and install new reactor pressure vessel (RPV) internals. These include core spray system grid, core shroud cover, steam separators, riser pipes for the core spray and boron injection system, and the boron injection system itself. The project scope also will include all related design analyses as well as experimental testing of the core spray system at Siemen's test facility in Karlstein, Germany. The competition for this order was the plant's original vendor. Siemens has performed a considerable number of service projects at Ringhals in recent years, including the steam generator replacements at Ringhals 2 and, with the Siemens-Framatome Consortium, at Ringhals 3. Framatome ANP Introduces No-Exclusion Zone ROGER Robot Framatome ANP recently completed steam generator inspections at both Entergy's Waterford and Pacific Gas & Electric's Diablo Canyon plants, using their new No-Exclusion Zone ROGER®. This tool eliminates the need to physically move the robot within the generator in order to inspect all tubes and therefore reduces inspection time.        Framatome ANP developed two types of No-Exclusion Zone ROGERs. The Divider Plate ROGER is designed to attach to the flat plate separating the hot and cold legs of Westinghouse designed recirculating steam generators while the Staywell ROGER is designed to attach to the curved plate separating the hot and cold legs of the Combustion Engineering recirculating steam generators. These new ROGERs require no modification to the steam generators and both can be remotely moved and driven, thus reducing dose levels as well as time. New Steam Generators for Prairie Island Framatome ANP has signed a contract with the American utility, Xcel Energy (formerly Northern States Power/ NSP), the leading electricity producer in Minnesota.        Under the terms of this contract, Framatome ANP will complete design studies for two replacement steam generators (RSG) for Prairie Island Unit 1. The studies for design and engineering will be performed jointly by Framatome ANP's French teams in Paris La Défense and Saint-Marcel. American counterparts in Lynchburg, Virginia will complete studies for licensing issues, in particular, preparation of safety studies for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) approval. 100 ZPPT Sequences Employing RMAS Successfully Completed On October 22-23, 2000, Florida Power & Light and Framatome ANP's engineers successfully completed the Zero Power Physics Testing (ZPPT) for Turkey Point Unit 4 Cycle 19. It was the 100th testing sequence to employ the Reactivity Measurement and Analysis System (RMAS) product. Testing was accomplished in 5 hours 35 minutes (from initial criticality to completion of rod worth) and it was the fifth consecutive startup at the Turkey Point station with test duration near six hours.        Prior to using RMAS for ZPPT, 14 to 24 hours were required for the same testing. Both of these test sequences included some identifiable plant delays that confirm that testing soon will consistently be completed in five or fewer hours. This represents a tremendous savings of critical path time compared to a few years ago, while still providing the same quality of results important to core design. Framatome ANP, Inc. Goes "The Extra Mile" For Its Customer During the fall 2000 outage season, Framatome ANP was contracted to install sleeves and perform tube expansions in 6 different feedwater heaters (FWH) and make repairs on the "C" reactor coolant pumps at the Wolf Creek Nuclear Generating Station in Kansas.        Early in the outage, Framatome ANP was asked to take over an additional task of plug removal while at the same time executing an expanded base workscope that turned out to be 2.6 times larger than originally planned. To meet this need, Framatome ANP deployed 4 extra people during this time of limited resources, in addition to the 4 already on site. By completion of the work, Framatome ANP had removed a total of 731 plugs. New production records for tube expansion and sleeving were set. As a result, FWH work never became critical path for the outage.        Stan Wahlmeier, System Engineer at Wolf Creek commented, "The heater sleeving crew brought the type of work ethic you love to see in a contractor. Their dedication and innovative thinking kept the project from falling by the wayside. Their efforts were greatly appreciated." New Successes for Harmoni RCCA in USA and Europe Framatome ANP was selected by Pacific Gas & Electric to supply 106 Harmoni™ rod cluster control assemblies (RCCAs) to the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Plant. Other US plants using Harmoni RCCAs are Catawba, McGuire, Salem, Turkey Point and Sequoyah. In Europe, Sizewell (U.K.), Vandellos (Spain), Ringhals (Sweden) and EDF plants ordered Harmoni RCCAs in 2000.        Harmoni RCCAs, first introduced in French plants in 1988, are being used in 84 reactors in eight countries: Belgium, China, France, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, U.K. and the US. The ion nitrided surface treatment of the Harmoni plus other features eliminates cladding wear and offers real improvement against swelling-cracking of the absorber rods. TIP System Overhauled at FitzPatrick During the October 2000 refueling outage at the James A. FitzPatrick Nuclear Power Plant, a BWR plant in New York which began commercial operation in 1975, a 12-man team overhauled the traversing in-core probe (TIP) system, which forms part of the neutron flux monitoring instrumentation. Maintenance was performed on the mechanical components, the entire TIP tube section underneath the reactor core was replaced in just five days, and the control unit was tested. After conducting a trial run, the system was handed over to the plant crew, ready to resume operation. This service is available to all BWR plants through Framatome ANP. All Framatome ANP Fuel Plants in France and Belgium to be Certified ISO 14001 by 2001 By the end of 2001, all of the eight Framatome ANP fuel plants will be ISO 14001 certified. Five are already certified and the remaining three will follow by the end of 2001.        Specializing in the manufacture of zirconium alloy tubes, the CEZUS plant, located near Nantes, has worked since 1995 to limit the impact of its activities on the environment. It started by replacing chlorinated solvents used to degrease tubes with a biodegradable cleansing agent, then processed the effluents by detoxification and recycling operations. A structured environmental management system enabled the impact of these two operations to be measured. Framatome Receives Safety Award        Framatome Technologies received an award for safety from Constellation Nuclear, Inc. on Dec. 14, 2000 at the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant, for outstanding industrial safety performance of steam generator services during the Unit 1 spring 2000 refueling outage. Garland Mapp, Framatome ANP's Safety Environment Compliance Officer commented, "We believe this is the first time that a service provider has received a safety award from a nuclear power plant. We are honored to be the first recipient. It demonstrates Framatome ANP's extraordinary commitment to safety." 3N 2000 Symposium The sixth New Nuclear Needs (3N) Symposium was held from October 4-7, 2000 in Lyon and Chalon-sur-SaÔne, France. Two hundred high level attendees from 21 countries representing Framatome ANP's customer utilities exchanged interesting ideas on current service concerns. The primary emphasis was on innovative contractual schemes, such as partnering, performance-oriented contracts, and service packaging etc.        The participants visited the exhibition in the CETIC (Training and Qualification Center) where the latest maintenance technologies were presented on full-scale mock-ups as well as the heavy component manufacturing facility in Saint Marcel. FROG Still Going Strong After 10 Years The Framatome Owners Group (FROG) held its 20th Steering Committee meeting and celebrated ten years of cooperation, assistance, sharing of experience and expertise, and joint activities in Lyon on October 2 & 3, 2000. Set-up in October 1991 by five utilities (Electrabel, ElectricitŽ de France, the South African utility ESKOM, Guangdong Nuclear Power Joint Venture Company, Ltd. and KEPCO of South Korea) that were either operating or building nuclear units incorporating a Framatome NSSS or Nuclear Island, FROG welcomed Vattenfall (Sweden) in June 1997 and during this meeting Ling Ao Nuclear Power Company (owner of Ling Ao nuclear power plant under construction in China). Jean Oullion was named FROG Secretary replacing Philippe Namy who had been secretary since the founding of FROG.        The 20th Steering Committee meeting was devoted to presentations and numerous exchanges on main events at FROG members' plants, on actions to reduce operator stress, on management issues such as maintaining competencies while reducing costs, public acceptance, and generation costs. Technical presentations were given on the on-line 3D core surveillance system, on PWR reactor vessel life assessment, on Krsko steam generator replacement and French NPPs second decennial outages feedback experience.        The next FROG Steering Committee meeting will be held on April 4-6, 2001 at Avignon, France. Plant Managers' Symposium 2000 The annual symposium for plant operations' managers of Siemens-built nuclear power plants took place in Hamburg in December 2000. For the first time ever, managing directors of all nuclear power plants in Switzerland as well as representatives from Framatome were invited to attend. Topics included how to retain manufacturer knowledge and the status of preparations for launching the new joint venture company with Framatome. Presentations were given on state-of-the-art remote-controlled repair techniques, advancements in piping analysis, product future-proofing for instrumentation and control systems, as well as new fracture mechanics concepts for assessing reactor pressure vessel brittle fracture resistance.        Concluding the review of the company's broad spectrum of nuclear services was an informative talk on backfit projects at Sweden's Oskarshamn BWR nuclear power plant.