The Lesedi Refuelling Team supported activities at Salem Nuclear Power Station in the USA in May 2017. The Core barrel was removed earlier in the outage to enable the baffle bolt replacement project to take place. A total of 129 bolts were replaced. This core barrel lift is an infrequent evolution, completed roughly every 15 years. Operating experience from other plants was reviewed to gain insights into events that could occur during this evolution. Contingency plans were also in place to address any potential challenges.
The removal and replacement of the core barrel were major critical path items. The challenging tasks of reinstalling the Salem Unit 2 Reactor Core Barrel was successfully completed, which paves the way for reloading of the fuel. The project was the result of careful planning and teamwork between AREVA, Reactor Services, the OCC and the Lesedi Salem work team in the field. Besides being completed event free, the core barrel installation was completed at 8 mRem. This milestone is well below the industry standard for personnel radiological dose exposure, setting an industry world record for achieving the lowest radiological dose exposure for an internal move.
Lesedi has diversified into a major engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) company, having successfully completed numerous key projects in nuclear, industrial power, mining and oil and gas environments.