EPRI Plenary Session Circuit Breaker Users Group Briefing

Jim SharkeySenior Project ManagerCircuit Breaker Users Group MeetingJune 16, 2010Columbia, SC

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Operating Experience: 2009-2010

• Bus Events– Columbia; August 2009; Failed catastrophically in the

location of a flexible link. Al Sperling to discuss– Palo Verde; March 2010; Fault and unit trip; – Robinson; November 2009; ‘Administrative control’ of

grounding devices.• Generator Breaker Failures

– VC Summer; October, 2009; B-phase did not open properly and was damaged.

– Millstone; December 2009; Extensive damage to C-phase. Cause attributed to manufacturing defect.

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Operating Experience: 2009-2010

• April 2009; Smoldering fire in MCC; Cause attributed to “failure to generate preventative maintenance plans for the replacement of the main contactors due to age related degradation”

• July 2009; Lesson Learned for the Industry: “Classification of MCUs and MCCBs should be performed based on the protective function of the breaker for the upstream bus, and not on load. Breakers inappropriately reclassified as Run-To-Failure (RTF) based on review of respective loads they feed. Failure of these breakers results in a trip of the upstream feeder breaker and a loss of all (safety related) loads supplied by the respective upstream Motor Control Center (MCC).

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Working Groups Report

• Working Groups Report

– Bus maintenance; Jim Sharkey

– MCC maintenance; Jim Sharkey

– New Breaker specialist training; Chris Kowal

– ABB working group; Pete Pawlak

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Action Items Completed

• Website update: Completed– All meeting materials and minutes are listed by year, then by

meeting (Breaker type).• ABB K-Line PM Working Group meeting held in May to

revise the K-Line PM guide; Progress made• Prior issues and resolutions documented by Pete

Pawlak’s ABB Working Group • CBUG Issues Brief; Posted on the website• Breaker-specific conference calls held in April

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Action Items Completed

• Updating industry list of circuit breaker primary plant contacts

• Process developed for storing procedures for benchmarking purposes on EPRI Collaboration Website– Located on the main tabs at top of EPRI’s home page– Primary benefit: Ability to upload and download documents.– Please forward your plant procedures to me or upload them

yourself.

• Added day of working group meetings to meeting format

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Action Items – No Progress Made

• Rescinding specific-sections of NP-7410 documents

• Magne-Blast overhaul video

• Training – None developed– Proposed topics: Electrical Testing; Time Current Curves and

Set-points; Bus Maintenance/Inspection; Other?

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Circuit Breaker Users Group Briefing

• EPRI Focus areas: – Bus maintenance– MCC maintenance and replacements– Breaker working groups; EPRI document review

• E-mail Distribution System - Unchanged

• Status of industry survey– Breaker Populations, PM/Overhaul intervals, etc.– Updated in 2008 and ’09, but not in 2010.

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Circuit Breaker Users Group Briefing

• Questions to the group:– Verbal “Generator circuit breaker” survey– Any recent NRC or INPO attention?

• Format of future meetings • Future meetings: Dates and potential locations

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Working Group Meeting Held Today

• Working Groups – June 14, 2010– Morning Sessions

• ABB HK and K-Line; Pawlak; Palmetto I• MCC-MCCB maintenance; Sharkey; Palmetto II

– Afternoon Sessions• Bus maintenance; Sharkey; Palmetto I• New Breaker specialist training; Kowal; Palmetto II

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MCC-MCCB Maintenance

• Considerable industry interest and questions over the years on MCC maintenance and replacements.

• No EPRI guidance exists on maintenance or replacements. The need appears to exist due to the level of interest and questions.

• Significant issues/needs (based on input) are :– MCC maintenance best practices need to be

documented– “Replacement information” repository is needed.

• Working Group tasks?– Verify, modify and document industry issues and

needs.

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Electrical Bus; NRC Information Notices

• IN 1988-11; Brunswick– “Bolts were over-torqued. Re-torque of bolts may not

be adequate to ensure continued service; replacement may be necessary.”

• IN 1998-36; Point Beach– Bus fault due to lack of maintenance and inspection,

insulation degradation, condensation. • IN 2000-14; Diablo Canyon

– Catastrophic failure. “Center bus bar overheated at splice joint”

• IN 2008-18; ANO– Bus fault and fire. “Inadequate design of aluminum bus

bars and questionable engagement of stabs into bus.”

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Electrical Bus; Other Notices

• OE 26979, Salem (May 2008)– Fault and load reduction due to water intrusion.

• OE 28305; Browns Ferry (August 2008)– “Buswork fault and load reduction on all three units”

• OE 29557; Columbia (August 2009)– “Non Segregated bus failed catastrophically in the

location of a flexible link”.• OE 30775; Palo Verde (March 2010)

– “Fault of 13.8 kV Non-Class Calvert Bus Results in Reactor Trip

• OE ?????; Robinson (March 2010)– Catastrophic failure

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Electrical Bus; Other Notices

• OE 28740; Limerick– Fault and load reduction due to mis-positioning of

conductor. Root cause: Diagonal entry of conductor into the receiving saddle of the MCCB.

• Others?• INPO O&MR 300

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Electrical Bus Maintenance / Monitoring

• EPRI existing guidance– EPRI 1013457, “Bus Maintenance Guide”– EPRI 1015057, “Iso-Phase Bus Maintenance Guide”

• What additional guidance is needed?• What are life-cycle management considerations?• What bus monitoring technologies are available?

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Electrical Bus Maintenance / Monitoring

EPRI Proposed Project for later half of 2010/2011:

Investigate bus maintenance techniques and determine if the current recommended and/or accepted maintenance programs are sufficient for the world’s existing fleet of nuclear plants, assuming long term operation in excess of 40 years?

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Circuit Breaker Specialist Training Guideline

• Due to the high turnover rate in the industry, a Circuit Breaker Specialist Training Guideline was drafted in 2009 (Based on LEMUG Motor Specialist Training).

• This document was presented to CBUG in 2009 for comments and a working group was formed to provide input into the document.

To finish the document; Working group time needed to provide input into the document and review references, wording and specifications along with timeline development.

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Model-Specific Working Group Objectives

Review Guidance– Review existing EPRI documents to verify technical

accuracy and completeness. Help resolve any issues and improve existing guidance. If necessary, work with EPRI to update existing guidance.

Suggest New Guidance– Suggest any new EPRI guidance or initiatives needed

that would benefit utility personnel.Review OE Reports

– Review new or existing industry operating experience reports to identify significant lessons learned and communicate these lessons via revisions to industry guidance, meetings, workshops, etc.

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Model-Specific Working Group Objectives

Identify Topics• Work with EPRI and the OEM and/or service providers to

develop a model-specific circuit breaker agenda and discussion topics for their respective user’s group meeting.

Training• Identify any training that may be needed by utility

personnel and help EPRI or the OEM and/or service providers fill this need.

PM Basis Verification• Review applicable EPRI PM Basis Templates to

determine appropriateness and accuracy. Suggest any new PM Basis templates that need to be developed

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ABB Working Group

• ABB Working Group formed in 2009– Pete Pawlak, Southern Nuclear, Plant Vogtle– Gene Black, Duke Power – Kevin Shea, NextEra, Seabrook– Irmari Rios, Entergy– Scott Quernemoen, TVA

• Objective(s):– Gather and review older meeting materials and better

document prior issues and their resolution.

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ABB K-Line Working Group

• EPRI TR-113736, K-Line PM Guidance (Issued in 2000)• EPRI and the Industry Owners groups share the

ownership and responsibility to keep this document updated.

• Revision of this document is a high priority for EPRI’sCBUG due to the high number of breakers (5000+)

• Working group meeting held on May 5-6, 2010 at EPRI offices. Gene Langlois participated.

• Half of the maintenance tasks were revised. Revisions must be reviewed and approved by utility working group members

• Additional work is needed.

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ABB Working Group

• K-Line PM procedures needed– Please forward to JSharkey@epri.com– (E-mail request went out to all contacts regarding procedures)

• Review and input of knowledgeable breaker specialists is needed

• Recommended future actions: – Hold additional working groups to complete the

revision– Forward to everyone for review and approval.

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ABB Working Group

• To complete the revision:– Conduct working Group meeting on June 14– Conduct additional working group meetings later at

• EPRI offices in Charlotte,• ABB in Florence, SC• Plant site (plant needs to volunteer)

– When?• Gene Langlois booked through December, 2010• EPRI available after August• Schedule August-November?• Schedule with Gene in January?

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2010 CBUG Meeting Session Facilitators

AK / AKR Paul West

Magne-Blast Mike Baldwin

ABB (Combined) Ron Ferrie

DS Henry Johnson

DB Mike Baldwin

DHP Paul West

Eaton Ron Gadagno

Wyle-Siemens Robert Francis

MCC-MCCB Nick Pournas / Mike Baldwin

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Together…Shaping the Future of Electricity

EPRI Plenary Session Circuit Breaker Users Group Briefing��Operating Experience: 2009-2010Operating Experience: 2009-2010Working Groups ReportAction Items CompletedAction Items CompletedAction Items – No Progress MadeCircuit Breaker Users Group BriefingCircuit Breaker Users Group BriefingWorking Group Meeting Held TodayMCC-MCCB MaintenanceElectrical Bus; NRC Information NoticesElectrical Bus; Other NoticesElectrical Bus; Other NoticesElectrical Bus Maintenance / MonitoringElectrical Bus Maintenance / MonitoringCircuit Breaker Specialist Training GuidelineModel-Specific Working Group ObjectivesModel-Specific Working Group ObjectivesABB Working GroupABB K-Line Working GroupABB Working GroupABB Working Group2010 CBUG Meeting Session FacilitatorsTogether…Shaping the Future of Electricity