Pressure Vessel Technologies - A Look Ahead into the Next Decade

The Conference opens on Monday, July 18, at 10:30 am, in the Harborside Ballroom, Salon C. Representatives of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers will welcome the attendees. The first presentation will be delivered by Dr. Douglas M. Chapin, past Principal Officer and Director of MPR Associates, Inc. The second presentation will be delivered by Mr. Laney Bisbee, the President and CEO of Structural Integrity Associates, Inc.

		Douglas M. Chapin MPR Associates, Inc. Overview of Fukushima Daiichi Events: Location, Technology, Chronology, Damage, Current Conditions, and Lessons Learned On March 11, 2011, one of the largest earthquakes in recorded history occurred off the northeast coast of Japan. The earthquake severely jolted Japan, including the six nuclear power plants at the TEPCO Fukushima Daiichi power station. The earthquake also created a huge tidal wave and it arrived at the Japanese coast about an hour later; the wall of water was about five stories high at Fukushima Daiichi. The subsequent events have had a major impact on Japan and on the nuclear power industry around the world. Using pictures and drawings, this lecture will fill in some of the details, the plant location and configuration, the reactors on the site, a high level chronology of events, the source and extent of damage, comparisons to TMI-2 and Chernobyl, the current conditions on the site, the way forward, and examples of lessons learned to be taken away. Examples discussed will include items of interest to those whose profession is the design of pressure vessels and piping for critical applications. Biography: Dr. Douglas M. Chapin, NAE, is currently a Principal of MPR Associates, Inc. In March of 2009, he stepped down as Principal Officer and Director of MPR having served in that role since 1985. Dr. Chapin is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, and a Fellow of the American Nuclear Society. He holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Duke University, a certificate from the Bettis Reactor Engineering School, an M.S. in Applied Science from George Washington University, and a Ph.D. in Nuclear Studies in Chemical Engineering and Nuclear Engineering from Princeton University. Dr. Chapin has worked in the nuclear industry since 1962, beginning his career working in the Naval Reactors engineering design group for nuclear ships, reporting to Admiral Rickover at Naval Reactors. He joined MPR in 1968, and has spent the majority of his career at MPR involved with commercial nuclear power plants. He has worked actively on many aspects of nuclear power plants and other industrial and energy facilities. He has extensive experience in electrical, chemical and nuclear engineering, with particular application to nuclear and conventional power plant systems and associated components. He has worked in such areas as instrumentation and control systems, nuclear fuels, fluid mechanics, heat transfer, pumps, advanced analysis methods, test facility design, and electrical systems and components. Some of the major assignments in Dr. Chapin's career include: Advisor to DOE-EM on decommissioning and deactivation of nuclear facilities particularly including PUREX; Technical leadership role in the EPRI Advanced Light Water Reactor project that defined the utility requirements for future nuclear power plants; U.S. technical lead in the Japan/Germany/United States research program on loss of coolant accidents (2D/3D Program); Principal investigator for a US NRC research contract on reactor safety, particularly LOCA and thermo-hydraulics over the span of about 15 years; MPR project leader for the design, construction and testing of the loss of fluid (LOFT) facility. Beginning in 1978, Dr. Chapin acted as the U.S. technical lead in the Japan/German/United States research program on loss of coolant accidents (2D/3D Program). Since this project, Dr. Chapin has carried out many engineering tasks for the Japanese Nuclear industry and in cooperation with numerous Japanese partners. As a result, he has extensive contacts and client relations in Japan. He has been to the Fukushima site, as well as many other Japanese and related industrial facilities. He has made a number of invited presentations in Japan and at other International meetings. Beyond his experience in Japan, Dr. Chapin also has other considerable international nuclear experience. This experience includes projects with a variety of reactor coolants and technologies in addition to light water. Countries where Dr. Chapin has worked include Canada, Germany, UK, France, Taiwan, South Africa, Korea, UAE, and China. As a member of the National Academy of Engineering, he chaired the Board on Energy and Environmental Systems of the National Research Council from 2003 through 2010. He also served as a member of the NAE's Committee on Membership; previously he was on the Peer Review (Membership) Committee for the Electric Power/Energy Systems Section of NAE. From 2000 to 2002, he served as a member of the Nuclear Energy Research Advisory Committee (NERAC) subcommittee overseeing the production of the US DOE's roadmap for the near-term deployment of US nuclear power plants (2010 Program), and the Generation IV program to provide advanced operating nuclear power plants by 2030. Subsequently, at DOE's request, he acted as an outside technical reviewer for the Industry Consortia proposals for new nuclear plants under the 2010 Program. He currently serves on the NEAC subcommittee reviewing the DOE-NE R&D Program and the Steering Committee for the DOE-NE LWR Sustainability Program. Dr. Chapin has authored numerous technical reports and articles, as well as presented papers at conferences, taught courses at conferences and for clients, and conducted several seminars at the invitation of both international and domestic clients.
		Laney Bisbee, PE Structural Integrity Associates, Inc. Direction of the Power Industry after Fukushima-Daiichi The events at Fukushima-Daiichi have, and will continue to have, significant impact on the Power generation industry throughout the world, as did Three Mile Island and Chernobyl. The reaction and response of regulators, utilities, OEM's, the public, and Standards Development Organizations (SDO) will play directly into the effect as to how this incident influences the future landscape of the industry. This is compounded by changes that are already in process for the industry, some of which include: Greenhouse Gas emissions, water use, and waste management issues; Focus on Renewable Energy sources; Reduction in the number of conventional coal plant; and Decreased demand growth and constrained credit markets. To date, government regulators around the world have had significantly varying responses to the tragedy, including indefinitely suspending the use of all nuclear energy stations. The NRC is presently working to understand what happened during the incident, and to rapidly include changes in the ASME Code to reflect findings from their investigations. Equally important, public sentiment has swung from acceptance of new nuclear build, in order to meet future generation needs and replace a large coal generating base, to being concerned for the industry's continued safe performance. Prior to the Fukushima-Daiichi event, the power generation sources for future capacity consisted of increasing generation from renewables (wind and solar), gas (combined cycle HRSG's), and nuclear plants, while at most maintaining capacity from coal plants. Government regulators at all levels (local, state, and federal) are creating mandates for generation renewable portfolio standards (RPS). The result of the RPS mandates is that, with time, utilities must have 10-40% of their generation from renewable sources. It is broadly acknowledged that wind and solar are not reliable, owing to their dependency on appropriate weather conditions for operation. In fact, they are likely to be highly variable with significant unpredictability. Therefore, the base load must still be provided by conventional generation sources, and conventional plants (fossil and nuclear) would still be the backbone of the electric power industry, with additional demand growth met by new build gas (HRSG's) and nuclear plants. Enforcement of lower emission standards for greenhouse gases, tighter regulations on coal ash waste, as well as growing concerns for water usage, will result in challenges to all fossil based generation sources, but primarily coal plants. Present estimates show that up to 50% of the current coal fired power plants would be shutdown in the next 5-10 years. However, any reduction in future nuclear build regardless of source, economic, regulatory, or negative sentiment and public rejection will affect this schedule and may require additional service from the current coal fleet well beyond what has been considered. This extension would necessitate extensive capital, maintenance, and operational upgrades and investments. The loss of future nuclear generation might also drive additional expansion of the gas fleet to off-set the loss of coal and nuclear generation. Further expansion of the gas fleet could have dramatic unplanned consequences on gas inventories, exploration, extraction, and transmission infrastructure. Post-Fukushima-Daiichi concerns may delay or eliminate the new nuclear generation builds, and, in turn, the balance of all generation sources. Thus, this presents significant challenges to meet the increasing power demands, while considering environmental, regulatory, social, and political needs. Biography: Mr. Laney Bisbee is the President and CEO of Structural Integrity Associates, Inc., an engineering consulting firm specializing in the inspection, analysis, and assessment of critical components in fossil fuel and nuclear power plants. He holds PE licenses in seven states, and is a member of the Board of Advisors for the William States Lee College of Engineering, UNCC. During his over 30 years in the industry, Laney has worked with Combustion Engineering, Duke Power Company, Failure Analysis Associates, and Structural Integrity Associates. He has become a leading expert in metallurgical engineering and non-destructive inspection through years of research and consultancy involving the detection and characterization of damage mechanisms in power plant components. Laney earned an international reputation as a leading authority in the field of condition assessment and asset management earned through the integration of metallurgy, advanced NDE techniques and analytical methods. He has published widely and has been an invited international lecturer at conferences on power plant assessment and asset management. He is the leading advocate of the benefits available from establishing a unified approach to Component Life Assessment.