MPR's Nuclear Experience

General Qualifications of the Firm
MPR Associates, based in the Washington DC metropolitan area, was founded in 1964 to provide engineering design and consulting services which meet a high standard of technical excellence. For many years we have been dedicated to supporting the electric power generation industry in the evaluation, design, construction, operation, and maintenance of nuclear and fossil power plants. Our reputation is based in large part on our ability to provide practical solutions to difficult technical problems, and to perform independent design reviews, concept evaluations, and feasibility studies. Our reputation is also based on our custom approach to each assignment and our ability to provide timely and cost-effective results.

With regard to the Office of Nuclear Safety's task to assess the readiness of nuclear facilities to restart or start up, MPR has significant experience and capabilities related to in the many activities needed for such assessments, including:

• Evaluation of Root Cause Determinations

• Facility Safety Documentation Review

• Evaluation of Process for Resolving and Closing Safety Issues

• Independent Review of Safety Systems and Management Programs

• Independent Assessments, Evaluations and Audits

• Technical Expertise

In providing a full range of engineering, scientific and management services, MPR has assembled a professional staff of over 85 engineering personnel who have been carefully selected for both their technical expertise and accomplishments, and their commitment to the professional tenets of the firm. MPR has a proven record of accomplishment and a strong team of engineers committed to solving complex, diverse problems.

The remainder of this document describes key MPR capabilities related to the activities listed above and describes the qualifications of key MPR professional personnel.

Evaluation of Root Cause Determinations
Root cause evaluation may require an in-depth understanding of fundamental engineering principles. MPR has engineers with extensive training and experience in technical areas useful in determining root causes such as metallurgy, structural analysis, instrumentation and control, fluid dynamics, etc.

MPR's experience with root cause evaluations includes performing the evaluations and reviewing evaluations performed by others.

Examples of root cause analyses performed by MPR include diesel generator crankcase explosions, turbine blade and bearing failures, waterhammer analysis, valve failures, and control system instability.

In addition, MPR has prepared and taught training courses for nuclear utility personnel on root cause determination. The courses instruct students in the fundamentals of root cause determinations and provide example problems and procedures.

Facility Safety Documentation Review
MPR has worked intensively with numerous utilities in identifying and documenting the design basis requirements for nuclear power plants. This work has included performing walkdowns of safety related equipment to verify that as-built configuration meets design requirements; resolving outliers; and preparing a series of design basis documents used to summarize design basis information accumulated over 20 years of plant operation. MPR has had lead technical responsibility for developing formal procedures for all phases of this work, helping utilities review work prepared by others, and assisting utilities by preparing proposal requests and evaluating contractor bids for design basis documentation work.

Evaluation of Process for Resolving and Closing Safety Issues
MPR has had a key role in supporting restarts and startups of nuclear power plants. Much of that work involved identifying, resolving and tracking safety concerns. Specific examples include the following:

• MPR had responsibility for the administrative and technical direction of the Bellefonte Nuclear Power Plant Assessment Project for the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). This project involved a 250 person team engaged in assessing the risk and estimating the cost of reactivating this deferred nuclear power plant. The project included review of plant design features and comparing them to current plant licensing and safety requirements.

• MPR assisted two nuclear power plants in restart evaluations following lengthy outages due to regulatory concerns. MPR's work included program management and/or program oversight, development of procedures for problem resolution and tracking, and preparation of reports addressing specific concerns.

• For two nuclear power plants, MPR performed assessments of plant material condition. These assessments consist of identifying the significant equipment replacements, major repairs or upgrades needed to achieve extended life, and the associated schedule and estimated costs. These were major plant wide efforts, which involved extensive preplanning and project management, as well as extensive interaction with plant personnel and equipment vendors, and preparation of reports and presentations to utility management to describe the basis for major recommendations. For one plant MPR also performed a multi-year follow-on task to track the utility resolution to the problems identified.

• In addition to the above work for nuclear utilities, MPR has also assisted in evaluating the status of preparations for startup of the K-Reactor at the Savannah River Site. This "Vertical Slice Review" effort included a top-to-bottom detailed review of several major modifications needed before plant startup, as well as reviews of a sampling of minor modifications. A major purpose of this review was to assess the adequacy of the processes used for plant modifications. The review involved extensive interactions with site personnel, as well as presentation of the review results to plant management.

Independent Review of Safety Systems and Management Programs
Senior MPR personnel have served on numerous review and oversight boards for nuclear facilities, including the following:

• MPR was a member of a special oversight group for cleanup of the damaged TMI-2 reactor plant. This Technical Advisory and Assistance Group (TAAG) was made up of eight nuclear experts from throughout the United States, and was appointed by the Department of Energy, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and General Public Utilities. TAAG responsibilities included advice on overall planning and technical direction of the cleanup effort, as well assistance on specific technical tasks. In this capacity MPR directly managed a project to perform the first inspections of the damaged reactor core and a project to remove metallurgical samples from the bottom of the TMI-2 reactor vessel.

  MPR currently participates on a similar oversight committee appointed by Public Service of Colorado for decommissioning of the Fort St. Vrain nuclear power plant.

• MPR personnel have served on the international review committee charged with selecting the means for ultimate safe disposition of the Chernobyl facility.

Independent Assessments, Evaluations, and Audits
MPR engineers are frequently tasked to perform independent reviews and audits at nuclear and non-nuclear facilities. Our roles in these activities include organizing multi-company teams, preparing procedures, performing the reviews and audits, preparing reports and presenting results to management. In the recent past these reviews have included such issues as:

• Performance assessment of contractor organization--MPR performed this assessment at the request of a contractor at the K-Reactor at Savannah River Site in order to meet a contractor commitment to DOE. The assessment results were presented to the contractor management.

• Seismic qualification of plant systems and equipment--MPR has performed field walkdowns of nuclear plant systems and equipment to verify that plants are adequate for earthquake loads. MPR developed the generic implementation procedure for performing the walkdowns and for resolving potential concerns identified.

• Safety system functional inspections--For several nuclear plant systems MPR has performed in-depth review of system design bases and determined whether modern modifications and operating practice meet the originally intended design requirements for the system. This work includes verifying that the existing equipment and configuration are in accordance with the plant design documents. One outcome of this work was the recognition that improved control of plant configuration is needed; MPR developed procedures and databases for identifying, recording and maintaining control of plant configuration.

• Review of facility fire readiness--MPR recently completed a project with a foreign atomic energy regulatory council in which we trained regulators to review the fire readiness of nuclear power plants. The council desired to invoke on its utilities the USNRC requirements listed in Appendix R to Code of Federal Regulations 10 CFR 50. MPR performed walkdowns of fire protection systems, reviewed procedures for placing plants in safe shutdown, reviewed analyses of plant safety system response to fires, observed drills, and reviewed plant personnel organizations.

Technical Issues
The table below provides a brief description of MPR experience and qualifications in the various "areas of review" which will be needed to determine the readiness of a nuclear facility for restart or startup.

The technical capabilities of the MPR staff are both extensive and varied. Brief resumés are provided below for several top level engineers:

Dr. Douglas M. Chapin, PE, a principal officer at MPR, has extensive experience in the fields of nuclear fuel and structural design; nuclear safety design, analysis and testing; and quality assurance. He has worked on the design, construction and testing of the Loss of Flow Transient facility, and has participated in multinational programs to define requirements for advanced reactor plant designs and for loss-of-coolant accident research facilities. Dr. Chapin has a doctorate from Princeton in chemical engineering and holds degrees in electrical engineering and applied sciences.

William R. Schmidt, PE, a retired principal officer of MPR, has practiced mechanical, structural and nuclear engineering since 1959, chiefly in the design, analysis, evaluation and specification of materials and structures for power plants. He has served as the Technical Coordinator for the nationwide Seismic Qualification Utility Group, for which he has been actively involved in developing criteria for verifying the seismic adequacy of nuclear plant equipment.

David G. Strawson is a retired senior associate of MPR with responsibility for system design and evaluation including radioactive waste handling systems, mechanical design of nuclear reactor internal structures, and nuclear plant safety analysis and licensing. At MPR Mr.Strawson has had lead responsibility for developing the solid radwaste processing requirements for the Advanced Light Water Reactor and has performed numerous design reviews to simplify and evaluate the operability, maintainability and constructability of power plant systems for processing solid, liquid and gaseous radioactive waste. Mr. Strawson holds degrees in nuclear and mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an undergraduate degree in physics from Oberlin College.

Sterling Weems, PE, a retired senior engineer of MPR has had over 30 years experience in mechanical design work, in such fields as reactor vessel internals development and containment design. Mr. Weems holds numerous patents and helped develop equipment used to monitor corrosion during chemical cleaning of radioactive deposits from steam generators. He was the lead engineer for the mechanical design, testing and construction of nuclear reactors installed on U.S. Navy surface vessels.

Robert M. Weiner, a retired principal officer of MPR Associates, has worked since 1957 in the design, analysis, testing and modification of power plants and chemical process plants. Specific areas of his expertise include structural analysis of piping and components, fluid dynamic transient analyses, and structure vibration analyses (including non-linear vibration). He has directed large teams of engineers in major projects involving analysis of nuclear plant containment design, plant condition assessments, reactor plant and propulsion plant fluid system design, and motor-operated valve performance prediction. Mr. Weiner holds a BS degree in chemical engineering from Notre Dame and an MS degree in nuclear engineering from the University of Maryland.

Contact

For further information on Nuclear Power Engineering or other services provided by MPR Associates, contact: Douglas Chapin, Robert Coward or Larry Cundy.

More MPR Nuclear Experience

• ALWR Development
• Configuration Management
• Design Bases Integration
• License Renewal Engr Svcs
• Main Coolant Pumps
• MPR BWR ECCS Suction Strainer Svcs
• MPR Qualifications Related to Restart & Startup Assessments for The Office of Nuclear Safety
• Soviet-Designed Nuclear Reactor Plants
• Valve Experience

The following pages provide insight on our experience in a few of MPR's nuclear D&D projects:

• Three Mile Island Unit 2 Reactor
  
• Technical Assistance for PUREX
  
• Technical Oversight at Fort St. Vrain
  
• Radioactive Waste Handling
  
• Spent Nuclear Fuel Handling Shipping and Storage
  
• Radiation Shielding Design
  
• Chernobyl
  
• Hanford Spent Nuclear Fuel Project