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 The Japanese government has pushed for the reuse of mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel in the country’s nuclear reactors, but utilities that finance the reprocessing have not funded those operations since fiscal year 2016, according to financial reports released by the power companies on September 2. Japan’s KYODO News reported that sources said 10 utilities, including Tokyo […]

Power plant control and monitoring can be complex given the need to integrate many different platforms. Adding to the complexity is the fact that HMI’s (Human-Machine Interface) supplied by the OEM often only interface with the OEMs controller and not with ancillary systems. Lastly, ongoing support and updates from the common operating system may be […]

Mechanical Dynamics and Analysis (MD&A) was contracted after a forced outage to perform a major overhaul on a cogeneration unit’s MS5001PA gas turbine, and to remove, test and inspect the generator field. Because the unit dispatches as baseload and the turbine is a critical asset, MD&A was asked to complete the repair work as quickly […]

Mechanical Dynamics and Analysis (MD&A) was retained by a utility to perform a stub-shaft repair of a generator rotor collector-end shaft. The customer reported that the generator rotor had suffered a collector ring failure and also a ground to the main shaft. Major arcing and heat damage occurred to the generator rotor forging shaft. The utility weighed […]

Mechanical Dynamics & Analysis (MD&A) experts recently performed a thermodynamic analysis to assist our client in converting their coal and natural gas plant to combined cycle operation. The customer was able to locate a gray market Gas turbine and Heat Recovery Steam Generator (HRSG). Our team modeled how each component would interact with one another, and were […]

MD&A’s San Antonio Service Center can extend the service life of gas turbine components whose OEM service limit has passed or whose configuration is no longer suitable to operate. Significant savings can be realized by opting for lower-cost repaired spares instead of new parts. Elevated temperatures take a big toll on gas turbine components. Repair […]

Mechanical Dynamics and Analysis inspected and repaired an A-10 frame High-Pressure rotor.   The unit was a 3600 rpm, 90 MW combined cycle unit.  MD&A’s Turbine-Generator Repair Facility performed the incoming inspections / evaluations, repair straightening of the rotor, final inspections, as well as high speed balance. Incoming inspections and evaluation consisted of blast cleaning, NDE, visual inspections, […]

President Trump campaigned on a promise to reduce regulation and control regulatory costs. One of his first actions after taking office was to issue an executive order calling for the elimination of two existing regulations for every one new regulation issued. Toward that end, the Trump administration has acted or sought to reverse more than […]

On many combined cycle projects, the major decisions about boiler chemistry are left until after the plant has been designed, equipment is procured, and construction is well underway. However, the best time to make these chemistry decisions is in the design phase of the project. That enables the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractor to […]

Palo Verde is the largest nuclear-generating site in the U.S. It has three of the five largest nuclear units in the country, with each pressurized water reactor licensed at almost 4,000 MWth. Like many plants