News and Projects

Duke Energy – McGuire Nuclear Station

The Merrick Group returned to McGuire Nuclear Station in September of 2015 and March of 2016. This time around the plant asked that we hydrolaze their feed water heaters as an alternative to shooting swivel U-tube scrappers to remove the iron oxide build up on the tubes. We performed this work on (4) feed water heaters in September and (6) feed water heaters in March.

In addition to the feed water heater work we cleaned, dimple plugged, and plugged tubes in the condenser water boxes. We also performed maintenance on other heat exchangers throughout the outage. Merricks also assisted Taprogge in performing maintenance on the amertap system. We will be returning to McGuire in the spring of 2017.

Point Beach Nuclear

The Merrick Group returned to Point Beach in October of 2015 and March of 2016. Our scope of work included hydrolazing condenser water boxes, various heat exchangers, and feed water heaters. We completed this work by manual hand lancing with pressure up to 20,000 psi. We will be returning to Point Beach in the spring of 2017.

Duke Energy – Catawba Nuclear Station

Merricks took part in the fall of 2015 Catawba Nuclear outage. We worked on the condenser water boxes, various heat exchangers, and the amertap system. We cleaned and plugged tubes in the water boxes along with pressure washing and inspecting the amertap system. We will be returning to Catawba in the fall of 2016.

Calvert Cliffs

Merricks returned to Calvert Cliffs in November of 2015 to perform the online condenser cleaning. In February of 2016 we participated in their major outage. Our scope of work included, cleaning (6) condenser water boxes, (2) feed water heaters, vac truck services, and amertap maintenance. We also assisted EST in stabilizing a tube in one of the condenser water boxes. The vac truck services included sucking out each water box before and after the cleaning and sucking out numerous pipes for the plant. We will be back in the fall of 2016 for the annual online water box cleaning.

Heat Exchanger Assessment and Maintenance

This course is now closed.

Course:

Heat Exchanger Assessment and Maintenance
Sponsored by Thermal Engineering Associates

4-Day Short Course: June 14 – 17, 2016
Featuring Sessions by Senior Engineers and Inspection Experts

Course Description:

The primary course objective is to provide practical information on plant heat exchanger construction and performance characteristics, inspection, and maintenance, and a forum for interaction with senior engineers and inspection experts.

Who Should Attend?

Practicing engineers and technicians who are involved in plant heat exchanger maintenance and inspection should consider participating in this course.

Instructors:

Course Fee: $1,750

Register by printing and sending payment to:
Thermal Engineering Associates
1424 Farrington Dr.
Knoxville, TN 37923
Or Register Online at: Http://thermalea.net/registration.html
Phone: (844) 507-8267

Course Location:

Fairfield Inn & Suits by Marriott Hazleton www.marriott.com/HZLFL
Phone: 1-570-501-0759
Special Room Rate – $85 (plus 11% tax)
Hazleton, PA is part of a family resort area in the foothills of the Pocono Mountains.

Course Schedule:

Tuesday, June 14, 2016
08:00 Introduction
08:30 Condensers and Other Shell-and-Tube HXs
10:30 Feed water Heaters
12:30 Lunch
13:30 Damage Mechanisms – Tube and Other Components
15:30 Materials Selection

Wednesday, June 15, 2016
08:00 Preventive and Corrective Maintenance
10:00 Visual Inspection
12:00 Lunch
13:00 Eddy Current Assessment
15:00 Q&A Sessions
15:45 Demonstrations

Thursday, June 16, 2016
08:00 Inspection: Oil & Gas Perspective
10:00 Plant HX Program Development
12:00 Lunch
13:00 Performance Monitoring and Trending
15:00 Q&A Session
15:45 Demonstrations

Friday, June 17, 2016
08:00 HX Cleaning and Demonstration
09:30 Inspection, Assessment, and Maintenance Processes
10:45 Power Plant Case Studies
12:15 Lunch
13:15 Power Plant Case Studies
16:00 End of Course

Instructors:

Danny Allerman, Senior Project Engineer Dominion Power

• 30 years of engineering experience in electric power industry, with experience as a Performance Engineer, System Engineer, and Component Engineer responsible for plant heat exchanger program.
• Extensive experience in heat exchanger maintenance
• Responsible for managing installation of new turbines and other major equipment as a Project Engineer.
• BSME, Virginia Tech

Bill Closser, President NuClear Services Group, Inc.

• Provides consulting, testing and support services.
• Over twenty-five years of experience in condition monitoring, plant performance, and equipment reliability.
• Eight years of experience with EPRI. Program Manager, Nuclear Applications and Services; Director of Nuclear and International Services, EPRI Solutions.
• Chairman, ASME. PTC 12.5 Committee, Member, ASME OM-21 Committee. Co-author EPRI NP-7552.
• Consultant, Classical HX Analysis, 2015 EPRI Report.
• BSME and BSNE, OSU: MBA. Regis University.

Dana Ives, Project Manager, Mistras Group

• Thirty years o experience in heat exchanger inspection and assessment for US/International power, chemical, and oil & gas (onshore and offshore) plants.
• Eddy Current Level III NDE Inspector.
• Initial training and experience as NDI Technician with US Air Force.

Allen Gallaher, Project Manager, Curtiss Wright – Anatec Division

• BOP heat exchanger inspection and assessment.
• Thirty years of experience in project management of heat exchanger inspection, eddy current testing, and assessment programs in industry.
• Extensive experience I BOP heat exchanger training.
• Eddy Current Level III NDE Inspector.
• BA/MA Math, Northeastern University.

Chris J. Speas, Senior Director, The Merrick Group, Inc.

• Twenty-nine years of experience in power plant component inspection and maintenance.
• Experience in inspection project oversight, independent oversight and review of programs and project management.
• Actively participates in EPRI NDE industry working groups.
• Member o f ASNT, ASME, and ANS.
• ET Level III.

Paul Koss, Project Manager, Curtiss Wright – Anatec Division

• Over twenty-five years of experience in heat exchanger inspection and assessment primarily in fossil/nuclear applications.
• Eddy Current Level III NDE Inspector.
• BS Geology, Western Kentucky University.

Carl Kuester, Owner, Engineering Consultant & Exchanger Repairs

• Twenty-five years with an electric utility; experience in engineering, construction, start up, training, operation, maintenance, and plant superintendent functions.
• Past President, Turbine, Exchanger. Condenser Col, Dynamic Energies Inc., Condenser Technologies, Inc.
• Over fifty years of engineering experience. Consulting in all phases of power plant engineering, with emphasis on heat exchanger equipment, including repairs, removal of sample tubing for analysis, and retubing.
• BSE, Brown University.

Carlton Lindell, Consulting Engineer

• Past Vice President, Cramer & Lindell Engineers, Inc., General Manager. Rust-Cramer & Lindell Engineers.
• Over fifty years of engineering experience.
• Extensive experience in eddy current testing in fossil/nuclear power, chemical, and petrochemical industries, development of inspection standards, and tube failure analysis.
• BSME, MSME, University of Connecticut.

Mark Koss, Consultant, Retired as Program Manager – Materials / Metallurgical Engineering, TVA

• Thirty-five years of experience in metallurgical / welding engineering at TVA.
• Extensive experience in materials selection, specification, and failure analysis in nuclear/fossil/hydro plants,.
• BSE (Metallurgical), University of Tennessee; MSChE. University of Tennessee – Chattanooga.

Dean R. Leimbach, Retired as ISI Specialist – Susquehanna Nuclear Power Station

• Thirty-five years of experience in heat exchanger inspection, testing, condition assessment, and NDE issues, as well as program management and personnel training.
• Previously maintained accreditations: Eddy Current Level III NDE Inspector, Ultrasonic Testing Level III NDE Inspector, ANSI Weld Inspector, NACE Coatings Systems Inspector, Nuclear Power Utility Supervisor Certification, NDE Personnel Training & Certification.
• 1975 NDE Technical School graduate.

James Fisher, Director of Operations / Sr. Project Manager, The Merrick Group, Inc.

• Current responsibilities include oversight of project managers and supervisors and extend to development and implementation of training programs.
• Twenty years of experience in HX cleaning, inspection, repair, and project management focused on development and execution of cleaning/maintenance contracts.
• NACE Level II.
• BA/BS Liberal Arts, Dickinson College.

Harry Williamson, Senior Engineer, Duke Energy

• Sixteen years of experience as heat exchanger and pressure vessel consultant on predictive and preventive maintenance for fleet fossil, hydro, and combined cycle power plants.
• Twelve years of experience as design engineer for fleet fossil plants and Oconee Nuclear Station.
• Extensive experience with heat exchanger cleaning, inspection, repair, retubing, manufacturing procedures, trouble shooting, and root cause analysis.
• Registered Professional Engineer.
• BSME, North Carolina State University.

Lindon Thomas, President, Thermal Engineering Associates

• Forty years in engineering teaching and research.
• Over twenty years of experience in providing industry engineers with heat exchanger analysis training.
• Principle Investigator, 2015 EPRI Report, Classical Heat Exchanger Analysis.
• Author of Heat Transfer, Professional Version, 2000 Choice (ALA) Outstanding Academic Title.
• BSME, Tulsa University: PhD ME, Kansas State University.