Westinghouse Electric Company said it had developed a new Compound D – Extended Life O-ring for Westinghouse-designed reactor coolant pump (RCP) seals that effectively doubles the operating life of the O-rings.
"The Compound D O-ring uses breakthrough material technology that has been tested and fully qualified to double O-ring lifetime operation from six to 12 years under regular plant operating conditions," the company said, announcing that the Compound D O-rings would begin to be available globally in the fall of 2015.
Doubling the life of the RCP seal O-ring offers nuclear energy utility customers greater flexibility in pump seal maintenance planning. Utilities using this product no longer will be bound to performing RCP seal maintenance at the six-year point to replace O-rings, and can operate additional fuel cycles, if desired. Reduced maintenance enhances safety by decreasing man-REM exposure, frees personnel to perform other outage maintenance activities, and reduces maintenance costs.
“With the installation of the newly innovated Westinghouse O-ring, our utility customers now can expect not only a doubling of O-ring lifetime operation, but also increased convenience for their outage maintenance plans,” said David Howell, senior vice president, Westinghouse Operating Plant Business.
The Compound D Extended Life O-ring is the culmination of decades of experience in original equipment manufacturer design engineering and maintenance services in support of thousands of reactor fuel cycles across the globe.