General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) said Tuesday that its radiation monitoring systems had been deployed successfully at the first U.S. nuclear power plant scheduled to go operational since 1996.
The Tennessee Valley Authority, GA-EMS said, selected the company to provide full radiation monitoring systems for the Watts Bar Unit 2 nuclear power plant, which recently achieved first criticality and is undergoing ascension testing. It is expected to be commercially operable – judged when it has been online at full power for 20 days – by the summer of 2016.
GA-EMS designed, manufactured and delivered full plant radiation monitoring systems to meet a variety of safety requirements, including area and process monitors and control room indicators. The monitoring systems comply with 10CFR50 Appendix B, NQA-1 and Regulatory Guide 1.97.
With the plant undergoing a series of ascension tests, “we now look forward to working with TVA … for decades to come,” said GA-EMS President Scott Forney.
GA-EMS, based in San Diego, Ca., announced in February it had received multiple contracts to deliver radiation monitoring systems to support U.S. nuclear power plants. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Order EA-13-109 mandated installation of radiation monitors and hardened containment vent systems in boiling water reactors (BWRs) with Mark I and Mark II containment designs as part of their post-Fukushima Daiichi safety standard upgrades.
As of February, there were 27 BWRs in the United States that required the modification and GA-EMS had received orders from 18 of those plants. The company has also been working with international plant operators to evaluate radiation monitoring requirements for foreign facilities.