Cofrentes Nuclear Power Plant, in Valencia, completed its 22nd refuelling outage on 5 December. The 34-day period has enabled “ongoing modernisation” of the plant, and was conducted under “normal” conditions, according to Iberdrola.

During the refuelling outage, 252 fuel elements were replaced, and 11,000 tasks completed. Among the many support and maintenance services provided by GDES, two that are new to the plant stand out:

GDES Innovation implements the “VIGIA” System to monitor and control materials in FME zones at Cofrentes Nuclear Power Plant.

During the 22nd refuelling outage at Cofrentes Nuclear Power Plant, GDES Innovation implemented its innovative technological solution, VIGIA, a hardware and software system to control and monitor materials in FME (Foreign Material Exclusion) zones using RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) wireless technology.

Comprising two mobile beacons, two handheld scanners and different tags to classify and identify any material, VIGIA provides total control over the supply of tools to the refuelling area, especially in the reactor cavity, ensuring fast, automated real-time traceability. The VIGIA beacons automatically log the tools and equipment and can even log several items simultaneously without the time-consuming need for operators and technicians to do it manually as they enter and exit.

This solution provides power plants with permanent, real-time knowledge of the tools taken into FME zones and the staff that take them, and can track specific tools if lost.

As an added value that sets this new solution from GDES Innovation apart, it provides constantly updated data, simultaneous logging, automatic logging at entry/exit, digitised information (graphics, features, properties, etc.), data collection for subsequent analysis (number of people, times, types of tools, incident detection, etc.), targeted tracking of misplaced tools, and, in general terms, it is open to multiple and diverse applications tailored to each client.

In the case of Cofrentes NPP, two VIGIA beacons were installed during the refuelling outage. Access to the refuelling area produced 45,000 real-time log entries and access to the cavity 16,000 log entries during the 34 days of work.

 

Removal of fouling from the Cofrentes NPP cooling towers

Iberdrola engaged the services of GD Energy Services to remove scale and fouling from the inside of the natural draught cooling towers during the 22nd scheduled refuelling outage at Cofrentes Nuclear Power Plant.

The main aim of this service was to eliminate all fouling and scale (mainly calcium carbonate) on the internal water distribution system of the East and West cooling towers of the power plant.

To perform this service, GDES developed an ad-hoc methodology, tested and verified, with descaling tools that use high-pressure water, designed specifically for this application.

The elimination of fouling and scale improves system performance and maintains optimal operating conditions.

Around 40 operators who are specialists in industrial maintenance and rope access work were involved in this service. It focused on treating the inside and outside of the cooling tower distribution pipes, treating the nozzles under the pipes and beams, replacing components (filler, pipes and nozzles) and managing the waste generated in the process.