Duke Energy Response: 1. B
2. No 3. Duke started the Central Calibration over 10 years ago. At that time, we had 3 sites (7 Units). Each of the 3 sites had ~6 technicians that maintained and calibrated RP Instruments. Those numbers were reduced from ~6 at each site to 2 at each site. At that time our Central Calibration Facility was operated with 1 Technical Staff person and 4 Technicians. That was a net reduction of ~13 Full Time Employees (FTE's). At that time none of our processes and procedures were standardized. Since its inception the Central Calibration Facility has standardized instrument models, as well as, all operation and calibration procedures. The Central Calibration Facility uses a very sophisticated database to track the location, and maintain a complete history of each instrument cradle to grave including repairs, calibration, daily source checks and records each time an instrument is issued and who checks it out. The Central Calibration Facility also serves as the centralized document control for the fleet. The only instrument we send to an outside contractor is Neutron Survey meters. We are located outside of the Protected Area at the McGuire Nuclear Site and operate under a state operating license. We decided we did not want the expense of setting up a neutron calibration facility. Initially the Central Calibration Facility only supported portable survey meters and air samplers. Today, we support these plus all site Fixed Contamination Monitors, SCBA Maintenance, Site Calibrator Preventive Maintenance (PM's) and Source Validation (Hopewell, Shepherd). We recently merged with Progress Energy and we are now supporting all portable survey instruments for the additional 3 sites (4 Units). We are in process of adding Fixed Contamination Monitor support for the Progress sites, as well. Currently, we perform this work with 2 Technical Staff and 7 Technicians. We still use 1 - 2 FTE's at each site to ship and receive instruments, place instruments in service at the site and perform routine Preventive Maintenance (PM's). The Central Calibration Facility performs more extensive PM's and repairs. The Central Calibration Facility was a good fit for Duke because Duke already had central labs for Chemistry, Dosimetry, Environmental, Metallurgy, and Calibrated Tools and Equipment. The Central Calibration Facility also provides shipping and receipt of Radioactive Material and Job Coverage for Primary Chemistry, Hot Calibrated Tools and Hot Metallurgy work. The main advantage the we see to the Central Calibration Facility is that it has allowed Duke to standardize instrumentation, processes and procedures across the fleet. We have also improved the overall quality of the repairs and calibrations. The Central Calibration Facility provides far more than an outside contractor could, due to fact that we do not just perform repairs and calibrations. We provide overall program management for the fleet programs including support for NRC, INPO and Nuclear Oversight (NOS) audits. We also support the other centralized labs for Duke. Finally, we make all capital RP instrumentation purchases for the fleet which allows us to leverage our purchasing power with manufacturers to obtain quantity discounts and reduce operating costs. There are people that can give us a calibration certificate. Duke's Central Calibration Facility provides much more. There was an initial cost justification performed based primarily on a reduction in FTE's for support of portable instrument repairs and calibrations. The program has grown far beyond the initial vision for the program and now provides overall program management, not just repairs and calibrations. We have not performed recent studies to compare our costs but this would be difficult, as no outside contractor could supply the overall benefit to the company that we provide. Sincerely, Bill Faulkenberry, NRRPT Senior Staff Scientist, EnRad Labs Duke Energy [EnRad Logo.jpg] 13339 Hagers Ferry Rd Mail Stop MG03A2 Huntersville, NC 28078 Office: 980-875-6893 Mobile: 803-627-4832 From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Rolph, James Thomas Jr Sent: Friday, February 06, 2015 5:34 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Powernet: Who performs the calibration/repair of RP Instruments at your site? *** Exercise caution. This is an EXTERNAL email. DO NOT open attachments or click links from unknown senders or unexpected email. *** We would appreciate any feedback we may get on this subject. 1. How does your site handle the repair and calibration of your portable and non-portable RP equipment? a. Performed by your site, b. by a fleet calibration facility, or c. sent offsite to a calibration service provider. 2. Has your site "outsourced" your RP instrumentation repair and calibration? a. If you had, did you find that the costs were higher or lower than originally expected. b. Is, what do you contribute that to? c. If you had the chance to make that decision again what would you do? 3. What do you see as the benefits of the why your site handles RP Instrumentation Calibrations. If your site has performed any studies and you are willing to share them, will you send me a copy. Have a great weekend everyone and thank you for your time? Best regards, Jim Rolph, CHP RP Technical Support Superintendent (423) 843-8115- Office (423) 593-0247- Cell
