Westinghouse Innovation Doubles Life of Nuclear Reactor Coolant Pump Seal O-Ring

August 19, 2015 | By Business Wire News

PITTSBURGH

Westinghouse Electric Company announced a new Compound D – Extended Life O-ring for Westinghouse-designed reactor coolant pump (RCP) seals. 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 Westinghouse Compound D O-ring will 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.

Westinghouse Electric Company, a group company of Toshiba Corporation (TKY:6502), is the world’s pioneering nuclear energy company and is a leading supplier of nuclear plant products and technologies to utilities throughout the world. Westinghouse supplied the world’s first pressurized water reactor in 1957 in Shippingport, Pa., U.S. Today, Westinghouse technology is the basis for approximately one–half of the world’s operating nuclear plants.