PITTSBURGH, June 13, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Westinghouse Electric Company demonstrated a landmark technological improvement in the industry's ability to take in-vessel measurements and track cycle-to-cycle degradation with the first deployment of a nuclear underwater laser scanner specifically designed to deliver precise measurements in underwater radiation environments typical of BWR and PWR vessel work.

The NM200UW laser scanner, developed and manufactured by Newton Labs, was deployed by a team of Westinghouse engineers at NextEra Energy's Duane Arnold Energy Center (DAEC) to scan critical areas of the steam dryer and separator, as well as document the as-left condition of a modification on the steam dryer.  This occurred during the site's scheduled refueling outage in October 2010.

"This demonstration marks an important step toward bringing simple and accurate measurements to an industry that has been limited in the past," said Jim Brennan, vice president of Westinghouse's Engineering Services business segment. "This laser scanning technology allows us to accurately and consistently capture precise measurements that are critical to the successful design of reactor internals modification and replacement hardware without the need for custom tooling."  

With a demonstrated accuracy of 0.005", the technology also will, in many cases, eliminate the need for less accurate measurement techniques such as video scaling or local area measurements performed remotely with a ruler attached to a handling pole.

Jim DuBay, the Westinghouse program manager, said, "It's exciting to see a technology that will eliminate one of the longstanding risks of performing reactor modifications, which is that limited information can be collected from a reactor component that can only be accessed remotely."  The underwater scanner produces a point cloud output that is used to generate a measurable 3-D computer-aided design (CAD) model. The technology's ability to accurately model critical features such as indications, welds, as-built conditions, and plant components will greatly reduce the risk of costly rework when a reactor modification is delivered to the customer.  "The ability to compare the actual component and the CAD model that our engineers are building will allow us to proactively identify and account for non-conformances that would have previously gone unnoticed until installation," DuBay noted.  

Westinghouse's successful implementation at Duane Arnold Energy Center demonstrated that the scanner can outperform traditional in-vessel survey techniques by producing accurate 3-D CAD renderings of numerous vessel components.

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 commercial PWR in 1957 in Shippingport, Pa.  Today, Westinghouse technology is the basis for approximately one-half of the world's operating nuclear plants, including 60 percent of those in the United States.

Newton Research Labs, Inc. is a privately held manufacturer of machine vision, robotics and optical automation with considerable expertise in the Nuclear Industry. An original spin-off of M.I.T., the company has for more than 18 years developed and marketed high-performance, computer-driven automation for industrial processes. Newton's products are designed to allow the quality, efficiency and cost effectiveness of computer technology to replace the human element in virtually every industry. Newton Labs has deployed more that 20,000 machine vision, robotic and automation systems world-wide. Additional information about Newton and its products may be found at http://www.newtonlabs.com.