The Background.
The boilers Heysham 1 (HYA) Power Station showed a significant quantity of iron oxide (rippled magnetite) deposition. The build-up of iron deposits led to significant operational issues. Problems associated with the iron deposits were restricted boiler tubes, boiler instability and excessive temperature distributions across the boilers causing a loss in output. The previous approach to recover the boilers was by a chemical cleaning process.
Chemical cleaning was proven to be a successful means of removing waterside deposition from the boilers. However, during operation post clean, the rate at which the deposit re-formed was much greater. Whilst one solution to the problem of deposit build up was to remove by further chemical cleaning; that only solved the problem and it did not address the cause. In addition it was considered that there is a limit on the number of cleans that can be performed, owing to the fact that the boiler tubes experience metal degradation on each clean.EDF initiated a project at Heysham1 to install DMA dosing at the site.
Nuclear Power Plants
years client relationship
MW supplied to the National Grid
EDF supplies 1/5th of the UK's electricity
The Client: EDF Energy
For more than 20 years, Booth Welsh has had a strong working relationship with EDF Energy which has seen our services being utilised across all eight nuclear power stations in the UK along with their headquarters in Barnwood.
EDF Energy are the UK’s largest producer of low-carbon electricity producing around one-fifth of the nation’s electricity from its nuclear power stations, wind farms, coal and gas power stations and combined heat and power plants.
Heysham 1 is an Advanced Gas Reactor (AGR) nuclear power station located in the North West of England nearLancaster it started generation in 1983 and is due to continue generating until 2024. The station supplies 1155MW to the National Grid.
The Solution.
Booth Welsh were selected to design and build three amine dosing cubicles. Each cubicle having a duty and standby solenoid operated pump and associated monitoring equipment. The cubicles provide a controlled flow of DMA to the boiler feed water pipework for Reactors 1 and 2.
Since the observation of metal loss, it was desirable to deploy countermeasures to reduce the rate at which deposits reformed. Ammonia was previously dosed to the boiler feed water system to limit waterside deposit formation, Dimethylamine (DMA) was then identified as a more effective chemical agent as it was moreeffective at inhibiting iron transport within the boiler. Cubicle design involved mechanical, electrical and instrumentation design engineers and resulted in the three cubicles being completed on time and on budget. Design, build and Factory Acceptance Testing was conducted at Booth Welsh’s IrvineHead Office Facility prior to shipping to site for installation.
The Benefits.
Design, specificationand build provided byBooth Welsh's in-houseengineering teams.
In-house professionalengineering, constructionand project managementservices provided
Successful projectdelivery