Obsolete analog meters, or refurbished units still on the market and in many instrumentation and control rooms (I&C), have long posed a tedious challenge to operators looking to replace them. Often the arduousness of finding suitable replacements can also accrue higher expenses as newer technology demands higher operating costs. However, the most common problem operators… Read more »
Category: Modernization
Browns Ferry Nuclear Earns Recognition for Carbon Innovation
In keeping with the global movement toward clean energy, Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) Brown’s Ferry Nuclear Plant has been lauded for its three-year project that resulted in the plant being able to double its carbon-free energy output. The project allows TVA, which supplies energy to seven surrounding states across the Southeastern United States, to produce… Read more »
At the Edge of Midnight, the End of an Epoch
As midnight steals over the Prime Meridian and the sleepy emerald lawns of Greenwich, England wave in the opening seconds of April 6th, 2019, an invisible calamity will begin to unfurl across the globe. Slithering into the world’s banks, its tapestry of cellular towers stretching endlessly across spherical distances, its atmosphere of airplanes and drones,… Read more »
Digitization – A Necessary Connection
Whether we like it or not, the world is going digital. Gone are the quiet evening hours with books and a low lamp light, the limpid and soft hymns of nature floating to your ears atop an afternoon breeze, having a conversation with someone in the checkout line, the practiced beauty of listening to jazz… Read more »
Last Thoughts on Analog Obsolescence in the Nuclear Industry
Concluding our blog series on analog replacements in the nuclear industry, we come full circle with analog obsolescence. We know the players, the history, the finances, the politics, and above all else we know this—analog obsolescence is not going away. It has been growing like an unruly vine since the first digital panel meter emerged… Read more »
With an Eye Beyond Obsolescence
In February of 2013 executives at Duke Energy announced the closure of the Crystal River Nuclear Power Plant in Florida. This was due to engineering issues uncovered during the tendon detension process that resulted in large gaps within the concrete walls of the containment building. Originally commissioned in 1977, the powers that be decided that… Read more »
Hays Cleveland D03600 & It’s Future
Imagine you’re working in an I&C room with numerous meters and display panels strewn over every conceivable wall, and you need to perform daily checks. Does this five gauge meter look “easily readable from a distance” and do you trust that its “full size is used to assure big-gauge accuracy and sensitivity” as its datasheet… Read more »