PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
Date:
February 10, 2015
Contact:
Eric Yates
Newton Labs
425-251-9600
eyates@newtonlabs.com
Published In:
In-Tank Robot Deployment by Newton Labs at Palo Verde
Nuclear Generating Station Featured in Power Magazine
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON - The deployment of an underwater Inspector-series robot manufactured by Newton Labs has generated significant interest within media circles beginning with this week’s posting of an online and print Power Magazine article detailing a survey of the in-service, Unit 1 condensate storage tank at the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station.
The survey was conducted by IHI Southwest Technologies during the reactor’s fall outage and was part of a substantial move by the Arizona plant, the largest in the United States, toward fulfilling NEI 09-14 requirement for the inspection of water storage tanks.
The Power article cites Roger Fongemie, the Palo Verde department leader of engineering projects/underground piping, as explaining that several tank inspection options were initially considered, but they would have required diverting resources, such as emptying the condensate tank into portable storage units. However, because of outage schedule constraints, using an Inspector robot to accomplish the survey was the most operationally focused solution. The Power article states that the Inspector system successfully gathered all of the data needed to satisfy the NEI 09-14 requirements for that tank.
Power Magazine is one of several industry publications that have planned to circulate articles about the Inspector system’s survey capabilities, highlighting the robotic and non-contact measurement technology developed by Newton Labs, including underwater laser scanning. The recently posted online Power e-newsletter was the first to announce that the inspection took place at Palo Verde.
The multi-page Power article details the features and capabilities of the Inspector robotic system, including the nondestructive examination (NDE) devices and evaluation process used to gather and evaluate data on the condition of tank bottom plates and the precise location and state of defects.
The online Power e-newsletter can be seen at: http://www.powermag.com/robotic-inspections-of-nuclear-power-plant-storage-tanks/. For additional information on Inspector-series in-tank robots, visit: http://www.newtonlabs.com/robot_inspector_land.html
About Newton Labs
Seattle based Newton Labs is a privately held manufacturer of machine vision, robotics, laser scanning and optical automation with significant nuclear experience.
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. Over its more than 20 year history Newton Labs has deployed more than 30,000 machine vision, robotic, laser scanning and automation systems worldwide. ###