Equipment Qualification

United Controls International continues to provide equipment and engineering solutions to both domestic and international Nuclear Power markets. UCI’s Engineering and Quality Assurance departments are focused on developing commercial grade dedication plans for safety-related parts, systems, and services in accordance with the most recent EPRI 3002002982 guidance. Our qualified testing personnel are trained to verify the critical characteristics to ensure that the item has the ability to perform its safety-related function when installed.

Over the years, UCI has dedicated thousands of components for the Nuclear Power Industry, some of which are listed below. Contact us to receive a quote for UCI to dedicate any of your simple or complex items!

Environmental

Our environmental simulations evaluate the ability for products to withstand various environmental conditions. We offer a variety of tests to assess different aspects of the equipment. Accelerated aging simulates the item’s lifecycle to determine if the product can function to its expected end-of-life. Accident testing evaluates the ability of the equipment to continue performing its desired function under specific conditions including radiation, LOCA, HELB, and thermal testing.

At UCI, we are pleased to help our customers meet all simple or complex nuclear generation requirements, which we will provide in accordance with the highest quality industry standards.

UCI uses in-house material testing capabilities to analyze design changes that might affect an item’s environmental qualification. We comply with the following standards:
  • IEEE 344, “Standard for Seismic Qualification of Equipment for Nuclear Power Generating Stations”
  • IEEE 323, “Standard of Qualifying Class 1E Equipment for Nuclear Power Generating Stations”
  • IEEE 383, “Standard for Qualifying Electric Cables and Splices for Nuclear Facilities”
  • IEEE C37.98, “Standard for Seismic Qualification Testing of Protective Relays and Auxiliaries for Nuclear Facilities”
  • EPRI TR-1021067, “Plant Support Engineering: Nuclear Power Plant Equipment Qualification Reference Manual, Revision 1”
  • EPRI TR-102323, “Guidelines for Electromagnetic Interference Testing in Power Plants”
  • NRC Reg Guide 1.89, “Environmental Qualification of Certain Electric Equipment Important to Safety for Nuclear Power Plants”
  • NRC Reg Guide 1.100, “Seismic Qualification of Electrical and Active Mechanical Equipment and Functional Qualification of Active Mechanical Equipment for Nuclear Power Plants”
  • NRC Reg Guide 1.211, “Qualification of Safety-Related Cables and Field Splices for Nuclear Power Plants”
  • NRC Reg Guide 1.213, “Qualification of Safety-Related Motor Control Centers for Nuclear Power Plants”
  • NRC Reg Guide 1.180, “Guidelines for Evaluating Electromagnetic and Radio-Frequency Interference in Safety-Related Instrumentation and Controls Systems”
  • NRC Reg Guide 1.164, “Dedication of Commercial Grade Items for Use in Nuclear Power Plants”
  • NRC Reg Guide 1.73, “Qualification Tests for Safety-Related Actuators in Nuclear Power Plants”
  • NRC Reg Guide 1.40, “Qualification of Continuous Duty Safety-Related Motors for Nuclear Power Plants”
  • NRC Reg Guide 1.210, “Qualification of Safety-Related Battery Chargers and Inverters for Nuclear Power Plants”

UCI’s Equipment Qualification team provides customer assistance in determining the type of testing needed and to what parameters they need the testing to meet. Customer and installed location requirements are documented in a Nuclear Qualification Test Plan (NQTP) with the results presented in a Nuclear Qualification Report (NQR). All testing is performed in accordance with industry standards and customer specification. Our testing capabilities enable us to meet the stringent demands of both mild and harsh environment installations and with our in-house seismic and environmental test equipment, UCI can provide a prompt response to emergent testing needs.

As part of UCI’s drive to create long-term customer relationships, we save the control samples from all past equipment qualification tests. These samples provide a baseline for future evaluations (detection of design and material changes) and may help eliminate the need for qualifying new equipment with the same specifications.

Seismic

In-house, UCI can evaluate components on their ability to withstand seismic events, such as an earthquake or vibration, onset by another piece of equipment. Every seismic test procedure is optimized per the equipment. The testing parameters are tailored to customer specifications including location and surrounding equipment. Customized seismic curves can also be implemented to refine the testing process and meet exact customer specifications. If more finite results are needed, UCI can perform Fragility Testing to determine at what capacity the equipment is able to endure the seismic event. UCI also has the ability to monitor Contact Chatter during the seismic test to verify that the item undergoing testing meets IEEE 344 or the customer specified requirements.

UCI has successfully qualified hundreds of components. We have the capability to qualify both individual components as well as large systems and structures. Smaller components are tested on our in-house seismic table, while simulations to design are applied to the larger equipment for testing. Our simulation to design capability provides a finite element analysis and offers various types of seismic evaluations.