STP News Release

STP Stud Cleaning Machine Wins Major National Award

May 13, 1999 -- Wadsworth, Texas -- A machine invented by South Texas Project employees has won a national award from a leading nuclear industry professional organization. The invention – created and designed by STP Maintenance Supervisor John Griffin, and developed by mechanic/welder William Mikulenka and machinist Alan Plunkett – earned a Nuclear Energy Institute annual Process Award for significantly improving plant refueling operations.

The device mechanically cleans the massive bolts, or studs, that hold the head of a nuclear reactor in place. Before the Stud Cleaning Machine was invented, the task was a difficult manual one; each of the 72 studs in STP's two reactors is eight feet long and weighs 1,500 pounds.

Griffin conceptualized and designed the 12-foot-tall, nearly two-ton device, and managed its production. Plunkett and Mikulenka designed, fabricated and machined components and controls, and assembled and tested the machine.

The invention greatly reduces the labor and time needed to clean studs. The device has been successfully used in STP's refueling operations starting in 1997, and an application for a patent was filed after a global search determined that the machine is unique.

Although other stud cleaning devices exist, STP's machine has several features the others lack. It allows studs to be cleaned vertically, eliminating the work, time and risk of manually lowering them onto their sides using chains and an A-frame hoist. The machine also cleans two studs at once, twice the capacity of other devices, and reduces cleaning time from three or four hours to 20 minutes or less per stud.

In addition, the invention uses a cleaning agent in an enclosed system. Other cleaning devices entail manual brushing that generates airborne contamination. The Stud Cleaning Machine eliminates the contamination and its associated low-level waste of cleaning rags, pads and brushes. The STP machine also has a filtering system that removes contaminants from the cleaning agent, which is then recirculated and reused. This also pares the amount of waste generated during stud cleaning.

Together, the various improvements have reduced the labor needed for reactor head stud cleaning from 750 to 144 labor hours per outage. The task's timeline has been pared from more than five days to a single day, making a major contribution to safe, smooth and successful refueling operations. The associated cost savings, projected over the life of the plant, exceed $2 million.

The award will be presented at the Energy Assembly, the nuclear energy industry's annual conference, in Washington, D.C. on May 20. John Griffin and Florence Mangan, vice president of Business Services at STP, will accept the honor from Joseph Colvin, president and CEO of the Nuclear Energy Institute.

The South Texas Project, located between Bay City and Palacios, generates electricity for more than one million homes in Texas. STP is jointly owned by Austin Energy, Central Power and Light Company, the City of San Antonio and Reliant Energy HL&P.

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