Cost effective in situ small bore piping qualification for vintage power plants

Small bore piping for vintage power plants built in the late 60s and early 70s were field routed with minimal documentation. To evaluate the technical adequacy of a piping system, a field walkdown must be first made to identify the configuration. For an operating plant, this is a time consuming and expensive process, not only financially but also in terms of radiation exposure to personnel. Faced with such a substantive task, the plant owner needs to derive a technically sound yet cost effective solution. This paper describes an innovative and cost effective program that was successfully implemented on an early 1970 vintage power plant. The approach relied heavily on the experience and expertise of the engineers performing in situ evaluation and disposition of concerns. It preserved as much as possible the original design practice, but provided sufficient documentation to demonstrate the technical adequacy of the entire population after some modifications