Commissioning of the first U.S. hollow fiber condensate filtration system

Exelon Corporation's Oyster Creek Generating Station, a boiling water reactor (BWR), is the first nuclear plant in the U.S. to install and operate a condensate filtration system using HFF (hollow fiber filter) technology developed in Japan. Oyster Creek is a 640 MW (electric)/1 930 MW (thermal) General Electric BWR-2 (non-jet pump plant) with cascaded heater drains. The plant began commercial operation in 1969, and is one of the two oldest operating commercial BWRs in the U.S. Both noble metal chemical addition (NMCA) and hydrogen injection are used for intergranular stress corrosion cracking (IGSCC) mitigation, and depleted zinc oxide (DZO) is injected for drywell radiation field control. The HFF filters, which were installed in preparation for the operating license renewal, were commissioned in November 2007 and are designed to treat 3 639 m3 . h-1 (16 020 gallons per minute) using a total filtration surface area of 9 457 m2 (101 796 ft2). The particle retention rating of the hollow fibers is 0.14 μm, which is considerably smaller than the rating of 1-4 μm for filters commonly used in U.S. condensate filtration applications. System performance and monitoring results during the initial year of operation are reported, including the use of a special hollow fiber health monitoring sampling system. Feedwater and reactor water chemistry control and monitoring strategies and results are discussed, including the effects of the transition from the highest feedwater iron to among the lowest in the U.S. BWR fleet. The projected annual average feedwater iron concentration is < 0.010-0.034 μg . kg-1. Data on the impact of low iron operation on reactor coolant activated corrosion products and the ratio of 60Co(soluble)/Zn(soluble), the key parameter used to suppress drywell radiation dose rates, are presented. The zinc control strategy and results are presented, including the effect of low feedwater iron on the reactor water to feedwater zinc concentration factor. The potential need and strategy for future iron injection is also addressed. (orig.)