France’s Framatome has launched “a suite of new protective coatings approved for use in plant applications that reduce maintenance costs and extend the operating life of components and equipment across the energy sector, including in nuclear power plants”.
The QuarTecTM coatings "minimise the adherence of radiological contaminants to the surface of components and equipment while also reducing the accumulation of aquatic growth common in underwater environments without affecting plant chemistry systems," Framatome said.
The quartz hydrophobic technology makes the components and equipment easier to maintain and less costly to clean.
Framatome has signed a contract with US utility Dominion Energy to complete the industry’s first application of the QuarTec solution to address biofouling concerns associated with the emergency service water pump at the Surry Power Station in southeastern Virginia, which hosts two 800MWe pressurided water reactors. Framatome said it had tested the QuarTec protective hydrophobic coatings during the spring 2018 outage in an operating nuclear plant the USA and confirmed their capabilities through third party validations over the past three years.
Photo: Surry nuclear plant in Virgina