David Smith

Program Manager-Balance of Plant Corrosion

NRC/Industry Meeting on Buried Pipe

April 25th, 2013 White Flint, MD

NEI - Buried Pipe Integrity Task Force

EPRI Buried Pipe Integrity Group Update 
© 2013 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved. 2

EPRI Buried Pipe Integrity Group (BPIG)

• Buried Pipe Integrity Group (BPIG) formed in 2008 

• Membership

– All US Nuclear utilities

– International members from Canada, France, U. K., Brazil, 

and Korea

• Provides:

– Forum for program owners to discuss buried pipe issues and 

exchange experiences (OE Sharing)

– Forum to obtain a consensus on industry issues and program 

practices

– Technical support on buried pipe issues, as well as support 

for related products including BPWORKSTM

– Related training

– Interface with Vendor Support

• Sponsor related R&D
© 2013 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved. 3

EPRI Buried Pipe Integrity Group (BPIG)

• The industry is actively engaged:

– Meeting attendance and participation is strong

February July 

2008 86 55 

2009 76 70 

2010 134 149 

2011 174 165 

2012 166 131 

2013 128 

– Discussions have followed the phases of the Initiative

• Early topics focused on programmatic issues

• Current topics on implementation and inspection

Numbers do not include EPRI Staff
© 2013 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved. 4

EPRI Buried Pipe Integrity Group (BPIG)

• Highlights from the February 2013 Meeting:

– NRC, NEI, INPO, ASME, NACE, and ANI Updates

– Utility Round Robin-Attendees discuss issues and successes

– Operating Experience presentations focused on inspection

• 8 detailed experiences related to piping

• 2 experiences related to tanks

– NDE Technology Updates for piping and tanks

– EPRI Project Updates

• Fire testing of HDPE

• Update to the Buried Pipe Reference Guide

• Assessment Management Plan Guidance

• Buried Pipe Lessons Learned

• Buried Pipe Inspection Results Database (BPIRD)
© 2013 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved. 5

Buried Pipe Inspection Results Database

• Developed to compile and share inspection results

– Good data as well as bad data

– Help determine where to inspect

– May provide basis for optimized inspections

• NEI 09-14 requirement for reporting results

– Updates provided at BPIG meetings

• Results to date (February 2013)

– Total of 2599 inspection records

948

195

331

1125

0

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

3,000

Summer 2011 Winter 2011 Summer 2012 Winter 2012
© 2013 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved. 6

2013 BPIRD Charts 

• Reasons for Inspection:

0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800

Unknown

<Q2-2010

Q2-2010

Q3-2010

Q4-2010

Q1-2011

Q2-2011

Q3-2011

Q4-2011

Q1-2012

Q2-2012

Q3-2012

Q4-2012

Q1-2013

Number of Inspections

Quarter

Inspection Reasons By Quarter

Total Number of Inspections: 2599

Increasing Sampling

Leak discovery

License Renewal Commitment

Not Reported

Operator Experience (OE)

Opportunity

Other

Prioritized UPTI Inspection

(blank)
© 2013 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved. 7

2013 BPIRD Charts (continued) 

• Inspection Method: 

Broadband Electromagnetic 

(BEM) 4%

Guided Wave Testing (GWT) 

13%

Leak 1%

Other Technology 15%

Over the Line Survey 

Pressure Test 3% 0%

Pulsed Eddy Current 0%

Repair 1%

UT Thickness (UT) 26% Unknown 0%

Visual ID 9%

Visual ID w/Crawler 3%

Visual OD 21%

Inspection Method % by Number of Inspections
© 2013 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved. 8

2013 BPIRD Charts (continued) 

• Diameters of Pipe Inspected: 

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

0" to 2" 2" to 4" 4" to 8" 8" to 14" 14" to 20" 20" to 30" 30" to 50" 50" to 80" 80" to 160"

Number of Inspections

Diameter

Diameter of Inspections as Function of Number of Inspections

Broadband Electromagnetic (BEM) Guided Wave Testing (GWT) Leak Other Technology

Over the Line Survey Pressure Test Pulsed Eddy Current Repair

Unknown UT Thickness (UT) Visual ID Visual ID w/Crawler

Visual OD
© 2013 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved. 9

2013 BPIRD Charts (continued) 

• Resistivity/pH by Fill Type: 

500 2,400

12,081

17,000 17,475

27,555 27,585 28,840

33,218

37,876

42,094

127,500

3.9

9.0

7.6

5.7

4.5

8.1

6.0

7.6

7.0 7.2

7.6

9.4

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

0

20,000

40,000

60,000

80,000

100,000

120,000

140,000

pH

Resistivity (Ohm-cm)

Type of Fill

Resistivity/pH by Type of Fill

BPIRD Final Dataset

Average Resistivity

Average pH
© 2013 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved. 10

EPRI’s Cathodic Protection User Group (CPUG)

• CPUG was formed in 2011

– Forum for program owners to discuss CP issues and 

exchange experiences (OE Sharing)

– Obtain a consensus on industry issues and program 

practices

– Interface with Vendor Support

– Support related R&D

• Meets once per year in conjunction with BPIG

– 3 web casts/year (May, Aug, Nov)

• New Proposed Projects

– CP performance criteria (Health Reports)

– Qualification recommendations for CP personnel
© 2013 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved. 11

EPRI’s Cathodic Protection User Group (CPUG)

• Highlights from the February 2013 Meeting:

– Industry updates from NRC, INPO, and NACE

– CP system presentations associated with monitoring, test stations, 

troubleshooting and understanding the survey results

– Operating experience presentation on CP system Upgrade

– EPRI Cathodic Protection related Project Updates

• Cathodic Protection Maintenance Guide 

• CP System Design Specification

• CP Criteria for Nuclear Power Plants

• CP System Recommendations Document

• Evaluation for Installing CP at Nuclear Plants

• Buried Pipe Reference Document Update

• CP System Engineer Training Course Outline Review
© 2013 Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved. 12

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