Endeavors
Shutdowns and Outages

MISTRAS’ consulting & non-destructive evaluation (NDE) services enable power plants to optimize spending on shutdowns and outages, reduce downtime, and ensure all necessary inspections and maintenance are completed safely and on budget.

Planned outages in nuclear, fossil, and combined cycle power plants give your facility an opportunity to complete important maintenance and repair work while production is paused.

But when it comes to plant shutdowns and outages, time is a resource. Shutdowns and outages that run over budget and past deadline can result in serious financial losses, along with the opportunity cost of keeping your plant offline for longer than expected. Drawn-out outages can also have serious effects on surrounding infrastructure.

MISTRAS’ asset protection teams help plant operators be better prepared for outage activities, and ensure outage inspection and repair activities are completed safely and efficiently.

Outage Inspection Services

MISTRAS offers NDE inspection services during both pre-shutdown planning and during the outages themselves.

Without sufficient inspection data, repair and maintenance services can be time-consuming, costly, and can miss hidden damages in critical assets. MISTRAS’ industry-leading inspection services help limit downtimes and optimize spending by identifying and locating damages in advance of planned outages, enabling more informed maintenance decision-making and targeted planning.

As many assets in hard-to-reach locations are not inspected as frequently as they should be, MISTRAS also deploys aerial drones and rope access technicians to accurately assess what maintenance work is required.

MISTRAS also conducts inspections during the actual outage or shutdown, because some assets can only be inspected while the unit is offline. We help ensure that all defects have been detected and are in queue to be repaired.

MISTRAS’ NDT inspection techniques include:

• Automated Ultrasonics (AUT)
• Corrosion Under Insulation (CUI) Special Emphasis Programs
• Digital Radiography (DR)
• Eddy Current (EC)
• Liquid Penetrant Testing (PT)
• Magnetic Particle Testing (MT)
• Radiographic Testing (RT)
• Ultrasonic Testing (UT)

Shutdown Inspection & Maintenance Planning, Prioritization, & Management

After reviewing pre-outage inspection and asset integrity data, MISTRAS’ engineering consultants help support plant operators in establishing shutdown schedules and implementing maintenance plans. We help you prioritize the inspection and maintenance work that will be required by focusing on the assets most at risk of consequential failure based on historical inspection data.

Our outage consulting services include:

• Balance of Plant (BOP) Services
• Buried Piping Assessments
• Certified Welding Inspector (CWI)
• Condition Assessment & Gap Analyses
• Flow-Accelerated Corrosion (FAC) Assessments
• Materials & Process Selection
• Outage Planning & Management Services
• Pipe Stress Analysis
• Third Party Quality Assurance (QA) Services
• Vendor Surveillance and Oversight

Power Plant Asset Condition Monitoring

After inspections, maintenance, and repair work are completed, MISTRAS consultants may recommend a continuous, online asset condition-monitoring solution. Monitoring solutions are especially useful for high-value assets that can lead to costly unplanned outages if they were to fail, or for assets that have a history of similar damages occurring.

MISTRAS offers monitoring solutions for:

• Boiler Tube Leaks
• High-Energy Piping (HEP) Cracking
• Gas Turbine Stator Vane Cracking
• Substation Reliability
• Through-Valve Leak Detection & Quantification

MISTRAS Outage Services Case Study

In supporting an outage for a large national utility, MISTRAS evaluated more than 15,000 welds of various diameters and thicknesses for weld quality and final code acceptance. MISTRAS techs used a combination of Computed Radiography (CR) and Phased Array Ultrasonics (PAUT) in lieu of traditional Radiography.

This comprehensive radiographic and ultrasonic inspection plan allowed the utility to shorten the schedule by 14 full production days, resulting in an estimated $14M in production cost and downtime savings.