Hydro Middle East team earns API certifications in record time

Though it usually takes between one and two years to receive accredation for an internationally recognized quality control program; through tireless effort and excellent teamwork, Hydro Middle East has managed to receive their accreditation in less than six months. Having an accredited QA/QC program is vital to attracting new business and this rapid implementation was necessary to ensure successful start-up phase for HME.

They began their quest in September, 2013 when they hired Haran, a metallurgist and welding engineer, as their QA manager. The brand-new team began to put together the systems, policies and procedures that formed the basis of their QA/QC program.

In February, the API (American Petroleum Institute) held an in-depth, four-day audit, the result of which was that the auditor recommended HME be awarded all of the certifications for which they applied.

According to HME’s director, Thomas Arakal, the results of this audit “represent a watershed in HME’s development as a professional service provider in the Middle East Market. To achieve such a recommendation from the API auditor after such a short period of operations is indeed a testament to our teamwork and of what can be achieved with vision, belief and perseverance.”

Hydro Inc. acquires Energy Repair Services

hydro_rockymountainHydro Inc. is pleased to announce the acquisition of Energy Repair Service in Denver, Colorado, as the latest addition to the Hydro fleet. The 27,500 sq. ft. facility will play an important role in providing pump aftermarket services to customers in the Rocky Mountain region in the Power, Pipeline, Refining, Chemical, and Mining industries. Jim Surkau will be the VP & GM of the new facility and lead the transition of the coworkers and facility.

ITT Goulds Pumps Partners With HydroAire Inc.

ITT_Goulds_Logo_0

ITT Goulds Pumps will be changing channel partners for the supply of Goulds Pumps to the nuclear marketplace. HydroAire Inc. based in Chicago, IL will be the provider of pumps, pump parts, and repair service effective January lst, 2014. Through the end of this year, we will transition responsibility from Enertech to HydroAire effective November 15th, 2013.

  • Orders for existing quotations provided to you by Enertech may be placed upon them through December 31st 2013.
  • New proposals can be provided by HydroAire for Goulds Pumps products beginning November 15th, 2013.

For more information or for service/support of your Goulds pumps, contact Faisal Salman at 312-738-3000.

Collaboration and Innovation Result in Efficient Outage

Written by: Paul Gray, Joe Alvey, and Jackson Simmons, Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant,
Brian Hegarty, Hydro East, Simon Daou, P.E., HydroAire

Publisher: Nuclear News / September, 2013

 

A Hydro East welder repairs the impeller of a Foster Wheeler circulating water pump.

 

 A Hydro East welder repairs the impeller of a Foster Wheeler circulating water pump.

During the 2012 refueling and maintenance outage at Unit 1 of the two-unit Calvert Cliffs nuclear power plant, near Lusby, Md., Hydro East, a subsidiary of Hydro Inc. based in Aston, Pa., supported the on-site overhaul of two large circulating water pumps. Used to supply cooling water to the plant, the Foster Wheeler vertical pumps are 8 ft 3 in. in diameter, 11 ft 5 in. tall, and weigh approximately 25,000 lb.

After the 2012 refueling outage was completed, Calvert Cliffs engineers and Hydro East’s field service team convened to discuss the project, review lessons learned, and generate plans for making the 2013 refueling outage at Unit 2 even more efficient and cost-effective. In preparation, the two groups reviewed the process that had been used in 2012 to remove, rebuild, and reinstall the Unit 1 circulating water pumps, which had been rebuilt on-site. Hydro East’s field service technicians reconditioned the impellers on location, and the Fort Smallwood Fabrication Shop gathered the other parts required to complete the rotating assemblies. The complete disassembly of an entire pump took four 12-hour
shifts, requiring one shift to clean all the reusable parts and another shift to flip and stage the parts. Each shift required a significant number of site resources as well—including security, a crane, and the crane operator—and because other tasks being performed during the outage required the use of some of these same resources, the field service technicians experienced substantial downtime.

To eliminate downtime caused by plant-induced delays—such as having to wait for the crane to become available or for spare parts to be machined—Calvert Cliffs decided to remove the Unit 2 circulating water pump rotating assemblies in one piece and send them to the Hydro East service center to be rebuilt. This plan enabled Calvert Cliffs to achieve cost savings by maximizing the availability of its internal resources and by reducing the number of shifts needed to remove
the pump assemblies from four 12-hour shifts to two. More important, lifting the assemblies in one piece eliminated two high-risk rigging activities for each pump.

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