Measurement Uncertainty Recapture (MUR) Power Uprates entail improvements to feedwater mass flow measurement technology and devices, through ultrasonic flow metering, to significantly reduce the degree of uncertainty associated with feedwater flow measurement and, in turn, provide for a more accurate calculation of thermal power.
In the two decades since the MUR uprates were implemented, power plants have recorded down powers because of instrument failure. Common issues are due to ultrasonic flow meter or fouling of the differential pressure flow meter and erroneous plant feedwater flow metering.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has updated regulations that permit licensing using uncertainty in the safety analysis allowance consistent with that determined in these improved calculations. Lowering the uncertainty can result in uprates up to 2%. Associated increases in revenue numbers are in the millions, with potentially no additional instrumentation required to be installed.
GSE has helped multiple sites in the US to correct for conservative bias error in the final feedwater flow rate measurements due to venturi/nozzle fouling, which allows the unit to recover lost generation.
GSE also offers Data Validation and Reconciliation (DVR) services and TSM Enterprise. These solutions can integrate seamlessly with our DVR modeling processes and other software tools already in use at your plant. These solutions provide analysis and reporting of plant thermal performance, helping to reduce staffing, errors, and costs in operations.
GSE Solutions has extensive expertise and proven software tools to create data reconciliation models of numerous nuclear reactor plants. These models were built to modernize facilities, increase generation output, and improve thermal performance.
Topical Report (TR): Data Validation and Reconciliation (DVR) for MUR is free for EPRI members.
GSE experts contributed to the NRC-approved EPRI Topical Report on Data Validation and Reconciliation (DVR) for Measurement Uncertainty Recapture (MUR). With this expertise, we help reduce uncertainties in core thermal power measurements, enabling MUR uprates of up to 1.5%.