Contact Info:
Robert J. Lofaro
(631) 344-7191
Lofaro@bnl.gov
Michael Villaran
(631) 344-3833
Villaran@bnl.gov
Energy Sciences
& Technology Department
Nuclear Energy &
Infrastructure Systems
Division
Brookhaven National
Laboratory is operated by
Brookhaven Science
Associates, a not-for-profit
research management
company, under
contract with the
U.S. Department of Energy.
www.bnl.gov
Typical cable specimen
Electric Component Test Facility
The Nuclear Energy and Infrastructure
Systems (NEIS) Division carries out
research on the aging of electrical
components
used
in
safety-related
applications at nuclear power plants.
Aging is a concern since any degradation
that may occur with time could lower a
component’s performance and so reduce
its reliability. If left unchecked, it could
increase plant risk.
The NEIS division has over 15 years
experience in assessing aging in these
risk-important electrical components and
systems to characterize the degradation
to which they are susceptible.
As part of these aging assessments, the
components under study sometimes are
tested to quantify the effect that aging has
on their performance (Figure 1). Testing
involves accelerating the rate of aging of
the components to simulate their long-
term exposure to service stressors, and
then measuring various indicators of the
components’ condition and performance.
Figure 1 Researchers review the results of a
cable test in the ECTF
To support
the
testing of electrical
components, the NEIS Division developed
and maintains the Electric Component
Test Facility (ECTF). The ECTF is a
state-of-the-art
research
facility
for
studying age degradation in electrical
components and
its effect on
the
component’s performance.
Convection ovens are available in the
ECTF to accelerate the thermal aging of
the equipment.
An environmental
chamber also is available to simulate
service conditions with varying levels of
humidity and temperature (Figure 2)