Problem:

Catawba Nuclear Facility, located near Rock Hill, SC and operated by Duke Energy, procured the service of our affiliate office Diamond Concrete Sawing & Diamond Subsurface Imaging to wire saw a 46" diameter hole through 2 feet of concrete inside the facility for the installation of a backup system. Because the enormous amount of concrete that had to be removed there was proper concern for the structural integrity of the wall after the cutting the large hole. The solution was to install two large metal plates on both sides of the concrete wall to reinforce the cut steel. To install this plate both sides were to be anchored together using through bolts. To avoid cutting any unnecessary steel the steel had to be located prior to core drilling 22 holes for the bolts.

Due to working in a secured environment no documentation of the job is made public.

Results:

A technician was sent to the nuclear facility to undergo proper training for the unique working conditions inside the plant. A SIR-20 and later a SIR-3000 unit was used to locate all steel on both sides of the 2' thick concrete wall. After all the steel was located, the information gathered by the GPR technician was sent to an in-house engineer at the facility to locate all 22 holes. After all of the holes were drilled no rebar was cut in the process.


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