News & Views

In this issue’s CEO Message, Mark Marano reflects on a year of significant growth for SI Solutions — three strategic acquisitions, targeted organizational investments, and a sharpened brand identity that puts clearer language to what the platform has always been built to do. From nuclear chemistry and pipeline inspection to process engineering and digital innovation, the additions strengthen an already deep bench. The articles that follow demonstrate that capability in practice across every market SI Solutions serves.

Socket weld failures from vibration-induced fatigue are a persistent challenge in operating plants. This article presents a cone shell support with polymer infill that combines structural stiffening with added damping. Developed through analytical screening and experimental validation with EPRI, the solution reduced vibration by up to 46 percent and cut equivalent stress at critical weld locations by 94 to 95 percent. The design is suited for retrofit applications.

When a component fails, how the failure event is documented and the evidence preserved can be as consequential as the laboratory analysis that follows. This article outlines practical guidance for engineers and plant personnel — from photographing failed components and collecting exemplar parts, to proper sample handling in the lab — to ensure a failure analysis yields defensible findings.

Semiconductor wafer fabrication demands temperature uniformity tolerances measured in fractions of a degree. This article examines how SC Solutions is applying physics-based digital twin technology to rapid thermal processing equipment, using Kalman filter banks and disturbance observers to detect sensor and actuator faults in real time, enabling predictive maintenance and reducing unscheduled downtime in chip fabrication facilities.

As small modular reactors and other advanced nuclear concepts move toward licensing and deployment, demonstrating structural reliability under the ASME BPVC Section XI, Division 2 Reliability and Integrity Management framework is increasingly critical. This article outlines how flaw tolerance analysis and Leak-Before-Break assessments, supported by SIA’s fracture mechanics tools and active participation in the ASME Code, provide the technical foundation for confirming component reliability.

Nuclear plants pursuing subsequent license renewal must demonstrate that buried piping and tanks will remain protected through an extended operating period. This article details how SIA evaluated and upgraded the underperforming CP system at Xcel Energy’s Monticello Nuclear Generating Plant, combining historical data review, field testing, and a hybrid impressed current design to raise protection coverage from roughly 50 percent to more than 85 percent without full system replacement.

Lap-welded pipe, primarily manufactured in the 1920s and 1930s, carries inherent manufacturing defects that conventional inspection techniques struggle to adequately assess. Working with PG&E, SIA developed a first-of-its-kind ECA methodology that combines fracture mechanics analysis and a customized phased array ultrasonic inspection protocol to evaluate these legacy assets under 49 CFR Part 192, providing a defensible alternative to full pipe replacement or hydrostatic retesting.

Fires in petrochemical facilities damage far more than what is immediately visible. This article draws on several recent Gulf Coast recovery projects to illustrate how C2C Technical Services combines rapid field mobilization with concurrent engineering support to develop replacement designs, revise documentation, and execute construction to restore electrical and instrumentation infrastructure for safe operation of critical process units.