wiredInUSA - April 2014
86
Novinium will provide nuclear power plants
with a safe and cost-effective method of
extending the life of underground cable
infrastructure.
Areva will offer Novinium’s Ultrinium™
fluid using its patented sustained pressure
rejuvenation injection method for nuclear
power plant applications. Novinium’s cable
rejuvenation technology restores the full
dielectric strength of a cable, and is said to
extend the life and reliability of the cables
for a further 40 years at a fraction of the
cost and time it would take to replace it.
“At Areva, we take every opportunity to
better serve our utility customers,” said Tom
Franch, senior vicepresident of reactors and
services at Areva Inc. “With Novinium as a
partner, our customers will have access to
a technology that can improve the safety,
performance and long-term reliability of
their cable infrastructure, an important
consideration when renewing licenses at
nuclear power plants.”
Conductor with composite core
The specialty materials company, Celanese
Corporation, and cable producer Southwire
Company LLC have worked together
to introduce introduced a new option
for utility transmission lines. The new C7
TM
overhead conductor has a multi-stranded
composite core of Celanese’s Celstran
®
continuous fiber reinforced-thermoplastic
rods (CFR-TPR).
“Designed for utilities that want greater
flexibility, reliability and ease of installation,
the C7 overhead conductor uses Celstran
technology. That involves an innovative
combination of carbon fiber and a
heat-resistant Fortron
®
PPS (polyphenylene
sulfide) matrix…capped with a layer of
high performance PEEK (polyether ether
ketone),” said Michael Ruby, Celanese
global composites business manager.
“This combination of materials provides
distinct
advantages
compared
to
alternative high temperature low sag (HTLS)
technology and conventional conductors.”
The
Celanese/Southwire
developed
transmission conductor is said to deliver
almost double the capacity of the
same diameter aluminum conductor
steel-reinforced (ACSR) conductor, and
exhibits less sag. The design allows for
minimum sag at higher power transfer, and
the stranded Celstran core means there is
no single point of failure for the overhead
conductor.
Roll out the wire barrel
A
multi-conductor
wire barrel packing
system from Cerro
Wire is said to
greatly
facilitate
the installation of
branch circuit wire.
Designed for easier
handling for the contractor, it has a smaller
footprint and there is less material handling
than using individual reels on a wire cart.