During nuclear refueling outages, it is important to move quickly and safely, but also to protect vital equipment while doing maintenance tasks. In boiling water reactors (BWRs), the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) flange is one component that can be damaged during maintenance but doing so can lead to additional maintenance and costly setbacks. Preferred Engineering’s Lightweight Disposable Flange […]
Amazon’s $8B Deal Spotlights Backup Power
Investments in reliable backup power are skyrocketing. A recent Data Center Dynamics article reports that Generac has signed a long-term agreement with Amazon to supply up to $8 billion in backup generators for its data centers. Initial deliveries are expected to total approximately $2.4 billion over the next two years. The announcement demonstrates just how critical emergency power […]
Preferred Utilities Announces Upgrade to the Fuel System Controller, FSC-120
Preferred Utilities announces FSC-120-B, an upgrade to its FSC-120 Fuel System Controller. The FSC-120-B offers stronger performance, better connectivity, and improved safety. The FSC-120-B, upgraded from the FSC-120 Fuel System Controller, is designed to monitor and control emergency generator fuel oil supply, pumping, and storage systems. It provides faster processing, quicker reporting, and has a larger memory capacity, […]
Two Burners, One Heater, Zero Wasted Space
Preferred recently completed a combustion and controls package for a cryogenic facility in Canada. The scope covered burners, burner management and combustion controls, power distribution, and fuel gas piping for a dual-chamber water bath heater, all designed, built, and supplied by Preferred as a single integrated system. Project at a glance Burners and heater configuration Water bath heaters […]
Answering the Call: Morning, Noon or Night
Another round of equipment just left our facility in Danbury, CT: pump skids, day tanks, flow control manifolds, jockey skids, and filtration skids, all headed to yet another data center client. It’s become a familiar sight on our shipping floor, and there’s a good reason for that. Data centers don’t get to have a bad day. When a […]
How Fuel Quality Disrupts Filtration & Circulation
As seen in Facility Management. The fuel oil system is fundamental to the proper working of your facility’s burner. When your facility places a fuel oil system service call due to low flow, the first component blamed is often the pump. This is understandable since the pump moves the fuel; a circulation problem could indicate that the pump […]
Streamline Your RPV Head Installation
Anytime you can streamline a process during a nuclear outage is a win. It often leads to reduced critical path time and lower worker dose – both top priorities. This is exactly Preferred Engineering’s goal when we design new tools. The RPV Nut and Washer Centering Tool is one of those tools designed to support both reduced critical […]
Nuclear Power is on the Rise
In a blog post last month, we talked about a pledge by the World Nuclear Association to support tripling global nuclear capacity. Just a few days ago, the International Atomic Energy Agency released a report discussing energy consumption and projections, including the graphic above. (Attribution: INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY, Energy, Electricity and Nuclear Power Estimates for the Period […]
A Simpler Approach to Reactor Cavity Sealing
The Preferred Engineering Cavity Seal System provides nuclear facilities with a practical solution for sealing the reactor annulus while simplifying installation and verification. The system uses segmented EPDM extrusions that are custom-made to fit your reactor annulus. Polished stainless-steel cover plates work with stainless-steel J-bolts and cam-actuated toggle nuts to compress each seal securely. Unlike systems that depend […]
Tripling Nuclear Capacity Requires Excellent Maintenance Solutions
Over the last couple of years, AI hyperscalers like Meta, Google, Amazon, and Microsoft have all been investing in both extending existing nuclear facilities and expanding new nuclear generation, presumably to support the data center growth that makes their businesses possible. Last year, a cross-industry group of large energy users (including Google, Amazon, and Meta) signed a pledge […]