Recent Applications Of PII’s Integrated Event Investigation Technology

  • In 1998, PII was selected by the California Public Utilities Commission to investigate the San Francisco blackout event.
  • In 1999, PII was selected by the government of Taiwan to investigate the Taiwan countrywide blackout event.
  • In 2000, PII was selected to investigate the organizational and programmatic causes of thebonfire collapse event at Texas A&M University.
  • In 2007, PII was selected by Kansas Light and Power to investigate a two-fatality pipe rupture event at Iatan Power Station.
  • In 2008, PII was selected by American Electric Power, DC Cook Nuclear Power Plant to investigate the turbine blade failure event that resulted in damage to two low pressure turbines and the turbine rotor. In an April 2009 publication to all nuclear plants on the root causes and lessons learned from the DC Cook turbine failure, the prominent nuclear industry body, Institute for Nuclear Operations (INPO) recommends the use of respected independent third parties to perform complex root cause investigations. In the INPO SER 1-09 publications related to the DC Cook Root Cause evaluation (performed by PII), it states: “Consider using a respected independent party to conduct root cause evaluation. In this [the DC Cook] case, the root cause evaluation conducted by a private expert contractor added credibility to this investigation.”
  • In 2008, PII was selected by Pic World to investigate a fatality event at Mississippi Power and Light involving the collapse of a 170-ft scaffold.
  • In 2009, PII was selected by American Electric Power to investigate three injury events and to identify the most cost-effective ways to prevent recurrences.
  • In 2009, PII was selected by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to investigate causes for unplanned outages after plant re-commission and to prevent recurrences.
  • In 2010, PII was selected by Progress Energy to investigate the containment delamination issue, which is considered one of the most costly events in the nuclear power industry. PII’s root cause analysis was reviewed and accepted by the NRC without adverse comments or revisions.
  • In 2011, PII was selected by PPL to help investigate multiple turbine blade cracking issues.