Michell Bearings has repaired a set of white metal journal pads for a nuclear power station.

Technicians discovered damage to the cooling water pump’s journal pads during a routine maintenance check at a French power plant. With no serviceable spares, the technicians were under extreme pressure to commission the pump back into service.

When two sets of ex-service pads were discovered with various levels of white metal damage, the customer made arrangements to send the pads 800 miles via a dedicated delivery to our site in South Shields. The driver stayed locally whilst a recovery plan was formed.

Our repair team assessed the damage overnight and identified eight out of 16 pads that could be recovered quickly by hand. The remaining eight pads required a complete repair to remove the existing white metal, re-cast with new white metal, finished to the original drawing tolerances and standards.

The first set of pads were returned to the driver within 23 hours of receipt at Michell Bearings, allowing the customer to recommission a vital piece of equipment within a matter of days. The second set of pads were repaired by Michell Bearings on an urgent basis to provide the customer with the reassurance that they had a backup set of spares available.

The customer was pleased with the service received from Michell Bearings and the effort from our engineers to repair the journal pads.

Contact us to find our more information about our repair service or if you would like to make an enquiry.