A subsequent onsite demonstration confirmed the team's initial opinion that the retrofit device was the outstanding choice. Bell & Howell, a Screen Scan distributor, illustrated how the department's rnicrofilm reader/printers could be transformed into quality digital work stations by replacing existing records at Coo screens with high resolution scanning and image-enhancement modules.

Among the many reasons the product was chosen, the most compelling was its ability to improve the quality of document images, according to McLaughlin. "Many of our microfilm rolls are old with poor quality original documents. ScreenScan immensely improved copy quality compared to reader/printer copies." The system was also much less expensive than stand alone hybrid systems and offered the versatility we were looking for, noted McLaughlin.

Problem

The Nuclear Records Section of Cook Nuclear Plant is responsible for all document control and records management for the plant. This includes document responsibility for the American Electric Power Nuclear Organization Division in Columbus, Ohio. The Nuclear Records Management Section serves 12 departments with approximately 800 rolls of active microfilm, representing approximately eight million pages of long-term records. These include work orders, radiation related documents, condition reports, quality assurance audits, plant engineering and plant maintenance documents. All of these records must be kept for the life of the power plant, even though some of the hard copies received for filming are of poor quality. "The Micrographics Section does not have the option of refusing a record which has been accepted by the Records Management Section as the master record," explained McLaughlin.

The Micrographics staff is equipped with a Kodak Imagelink Microimage 70 Carnera and two Canon 780 FSII reader/printers and one Bell & Howell 7700 Reader Printer. McLaughlin said sometimes it was possible to enhance the microfilm copy of a poor quality paper document by manually adjusting for contrast. Frequently however the images were still not acceptable.

When microfilmed images were deemed unreadable after quality assurance checks, the original hard copy records had to be retained in an offsite storage facility, NUS (National Underground Storage). Prior to installation of ScreenScan, hard copy storage was required for approximately five percent of microfilmed images termed unreadable after the first filming. "Attempting to get a legible copy from reader/printers, as well as pulling and boxing the substandard records and sending them to long-term storage was a time-consuming. process," said McLaughlin.

Solution

The main goal of incorporating an imaging system was to improve the quality of records and department efficiency. Chenosky was allotted a budget of $106,000 for purchase of equipment, which was the estimated cost of a standalone hybrid system and replacement of one of the older reader/printers.

Before deciding on ScreenScan, the department performed extensive research and -product demonstrations on available imaging products and hybrid systems. "ScreenScan offered us the greatest flexibility. As a result we were able to keep our existing equipment. We can still print paper, digitize and print, or, in the near future, send images to designated locations within the plant," said Chenosky.

The retrofit system also allowed Chenosky to make the transition at a cost far below the amount originally budgeted, with many added benefits that were not originally anticipated. "Because ScreenScan was much less expensive than a stand-alone system, we were able to purchase three ScreenScans complete with software (to attach to two existing computers,) three new PCs, five CD-ROM Drives, and replace one reader/printer for approximately $60,000." said Chenosky. Each PC now has CD-ROM capabilities. Two of the computers now have two CD-ROM drives each,,one for the master index and one for accessing regulatory information. Because of the cost savings provided by ScreenScan, customers can now conveniently access utility regulations and other library services quickly and easily.

The system is currently connected to Cook's LAN system, and Chenosky said the network will be used to its full capability in the future to transmit requests to distant locations digitally.

Recent evaluation show that the percentage of poor quality records that require hard copy back-ups has been reduced from five percent to under one percent with ScreenScan.

This saves substantial labor costs for preparing substandard records for storage, and saves on storage costs. This efficiency is particularly advantageous when thousands of images a day must be accessed during plant outages, or when responding to requests from the NRC.

"We're very pleased with ScreenScan's performance, and we've received positive comments from the customers we serve," said Chenosky.