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QUEST, Integrated, Inc., of Kent, Washington has used DOE SBIR 

 funding to develop ultra-high pressure water jet systems that have 

 significantly reduced the time to clean, decontaminate, and 

 maintain coolant pumps inside nuclear reactors. QUEST developed 

 a high-pressure nozzle that effectively equalizes the water 

 pressure external to the water jet and allows the water jet to cut 

 and clean deep underwater. QUEST also devised a robotic system 

 that is lowered inside the reactor tank, where it locates 

 reference elements on the reactor jet pumps, automatically 

 deploys the high-pressure nozzle and cleaning head inside the 

 piimp, and cleans the pump in-situ. The system has been used in 

 reactors in the United States, Japan, and Taiwan. Service time 

 has been greatly reduced, and cooling capacities have been 

 significantly improved. Over $6 million in commercial sales have 

 been registered. QUEST has grown from 65 to 115 employees over 

 the past two years. A significant part of this growth is due to 

 the commercial nuclear services business based on the technology 

 developed in the DOE SBIR program. 



Under an SBIR grant from DOE, LSR Technologies, Inc., of Acton, 

 Massachusetts developed a novel particulate control device called 

 a Core Separator. It functions by means of inert ial separation 

 and has achieved higher performance than any other device of its 

 kind. It is particularly well-suited to the combustion of coal 

 and biomass fuels which contain significant quantities of mineral 

 natter. In the U.S., for example, annual expenditures to control 



