Best-
Practice for
Operating
and New
Plants
By Jan Dudiak, Westinghouse Electric
Company.
Jan Dudiak
Jan “John” G. Dudiak is the vice
president of New Plant Automation
for Westinghouse
Electric Company.
He is responsible
for digital
instrumentation
and control (I&C)
systems for all
Westinghouse new
plant projects
worldwide including
digital I&C systems
design, fabrication,
testing and
commissioning.
Mr. Dudiak joined
Westinghouse in
1981 as an auxiliary
equipment engineer
and then became project manager for
upgrades of pumps and motors used in
commercial nuclear power plants. His
career continued in roles of increasing
responsibility and diversity, serving in
leadership positions in supply chain and
materials management, reactor services,
pump and motor operations, field
services and business strategy.
Mr. Dudiak holds a bachelor degree in
mechanical engineering from Carnegie
Mellon University.
Responses to questions by Newal
Agnihotri, Editor of Nuclear Plant
Journal.
1.
What changes will Westinghouse
recommend in USNRC’s guidelines for
digital equipment for safety-related
systems?
Westinghouse has worked closely
with USNRC over the years, and it is
no different now as they prepare the
guidelines for digital equipment for
safety-related systems.
We would certainly recommend that
any new guidance provides certainty for
digital instrumentation and control (I&C)
upgrades to utility owners. As part of that
recommendation, it would be our hope that
the guidance allows new failure modes that
may be introduced with digital systems to
be evaluated with coping studies within the
governing 10 CFR 50.59,
Changes, Tests
and Experiments
process. Currently, utili-
ties are required to go
through the licensing
amendment process
and it is time-con-
suming and expensive
for the utilities and
for the regulator.
Westinghouse
is actively involved
in the Nuclear En-
ergy Institute’s [NEI]
and Pressurized Wa-
ter Reactor Owners
Group’s efforts to
provide more guid-
ance to licensees on
performing 10 CFR
50.59
evaluations.
Once a revised set of
guidelines for the evaluations is issued, we
look forward to the NRC’s full engagement
in reviewing and endorsing the document.
A lack of certainty in the licensing process
on the part of utilities could cause owners to
delay upgrade decisions concerning these
systems while also struggling with potential
obsolescence of current components.
2.
How does Westinghouse help utilities
optimize the equipment performance by
advance warning of equipment problems?
Over time, Westinghouse has
innovated solutions for utilities that
optimize equipment performance and
provide advance notice of potential
problems. These include systems to
monitor loose parts in the primary loop
and also to monitor core barrel and reactor
coolant pump vibration and fatigue.
Westinghouse also has diagnostic tools
such as EnergiTools™, an online balance-
of-plant performance monitoring software
that identifies lost megawatts from
deficiencies in secondary side components.
Through our work supporting
AP1000
®
plant startup testing and power
operations, we have developed several
state-of-the art monitoring and diagnostic
systems. They include the IntegratedWork
Management (IWM) package, which
accesses data throughout plants to enable
real-time, data-driven decisions. The IWM
is a valuable tool for supporting reliability-
centered maintenance plans through which
maintenance activities can be performed
more efficiently and effectively, reducing
outage duration and cost.
Coupled with the IWM system,
Westinghouse has developed a scalable
“Big Data” platform to allow additional
wired and wireless sensors to be deployed
while using an open and modular
technology platform. This plant wide “Big
Data” collection technology, coupled
with powerful predictive monitoring
analytics, provides an unsurpassed view
into plant conditions.
3.
What are Westinghouse’s new
initiatives to bring digital technology to
the nuclear power plants?
In addition to the technologies just
discussed, Westinghouse established a
cyber security program that is integrated
with our Quality Management System
(QMS). The Westinghouse Quality
Program defines how the company meets
customer and regulatory requirements.
The QMS describes our quality program
and commitments for 10 CFR 50
Appendix B
Quality Assurance Criteria
for Nuclear Power Plants and Fuel
Reprocessing Plants
, and other nuclear
industry and international standards and
is approved by the NRC. Integrating
our cyber security requirements into the
QMS helps make sure that the cyber
security requirements of our customers
are met routinely through the products
and services we offer.
Additionally, in preparation for
assisting our customers in complying
with 10 CFR 73.54
Protection of Digital
Computer and Communication Systems
and Networks
, Westinghouse has created
actionable requirements for our safety and
non-safety digital system designers. These
steps result in a common understanding
of our customers’ regulatory-driven
24
NuclearPlantJournal.com Nuclear Plant Journal, January-February 2016
