Nuclear Plant Journal, January-February 2016 NuclearPlantJournal.com
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requirements. By using a requirements-
based approach, Westinghouse can show
how our cyber security solutions meet any
regulatory-driven customer specification
or industry standard.
Westinghouse is deploying cyber
security systems with upgrades to digital
control systems. Just as we are using
new experience gained through startup
testing and operations at our new plants
to assist operating plants, lessons learned
and operating experience from these
upgrades to our operating plants will
be incorporated into the AP1000 cyber
security monitoring systems.
4.
How did Vogtle 3 & 4 benefit from
Sanmen Construction Experience in
ensuring expedited closure of Inspections,
Tests, Analyses, and Acceptance Criteria
(ITAAC)?
ITAAC are a first-of-a-kind U.S.
regulatory requirement and are used to
verify that the plant has been constructed
and will operate in accordance with the
design and combined license. All ITAAC
must be closed before fuel loading and
plant startup. While ITAAC are not part
of the regulatory code in China, similar
activities and documentation are used for
the same purpose.
Westinghouse’s AP1000 Nuclear
Power Plant construction experience
at the Sanmen Nuclear Power Station
has proven very beneficial to our U.S.
plant construction. The practices and
lessons learned from Sanmen are being
used by the Vogtle 3 & 4 ITAAC project
team in planning and performing the
inspection, testing, and analysis activities
and producing the documentation
necessary for determining that the
ITAAC acceptance criteria have been met
in full and notifying the NRC of these
conclusions.
5.
How did Vogtle 3 & 4 benefit from
Summer Construction Experience in
ensuring expedited closure of ITAAC?
Approximately 95 percent of Vogtle
Units 3 and 4 ITAAC are common to
the AP1000 Standard Plant design. This
allows the Vogtle 3 & 4 ITAAC project
team to work very closely with their
Summer Units 2 & 3 counterparts to
ensure consistency and best practices
exchange while performing inspection,
testing and analysis activities, and for
developing the associated technical
documents used for closure of the
Standard Plant ITAAC.
The sharing of information and
best practices between the Vogtle and
Summer ITAAC project teams, and the
use of common processes, extends to
ITAAC-related assessments of corrective
action process issues, design changes,
construction non-conformances, and
planned work that could potentially
have a material impact on the ITAAC
acceptance criteria being met. It is this
open dialogue that ensures both Vogtle
and Summer projects are implementing
ITAAC in the same way under 10 CFR 52
Licenses, Certifications, and Approvals
for Nuclear Power Plants
.
6.
Provide an example of two most
challenging safety-related construction
ITAAC resolved by Vogtle 3 & 4.
ITACC were designed to perform
a good scrub of the quality of the plant
construction through multiple aspects
such as engineering, procurement,
construction and testing. Each area
has its own challenges, which drove
development of robust programs to ensure
quality implementation. We continue to
learn as we move forward and implement
lessons learned to our processes.
7.
What were the major challenges
in installation and testing of digital
equipment related ITAAC?
There are always opportunities to
learn when implementing new systems.
Fortunately, Westinghouse has facilities
at a variety of phases of construction
and we are able to learn processes from
each. Through deliberative project
management, the Vogtle 3 & 4 ITAAC
project team proactively identifies
weaknesses in the organizational
interface while ITAAC equipment was
installed and tested. The cross-functional
team successfully modified procedures
and practices to avoid stumbling blocks to
successful ITAAC closure. This thinking
has made the project better prepared for
upcoming digital equipment installation
and testing activities at the site in support
of ITAAC closure.
Contact: Donna Ruff, Westinghouse
Electric Company, telephone: (412) 374-
4705, email:
