Nuclear Plant Journal, January-February 2016 NuclearPlantJournal.com
1
Identify
Operating
Efficiencies
• Proposed improvement opportunities
distributed to companies via
‘efficiency bulletins’
• First bulletins do not require changes
to NRC regulation, industry guidance
• Industry asks workforce to identify
further efficiency gains
The nuclear industry has issued
the first four efficiency bulletins as part
of a multiyear campaign to increase
operational effectiveness at the nuclear
power plants that generate electricity
for one of every five U.S. homes and
businesses.
These bulletins are the first actions
to emerge out of the industry initiative
known as Delivering the Nuclear
Promise: Advancing Safety, Reliability
and Economic Performance. They detail
concrete steps that companies can take to
operate their plants more efficiently while
advancing safety and reliability.
“As an industry, we have steadily
improved safety and reliability, but the
one promise we are not consistently
delivering is economic production of
electricity,”NEI SeniorVice President and
Chief Nuclear Officer Tony Pietrangelo
says. “As part of this campaign, we must
maintain operational focus and advance
safety, increase value and improve
efficiency.”
Led by chief nuclear officers from
the nuclear utilities, 10 working groups
of industry experts, the Electric Power
Research Institute, the Institute of
Nuclear Power Operations and NEI have
identified 36 improvement opportunities
to pursue this year. Together, these
improvement opportunities will increase
efficiency at plant sites.
The first four bulletins address
opportunities to gain efficiency in work
management and radiation protection
practices. These initial efficiency
bulletins will not require changes to
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
regulation or industry guidance. Future
efficiency opportunities will focus on
more significant areas that will provide
greater efficiency and cost savings across
the industry.
“In many cases, we started with a
blank sheet of paper to determine how we
could best redesign a process and whether
there were technological innovations
that could be applied to the process,”
Pietrangelo adds.
“We
want
broad
industry
participation in this program, and we will
leverage the strengths and innovation
of our workforce to encourage fresh,
bold ideas and not just tweak current
processes. Once we understand where
we may be able to reduce costs, we will
determine the regulatory or business
changes that need to be made to pursue
those changes.”
The initial bulletins will recommend
changes that can be implemented in the
near term at plant sites to realize time
and cost savings. The pace and scope of
implementation at each nuclear power
plant site will be determined by plant
licensees so that the focus remains on
producing electricity safely without
undue distraction, Pietrangelo says.
The first four bulletins are:
• Eliminate Administrative Changes
to Preventive Maintenance Work
Orders (WM-P-03);
• Implement Graded Approach to
Walkdowns (WM-P-04);
• Align Personnel Contamination
Event Response to IndustryGuidance
(RP-1); and
• Source Checking Personnel and Tool
Contamination Monitors (RP-5).
“These first bulletins are designed
to be implemented as soon as reasonably
feasible. We encourage sites to put them
into action as soon as they can, given their
other standing commitments and existing
substantial workloads.
“Nuclear facilities are the industry
leaders in providing reliable electricity.
This plan will ensure that safe and
reliable operations continue to be the
primary focus at all nuclear power plants
as the industry implements efficiency
improvements.”
Anthony R. Pietrangelo
Tony Pietrangelo has 30 years
experience in the nuclear energy industry,
where his responsibilities have run the
gamut of nuclear plant construction,
licensing and operations.
Tony has been with the Nuclear
Energy Institute (NEI) and its predecessor
organizations since 1989, responsible for
the management of licensing, risk-informed
regulatory initiatives, performance-based
regulation and other comprehensive
technical, regulatory issues. He was
promoted to vice president of regulatory
affairs in 2006 and is currently responsible
for executive oversight of new plant
deployment, current plant operations and
fuel cycle activities.
Contact:
Nuclear Energy Institute,
1201 F
St., NW, Suite 1100, Washington, DC
20004-1218 phone: (202) 739-8000, fax:
(202) 785-4019, email:
,
website:
.
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