Modernizing
the Nuclear
Industry
By John Connelly, Exelon Nuclear.
John Connelly
John Connelly manages the Capital
Projects Team at Exelon. The team's
charter is to
maintain technical
oversight of multi-
site digital upgrades,
management of
the cyber security
program and
ownership of the
digital and cyber
security processes for
the Exelon fleet.
An interview by Newal Agnihotri, Editor
of Nuclear Plant Journal, at the Utility
Working Conference in Amelia Island,
Florida on August 16, 2016.
1.
What drives the need for I&C
modernization at Exelon?
There are two principle drivers.
Improving equipment reliability and
managing obsolescence. There are many
collateral benefits of course but these are
the predominant drivers.
The capabilities of modern digital
I&C (DI&C) systems are exceptionally
compelling. We expend significant
resources maintaining our analog systems
to very high levels of reliability but we
invariably see significant performance
improvements when we move these
systems into the digital domain.
Digital systems are more fault tolerant,
reliable and open up
opportunities to apply
advanced
control
strategies that we
simply can’t achieve
in the analog domain.
Exelon has been
doing these types of
upgrades for decades.
When we compare
the performance of
digital systems to
the performance of
the analog systems
they replace, it’s not
unusual to see forced
loss rates fall by 80%
or 90%. It’s about
eliminating initiating
events. The bottom line is that digital
I&C further improves margins of safety
of very safe plants.
Equipment obsolescence is the other
driver. While this is a common theme
across the nuclear sector, the size of the
Exelon fleet, affords us a unique op-
portunity to address these issues using
a more holistic approach. Our strategy
is to develop standardized, best-in-class
solutions to common issues and imple-
ment them across our fleet. Examples
include Turbine Controls, Open Phase
Detection, Digital Voltage Regulators,
Feedwater systems, Reactor Recircula-
tion Adjustable Speed Drives (ASD’s)
and NSSS control systems to name a few.
We call this concept “Design One – In-
stall Many”. Because digital and cyber
security are obviously very closely re-
lated domains, the Capital Projects Team
also manages the cyber security program.
We apply the same concepts to our cyber
security implementation strategies and
modifications.
We derive a lot of benefits from
standardization, common procedures,
deeper bench strength, better vendor
engagement, and the ability to share
intellectual
resources
across
the
organization when necessary.
2.
What are the lessons learned from
major digital upgrades?
There are many. Rather than go into a
specific experience, I would rather speak
about our processes. We are a learning
organization. Even with standardized
solutions, each project we deploy provides
insights and improvement opportunities
that can inform successor projects.
Implementing standard solutions gives
us the opportunity to quickly and
efficiently incorporate these insights
both forward and backward – every site
ultimately inherits these performance
improvements. The flexibility of digital
technology is what enables us to do this.
3.
How is the organization structured?
The lead times for larger digital
projects can be as long as 48 months so
we are structured for scalability.
As digital upgrade projects move
into our Long-Term Asset Management
plans (LTAM), we assign a Corporate
Project Engineer with specific digital
expertise to work with the impacted
20
NuclearPlantJournal.com Nuclear Plant Journal, September-October 2016
Digital rod control logic cabinet
upgrade at Braidwood Station.
