July-August 2019 NPJ

22 NuclearPlantJournal.com Nuclear Plant Journal, July-August 2019 react in different environments, and what their performance characteristics are. And here’s an opportunity where freedom to fail – in a virtual environment – could really accelerate learnings. The capabilities are out there today to build these digital twins of components in the systems and actually use those to optimize performance. The industry just has to take actions to deploy them. Advanced manufacturing – powder metallurgy, hot isostatic pressing, digital printing – these processes will allow the industry to make components better and without welds. It will allow the industry to increase the speed of fabrication while reducing the cost. As an example, EPRI’s Advanced Nuclear Technology program has begun demonstrating advanced manufacturing technologies at significant scale that could enable reactor pressure vessel fabrication in less than 12 months with a 40% cost savings. So the technology exists, it’s just not yet widely accepted in the nuclear industry, but it’s ready today to deploy for vessels, valves, pipe bodies, and more. EPRI is working to bring acceptance of these technologies into the fabrication codes. And then the final one was frameworks. This goes back to that culture of innovation. The way the industry interacts is very structured and hierarchical. So the issue to solve here is determining a better way for the industry to operate in a framework that allows it to be more nimble, to increase data sharing on operations and maintenance and research and development. 2. Is the nuclear industry frightened to fail? Yes. We had representation from 16 countries at the forum in South Korea, and that was consensus. You learn more from failure than you learn from success. And to innovate you’re always pushing the margins of the tried and tested. Other industries have found ways to innovate and not penalize people for failing. In the nuclear industry though, failure is alien. The industry is very cautious, it’s reluctant to innovate, and what we heard was the industry needs to create a culture where, within acceptable limits, it’s okay to try. The insight from our former astronaut panelist was that you have to take risks to innovate. Elon Musk’s approach to Space X is to encourage them to test things until they fail. If you’re going to innovate, you need to be trying lots of different options. 3. What else did you hear from panelists outside the industry? Well, from our pharma executive – and that industry is also highly regulated – we heard that there’s a balance to maintain between achieving high-quality solutions and getting things to market as fast as you can, all while making sure to communicate with regulators as you innovate. That really resonated through the forum. We had a number of regulators from across the globe there as well and they were really keen to support innovation, but they stressed that they needed that communication from the industry as approaches were being developed. It’s a two-way street. Overall I think the non-nuclear people pointed out that to succeed every one of them had a big compelling vision, which was driven from the top. 4. What is the scope of EPRI, NEA, IAEA and the UK NNL collaboration? We have a close collaborative relationship with the NNL and IAEA, and we have a signed an MOU with the NEA as well, which really does increase our global footprint and allow us to better serve our members. EPRI’s nuclear sector membership today includes about 80 percent of the plants across the globe. This expanse of operating experience allows us to provide the IAEA and NEA with insights to the technical issues and needs of the majority of plants around the world. Co-organizing this forum only solidified that global collaboration, and from EPRI’s perspective, we hope further solidified us as a truly global organization. 5. Looking at the United States compared to other operators across the globe, why do you think the U.S. is lagging on upgrading Class 1E Control Systems to digital? This is a great example globally about the struggle between vendors, utilities and regulators to deploy. I think the lesson here may be fear of failure, lack of communication and understanding that the upgraded technology is a benefit all around. I mentioned in my keynote at Worldwide Collaboration... ( Continued from page 21) This infographic, drawn live during the forum, captures the highlights from the first panel on Day 1 of the forum, Deployment of Transformative Innovation - Sharing across Sectors, where EPRI Senior Vice President of R&D Arshad Mansoor led a discussion on how representatives from outside the nuclear industry have successfully overcome barriers to implement innovations that changed their industries.