January-February 2019 NPJ

Nuclear Automation’s Global Expansion By Clayton Scott, Framatome. Clayton Scott Clayton Scott is senior vice president, Global Sales, deputy, I&C Business Unit at Framatome. He formerly served as the SVP and the chief nuclear officer for Schneider Electric, and was an integral part of the team bringing the Schneider Electric Global Nuclear I&C Business to Framatome. Mr. Scott has more than 38 years’ experience in managing nuclear utility contracts globally. He holds a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering from the University of California, Irvine. A telephone interview on January 3, 2019 by Newal Agnihotri, Editor of Nuclear Plant Journal. The Benefits of Instrumentation and Control (I&C) Upgrades for Safe and Efficient Plant Operations 1. Did the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) come up with its new guidance for safety-related I&C? Also what is Framatome's licensing experience going forward? The document is ready and being issued, and it’s a good document. Framatome participated in the Nuclear Energy Institute’s digital working committee on the guide. We had great stakeholder r e p r e s e n t a t i o n , along with the other suppliers, for input into the document. Framatome has the only safety-related experience in the U.S. via a License Amendment Request (LAR); at Oconee, we did the Reactor Protection System (RPS) and the Engineering Safety Features Actuation System (ESFAS) on the Teleperm XS product. In the previous Schneider legacy, we used the nuclear qualified Tricon for the RPS at Diablo Canyon, where we went through the full license amendment review process and received approvals. However, due to circumstances on Diablo’s side, they opted not to install the system, and unfortunately, we’re now seeing that Diablo is probably in the closing position in California. While that’s unfortunate, from a licensing perspective, we count that experience as a success. There were many lessons learned through these efforts. At Oconee, it was a first-of-a-kind process for all involved, and there were a lot of challenges from all sides. When we did the ISG 6 (the licensing process for digital I&C system modifications) pilot improvement for Diablo, we also took lessons learned. There was substantial improvement, but like anything, you’ve got to do these things several times to get them where they’re really functioning well. I think the industry basically looked at the experiences at Oconee andDiablo Canyon to better the system and determine on which burdens the plants need to focus. And, as the only company that’s gone through this process, Framatome brings to the table a lot of experience to help support the plants. Now it’s just a matter of building the confidence of the utilities that the staff is ready to go. I participated on the commissioner briefing this year; Chairman Svinicki and the commissioners are very supportive and eager to move digital forward in the plants. I think they’re excited about the NRC’s process to get this document out, and they clearly understand what vendors have done and other utilities have done globally. 2. What new hardware and software capabilities does Framatome have following its purchase of Schneider Electric’s nuclear I&C business? In the acquisition, Framatome received the nuclear-qualified Tricon product, which is a triple modular redundant product that was extensively used in safety in oil and gas, and was qualified for nuclear energy applications in the U.S. back in the early 2000s. The intellectual property (IP) for the nuclear safety-related Tricon system was exclusively licensed to Framatome, so Framatome now has complete ownership and control of that nuclear-qualified product, as alongside the qualified analog SPEC 200, the legacy Foxboro analog product that’s been installed for approximately 40 years. Schneider also transferred the IP for the priority logic module that was in Schneider’s projects in China. The SPEC 200 product is installed in more than 60 plants in the U.S. and more than 100 units globally as an 22 NuclearPlantJournal.com Nuclear Plant Journal, January-February 2019