Leading
the Way in
Innovation
By Mike Rencheck, AREVA Inc.
Mike Rencheck
Mike Rencheck was appointed the
president and chief executive officer of
AREVA Inc. in March 2012. In January
2010, Mike was named the Chief
Operating Officer
of AREVA Inc., as
part of AREVA’s
new global
structure. Mike
came to AREVA in
January 2009 as the
President and CEO,
AREVA NP Inc.
Prior to AREVA,
Mike was the
Senior Vice
President and Chief
Nuclear Officer
of the Nuclear
Generation Group at American Electric
Power. Mike held various positions
during his tenure at AEP, including
Senior Vice President of Engineering,
Projects, and Field Services; Senior Vice
President of Engineering, Technical, and
Environmental Services; and, President
of AEP ProServ.
Mike earned a bachelor’s degree from
Ohio Northern University in electrical
engineering and a master’s degree in
management and computer information
systems from Robert Morris University
in Coraopolis, PA. He is a Professional
Engineer in eight states, including
Virginia, and a Certified Senior Reactor
Operator.
An interview by Newal Agnihotri, Editor
of Nuclear Plant Journal at the NRC
Regulatory Information Conference
on March 11, 2014 in North Bethesda,
Maryland.
1.
In the United States, we are very
fortunate to have the NRC, which has
become a model for other regulatory
bodies. There is some talk about an
international safety organization, but
there are also voluntary ways that people
can learn from each other. Would you
comment on the idea of global safety
regulation?
Safety is first and foremost, and
you’ll hear us talking about operational
excellence around the world in everything
that we do. AREVA is unique as a
supplier in that we are members of the
World Association of Nuclear Operators.
As a member of that organization, we
incorporate the unique perspective of
nuclear operators at the corporate level.
We have four
elements of opera-
tional excellence:
safety, quality, per-
formance and de-
livery. No matter
where we are around
the world, as a man-
agement team, we
focus on all four of
these pillars. When
it comes to safety,
we are talking about
nuclear safety, ra-
diological
safety
and industrial safety,
and we have metrics that we regularly
monitor at the board level for all of these
items. We also focus on quality. We apply
the most stringent standards, following
not only the international standards, but
also the local standards for quality. We
also focus on performance and on-time
delivery for our customers.
Importantly, we don’t just talk about
these elements of operational excellence;
we actually go out into the plants and
into the field, and engage people in
dialogue about them. When you talk
about excellence as a culture, it’s about
continually learning not only from the
environment you’re in, but also from
others around the world. It’s something
you have to work on every day. It’s not
something you can take for granted.
2.
Cyber security has become a major
concern in the utility industry and
especially for the nuclear power plants.
What is your approach to cyber security?
We offer unique cyber security
practices and techniques to the
industry through our partnership with
cybersecurity industry partners. AREVA
brings its digital expertise, plant
engineering and system knowledge, and
extensive regulatory experience to this
partnership, while our industry-leading
partners offer their expertise in providing
cyber security support to U.S. defense,
intelligence and civilian agencies.
Our approach is to look at the nuclear
facility and also at the things that connect
to the nuclear facility. We look at which
areas represent the highest risks, and
then our partners bring the monitoring
and cyber technologies to bear in making
sure that we have a robust defense system
in place. We can also take that approach
beyond the nuclear plant and expand it
to protect the utility’s entire organization
and assets.
3.
In the United States, it seems to me
that we are kind of slow on digitizing
protective systems. AREVA was involved
in digitizing systems at Duke’s Oconee
station; what can be done to help utilities
welcome a move to digital?
All three units at that station have
upgraded their engineering safeguards
and reactor protection system to
AREVA’s digital safety-related Reactor
Protection System and Engineered Safety
Protection System. The first system has
been installed now for nearly three years
and day-to-day operations at the plant
have become more efficient. It’s saving
the plant on down-powers and transients
due to human interactions. The system
performs real-time surveillance now, so
there’s no human error. I think, overall,
the operation staff would tell you they
really see a benefit to moving to the more
modern systems. I would encourage other
utilities to go see the system firsthand
and talk to operators who are using the
equipment day in and day out. That in
itself—having that operating base here
in the United States—will allow others to
move forward.
Companies will have to consider
digitization as they look at extending the
lives of their plants from 60 to 80 years.
The analog systems are already becoming
increasingly difficult to find parts for and
maintain, and the challenges of adding 20
years to a plant’s life will put old analog
22
NuclearPlantJournal.com Nuclear Plant Journal, May-June 2014
