IMPROVING OUTAGE PERFORMANCE: THE OUTAGE OPTIMIZATION PROCESS

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2 IMPROVING OUTAGE PERFORMANCE: THE OUTAGE OPTIMIZATION PROCESS Jere LaPlatney VP Outage Optimization Jean-Paul Bombail Outage and Maintenance IB France October 2011

3 AGENDA BACKGROUND OUTAGE OPTIMIZATION PRINCIPLES OUTAGE OPTIMIZATION PROCESS OVERVIEW OUTAGE PREPARATION PHASE OUTAGE EXECUTION PHASE CONCLUSION IMPROVING OUTAGE PERFORMANCE - Jere LaPlatney - 20 octobre p.3

4 BACKGROUND Drivers to improve outage performance: Outage performance has a very large impact on overall station performance metrics for the year (e.g. Industrial, radiological and nuclear safety, budget, capacity factor, etc.) Lost generation costs are high for baseloaded units (highly variable but $750,000 USD/day is a reasonable figure for discussion) Amount and quality of work done affects subsequent cycle CF (Capacity Factor) Effort has its roots in the US during the drive to deregulation in the 1980 s and 90 s This paper provides an overview of the process of Outage Optimization along with some specific examples of some of the key management tools used IMPROVING OUTAGE PERFORMANCE - Jere LaPlatney - 20 octobre p.4

5 OUTAGE OPTIMIZATION PRINCIPLES Outage Optimization vs. Outage Shortening Goal: safe, reliable and cost effective plant operation. PRINCIPLES: Duration is not the sole measure of outage success Outage work must be performed safely from all perspectives: Nuclear, Industrial, and Radiological Scope selection must focus on improving plant material condition to improve reliability All approved outage work must be completed Work must be done cost effectively Post-outage plant reliability is a key measure of outage success Outage Lessons Learned must be effectively implemented to achieve continuous improvement IMPROVING OUTAGE PERFORMANCE - Jere LaPlatney - 20 octobre p.5

6 OUTAGE OPTIMIZATION PROCESS OVERVIEW A planned outage at an NPP is simply a specialized type of project, and the principles of sound project management apply An outage differs slightly from most industrial projects in that the schedule is optimized on duration (Critical Path) rather than the usual cost This is driven by the high financial impact of having a baseload NPP shut down (dependent on market conditions and plant size, typically in excess of $750,000USD/day). IMPROVING OUTAGE PERFORMANCE - Jere LaPlatney - 20 octobre p.6

7 OUTAGE OPTIMIZATION PROCESS OVERVIEW Areas Addressed by Outage Optimization The Tool: Gap Analysis Start With the Critical Path System Windows Manage Work Off Critical Path Reducing Outage Scope: On-line Maintenance IMPROVING OUTAGE PERFORMANCE - Jere LaPlatney - 20 octobre p.7

8 OUTAGE OPTIMIZATION PROCESS OVERVIEW Areas Addressed by Outage Optimization The major areas to be addressed by an Outage Optimization process are: Scope selection and control Outage Preparation Schedule development and optimization Critical Path (Outage Window) optimization Shutdown Risk Management (nuclear safety risk) System Window planning Work documentation preparation, including contingency Work resourcing Outage Execution Outage execution organization Outage execution processes Continuous Improvement (lessons learned) IMPROVING OUTAGE PERFORMANCE - Jere LaPlatney - 20 octobre p.8

9 OUTAGE OPTIMIZATION PROCESS OVERVIEW The Tool: Gap Analysis A generic improvement process, so called Gap Analysis, has been used by many NPP operators to manage the improvement process GAP Analysis consists of five steps which form a continuous improvement cycle: Using benchmarking, identify how current performance compares to best in industry performance, and identify the performance gaps. Starting with the largest gaps, drill down into the detail to identify the specific differences between the NPP s method and the best practice method (commonly referred to as micro-gap analysis) Perform cost/benefit analysis on adopting best practice to the specific NPP Implement the changes identified as appropriate to the NPP. Monitor performance and start over to the next round of improvement The cyclic nature of the process is a result of the fact that making improvements typically results in a new Critical Path, and this can itself be subject to new Gap Analysis. The overall process has been likened to peeling back an onion wherein each round of improvement exposes where the next improvements can be made. IMPROVING OUTAGE PERFORMANCE - Jere LaPlatney - 20 octobre p.9

10 OUTAGE OPTIMIZATION PROCESS OVERVIEW Start With the Critical Path For a Light Water Reactor (LWR) the theoretical critical path for a Refueling Outage is the plant shutdown, refueling and plant restart sequence. These are the absolute minimum activities that must be done to allow another cycle of plant operation. In order to facilitate benchmarking, the Westinghouse Owners Group (WOG) was the first to develop a set of nine Outage Windows for PWRs. These Outage Windows break up the critical path into smaller component parts. AREVA, through the Framatome Owners Group (FROG) has developed its FROG Outage Windows and also collects and shares this benchmarking data on its member s behalf IMPROVING OUTAGE PERFORMANCE - Jere LaPlatney - 20 octobre p.10

11 OUTAGE OPTIMIZATION PROCESS OVERVIEW FROG WINDOW NUMBER FROG MILESTONE NUMBERS OUTAGE MILESTONE DESCRIPTION F 1 FR 00 - FR 10 Off line to Mode 5 (<90 C) F 2 FR 10 - FR 20 Mode 5 (<90 C) to mode 6 (1st RV stud detensioned) F 3 FR 20 - FR 30 Mode 6 (1st RV stud detensioned) to latch the 1st fuel assembly F 4 FR 30 - FR 40 Latch the 1st fuel assembly to last fuel assembly in the fuel building F 5 FR 40 - FR 50 Defueled F 6 FR 50 - FR 60 Latch the 1st fuel assembly in the fuel building to core mapping complete F 7 FR 60 - FR 70 Core mapping complete to complete set of the RV head on the vessel F 8 FR 70 - FR 80 RV head on the vessel to last stud tensioned F 9 FR 80 - FR 90 RV last stud tensioned (mode 5) to start and remain running the first RCS pump F 10 FR 100 -FR 110 Start and remain running the first RCS pump to > 90 C (mode 4) F 11 FR 110 -FR 120 >90 C (mode 4) to RHR isolated or SI aligned (177 C mode 3) F 12 FR FR130 RHR isolated or SI aligned (177 C mode 3)to start dilution for criticality (mode 2) F 13 FR 130 -FR 140 Start dilution for criticality (mode 2) to connection to the grid (on line) END OF THE OUTAGE PERIOD F 14 FR FR 140 Connection to the grid (on line) to full power IMPROVING OUTAGE PERFORMANCE - Jere LaPlatney - 20 octobre p.11

12 OUTAGE OPTIMIZATION PROCESS OVERVIEW System Windows Manage Work Off Critical Path The goal of a refueling outage is not only to refuel the reactor in the shortest possible time, but also complete all maintenance that requires plant shutdown conditions to accomplish in order to ensure a breaker to breaker run post outage. The nuclear core must be kept in a controlled, subcritical, cooled configuration at all times with adequate safety system protection and defense in depth. These competing requirements cause most NPPs divide the overall schedule into System Windows which sequence the removal and restoration of plant systems for maintenance while maintaining adequate hardware in service and available for defense in depth. All work must be planned in the System Window (or Windows) in which the correct plant conditions exist to safely remove the component to be maintained. IMPROVING OUTAGE PERFORMANCE - Jere LaPlatney - 20 octobre p.12

13 OUTAGE OPTIMIZATION PROCESS OVERVIEW Reducing Outage Scope: On-line Maintenance Most US plants have chosen to move as much work as possible out of the planned outage period and into the operating period (know as on-line maintenance ) This strategy fully supports outage optimization but reducing overall outage scope thus reducing duration and/or risk to duration while simultaneously supporting reliable plant operation since all maintenance work is done The effect of implementing this philosophy has significantly reduced the outage scope (while maintaining the work in the online period) from a typical value of 5,000 to 8,000 work tasks down to 2,500 to 5,000 work tasks dependent on plant specific considerations IMPROVING OUTAGE PERFORMANCE - Jere LaPlatney - 20 octobre p.13

14 OUTAGE PREPARATION PHASE Outage Preparation Overview Outage Preparation Milestones Performance Indicators Lessons Learned Readiness Reviews Pre-outage Work IMPROVING OUTAGE PERFORMANCE - Jere LaPlatney - 20 octobre p.14

15 OUTAGE PREPARATION PHASE OUTAGE PREPARATION PHASE Outage Preparation Overview Preparation for a Refueling Outage is a long term planning operation 2,500-5,000 maintenance tasks must be planned into a schedule with 8,000 to 13,000 logic linked activities The work packages must be prepared, the work resourced and then resource leveled The entire schedule must be reviewed to ensure that Shutdown Risk Management principles are adhered to and adequate defense-in-depth maintained at all times An Outage Execution organization must be identified, staffed and trained A multitude of detailed preparations must be managed This section will cover some of the more important tools used IMPROVING OUTAGE PERFORMANCE - Jere LaPlatney - 20 octobre p.15

16 OUTAGE PREPARATION PHASE Outage Preparation Milestones The roadmap for the Outage Preparation period is the suite of Outage Preparation Milestones Milestones are a series of logically sequenced actions that the NPP must achieve in order to be ready to go when the plant is shutdown for the outage The Milestones are high level, but contain enough detail to ensure the intent is clear In many cases achievement of later milestones is dependent of timely completion of early milestones IMPROVING OUTAGE PERFORMANCE - Jere LaPlatney - 20 octobre p.16

17 OUTAGE PREPARATION PHASE MILESTONE DATE Issue Outage Milestone Schedule M-18 Set Outage Goals and Identify Major workscope M-16 Select Plant Design changes for the outage M-16 Identify Regulatory Documents needed for startup M-14 Identify detailed outage scope M-13 Identify long lead materials M-12 Establish High Impact Teams (HIT) M-12 Freeze Outage Scope M-10 IMPROVING OUTAGE PERFORMANCE - Jere LaPlatney - 20 octobre p.17

18 Performance Indicators OUTAGE PREPARATION PHASE Timely achievement of the milestones is essential to being prepared on time Performance Indicators are used to track progress. These are simply standard work-off or burn curves wherein planned production is tracked vs. actual production. The advantage of the performance indicators over simple milestones is that adverse trends can be spotted early and recovery plans put in place to ensure that the milestone is achieved on the original schedule thus preserving the accomplishment of subsequent, dependent milestones IMPROVING OUTAGE PERFORMANCE - Jere LaPlatney - 20 octobre p.18

19 OUTAGE PREPARATION PHASE IMPROVING OUTAGE PERFORMANCE - Jere LaPlatney - 20 octobre p.19

20 Lessons Learned OUTAGE PREPARATION PHASE Critical to a successful Outage Optimization campaign, is an effective Lessons Learned program A healthy Lesson Learned program will result in lessons learned being generated each outage Every one of these should be recorded, evaluated and dispositioned prior to the subsequent outage Management should track progress on closing the lessons learned by including it in the set of performance indicators that it routinely monitors Failure to implement an effective lessons learned program will undermine any other efforts to improve outage performance as old problems will continuously return and stop progress IMPROVING OUTAGE PERFORMANCE - Jere LaPlatney - 20 octobre p.20

21 OUTAGE PREPARATION PHASE Readiness Reviews Management involvement in outage preparation is a key element in a successful Outage Optimization project The use of formal Readiness Reviews has become commonplace in the US in recent years Chaired by senior station management Participants include leaders from all plant departments, major contractors, and corporate support staff Typically conducted at dates prior to the outage of t-6, 3, and 1 months Actions are assigned from the meeting and completion of actions is tracked by the Outage Manager, and monitored by senior management IMPROVING OUTAGE PERFORMANCE - Jere LaPlatney - 20 octobre p.21

22 OUTAGE PREPARATION PHASE Pre-outage Work A simple principle applies any pre-outage work not completed becomes outage work and thus threatens successful completion of the outage to plan Pre-outage work typically consists of the following types of tasks: Scaffold erection in accessible areas Temporary power and light installation Temporary accommodation and office space In Service Testing In Service Inspection IMPROVING OUTAGE PERFORMANCE - Jere LaPlatney - 20 octobre p.22

23 OUTAGE EXECUTION PHASE Outage Control Center (OCC) Operations Department Improvements IMPROVING OUTAGE PERFORMANCE - Jere LaPlatney - 20 octobre p.23

24 Outage Control Center (OCC) OUTAGE EXECUTION PHASE The OCC is the nerve center for the outage: monitoring and controlling all the outage work in a proactive fashion personnel representing all site departments as well as major contractors Each individual in the OCC has written roles and responsibilities for monitoring progress and managing problems OCC members are equipped with excellent communication tools The OCC Manager, reports to the Outage Manager Schedules, work off curves, window closure reports and other tools are continuously used to assess where are we? Meetings, or more accurately, briefs are conducted routinely and frequently in the OCC - In a typical 12 hr shift, there are handover meetings at either end as well as briefs every 2-4 hours. IMPROVING OUTAGE PERFORMANCE - Jere LaPlatney - 20 octobre p.24

25 Operations Department Improvements OUTAGE EXECUTION PHASE The basic principle behind the improvements in Operations is the separation of the control of plant function from the maintenance support function which is done by Work Crews Control of the plant is retained in the Control Room with a minimum shift complement, typically on 12 hour shifts. The 12 hour shifts minimize the number of turnovers and thus disruption to outage work, and maximize the continuity of the on shift crews since they turn over with only one other shift. The Work Crews are divided up into groups led by an SRO who are assigned to support specific groups of work - typical areas covered by an Operations Work Crew are: NSSS, BOP, and Electrical systems. Members of the Crew were involved heavily in the Outage Preparation phase in the development of their schedule, safety tagouts, and plant restoration plans IMPROVING OUTAGE PERFORMANCE - Jere LaPlatney - 20 octobre p.25

26 OUTAGE EXECUTION PHASE Operations Department Improvements (continued) Crews report to their SRO who manages them, but gets permission from the Control Room for anything that affect plant operation Work Crew members can be used by the Control Room for evolutions requiring more than the shift complement, such as integrated plant testing Work Crew members isolate and drain systems and hang and remove safety tags, and perform post maintenance retest. Plants who conduct excellent outages have taken the step of resource loading Operations department staff into the schedule IMPROVING OUTAGE PERFORMANCE - Jere LaPlatney - 20 octobre p.26

27 CONCLUSION Improving outage performance is very important to operators of NPPs worldwide. They are able to benefit from the experience of others to improve themselves by initiating an Outage Optimization program at their plants. IMPROVING OUTAGE PERFORMANCE - Jere LaPlatney - 20 octobre p.27

28 The information in this document are AREVA property and are intended solely for the addressees. Reproduction and distribution are prohibited. Thank you IMPROVING OUTAGE PERFORMANCE - Jere LaPlatney - 20 octobre p.28