The Nuclear Energy Institute on Thursday announced its 2015 best industry practice awards, naming a team of Exelon employees as winners of the B. Ralph Sylvia Best of the Best Award for an innovative management process that digitalizes work packages. “The employees were honored for their Electronic Work Package (eWP), a digital process through which work packages are created, managed, monitored and stored,” the NEI said.
The eWP system replaces paper-based work packages, which improves safety, efficiency and productivity during plant maintenance work.
The NEI also said the system allows for improved communication within a nuclear facility, as workers can take photos and videos of field conditions for documentation. The practice leads to better communication and problem solving, especially welcome, given operations and maintenance expenses constituted 56 percent of a nuclear energy facility’s electricity generation costs in 2013, according to the Electric Utility Cost Group, the NEI said in a statement.
Exelon intends to use the eWP system in all of its plants, which attests to its ability to increase productivity and reduce costs.
Other awards announced at NEI’s annual meeting also honored money-saving practices that did not compromise safety. TIP Vendor Awards went to Dominion Nuclear employees at the Millstone Power Station, who earned the AREVA Vendor Award for use of a “soft” chemical cleaning process to remove deposits in steam generators that has yielded almost $30 million in benefits.
Exelon Generation employees at the Clinton Power Station in Illinois were awarded the GE Hitachi Vendor Award for implementing the GE Hitachi Simplified Stability Solution -- GS3 – which detects and suppresses periodic power and flow oscillations in boiling water reactors. The system increased plant efficiency, saving $3.5 million in fuel costs.
The Westinghouse Vendor Award was given to Ameren Missouri team members at the Callaway nuclear station for their “Ultimate Heat Sink Re-Analysis,” which evaluated the plant’s cooling capability after a reactor shutdown or loss of coolant in a scenario not previously analyzed.
The Westinghouse-Combustion Engineering Vendor Award was given to Entergy employees at the Palisades nuclear plant in Michigan for their core support barrel project. Using an innovative compact lead shielding to protect against radiation, instead of the traditional water tank blocking system, the employees developed a cheaper, safer method for core support barrel inspections.
Among the TIP Process Awards, the Communications Award was given to Pacific Gas & Electric employees at Diablo Canyon nuclear power facility for their seismic safety outreach. The company employees were honored for “using a multi-faceted outreach strategy to communicate complex seismic issues to regulators, government officials, the media and the public.”
Duke Energy team members at the Robinson nuclear facility in South Carolina were given the Operate Plant Award for the first large-scale application of a product called Never Wet, which is produced by Rustoleum.
The Equipment Reliability Award went to the employees of the Tennessee Valley Authority for their solution for open phase faults, a problem with the quality of electricity used in power plants to operate equipment. The TVA solution, transferable to other nuclear plants, is projected to save TVA $17 million compared to other open phase fault remedies.
The Maintenance Award went to American Electric employees at the Cook nuclear power plant in Michigan for use of a bridge crane for heavy lifts in the turbine building. The innovative approach used multiple telescoping gantry systems and a hydraulic turntable to lift and rotate components, saving $18 million for the company.
Tennessee Valley Authority employees also earned the Materials, Management Processes and Support Services Award for development of a Cyber Security Assessment Tool, which can be customized for use by any nuclear energy facility.
Exelon Generation employees captured the Plant Support Award, along with the B. Ralph Sylvia Best of the Best Award for its Electronic Work Packages system.
The Training Award went to Entergy Operations employees for their earthquake simulation training used at the Indian Point Energy Center, a system designed in response to the Fukushima Daiichai accident.
The Nuclear Fuel Award was given to Exelon Generation team members for a system used during the “coastdown” phase of operations before a refueling outage that enabled the company to determine the optimum coastdown length. This system is also deemed transferable to other nuclear energy facilities. It saves an estimated $1 million to $3 million per plant.
The Vision Leadership and Ingenuity Award was given to employees of Duke Energy for their “Excellence in Cost Management” program that improves performance and efficiency without sacrificing safety. For example, in 2014, refueling outages at six Duke Energy reactors each were completed with an average costs that were $1.5 million under budget.
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