Maintenance Optimization and Nuclear Power Plant Life Management—A Proposal for an Integrated Set of Maintenance Effectiveness Indicators

2012 ◽  
Vol 134 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Paolo Contri ◽  
Irina Kuzmina ◽  
Bernhard Elsing
Keyword(s):  
Electricity Markets ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Research Centre ◽  
Energy Market ◽  
Maintenance Optimization ◽  
Joint Research ◽  
Joint Research Centre ◽  
Research Activities ◽  
Open Issues

Economic deregulation of electricity markets in many countries has placed nuclear power plants (NPPs) in a new competitive environment where capital, operating, and maintenance costs must be minimized. Optimization of the maintenance strategy, enhancement of the maintenance efficiency, and monitoring of the performance are becoming the key attributes to ensure the survival of nuclear utilities in the energy market. The Institute for Energy and Transport (IET), one of the seven scientific Institutes of the Joint Research Centre (JRC), aDirectorate General of the European Commission (EC) recognized the need to collect relevant experience and suggests a consolidated system of maintenance performance indicators (MPIs) to measure the maintenance effectiveness. This paper highlights the latest improvements of the suggested system and discusses open issues that need to be addressed in further research activities for enhancing the maintenance effectiveness of NPPs.

Risk Informed In-Service-Inspection Activities of the ENIQ Task Group on Risk

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Gandossi ◽  
K. Simola ◽  
Adam Toft
Keyword(s):  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Nuclear Power Plants ◽  
Structural Reliability ◽  
Task Group ◽  
Research Centre ◽  
European Level ◽  
Joint Research ◽  
European Nuclear ◽  
Service Inspection

The European Network for Inspection Qualification (ENIQ) was established in 1992 in response to increasing recognition of the importance of qualification of non-destructive inspection systems used in in-service inspection programmes for nuclear power plants. Driven by European Nuclear utilities and managed by the European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC), ENIQ represents a network in which the available resources and expertise can be pooled at European level. ENIQ has recognized the importance of addressing, at European level, the issue of optimizing inspection strategies on the basis of risk by establishing a Task Group on Risk (TGR). Membership of TGR is drawn from European nuclear utilities and consultants. ENIQ TGR is focused on Risk-Informed In-Service Inspection (RI-ISI) methodologies. Its work is directed towards harmonisation in the field of codes, standards and best practice for RI-ISI methodologies, with the objective of increasing the safety of European nuclear power plants. In March 2005 TGR published a European Framework Document for RI-ISI. This publication provides guidance for both developing new RI-ISI approaches and using or adapting established approaches to a European environment, taking into account utility-specific characteristics and national regulatory requirements. More recently, ENIQ TGR has been working at producing more detailed recommended practices and discussion documents on several RI-ISI related issues, such as the role of ISI within the philosophy of defence-in-depth, the verification and validation of structural reliability models (SRMs) to be used in RI-ISI programmes, the use of expert panels and the applicability of RI-ISI to the reactor pressure vessel. Work is ongoing to develop a discussion document on updating of RI-ISI programmes, and new initiatives were launched to study topics such as what magnitude of risk reduction is reasonable to achieve through ISI, and how to set inspection targets, following the selection of ISI sites. In addition, TGR has been active in initiating international projects linked closely to its work, such as the JRC-OECD/NEA co-ordinated RI-ISI benchmark exercise (RISMET), and the project on the relation between inspection qualification and RI-ISI. This paper describes the key activities and publications of TGR to date.

An Overview of the Research by EC-JRC/IE on Enhancement of Maintenance Efficiency of Nuclear Power Plants

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paolo Contri ◽  
Irina Kuzmina
Keyword(s):  
Electricity Markets ◽  
Performance Indicators ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Nuclear Power Plants ◽  
Competitive Environment ◽  
Energy Market ◽  
Maintenance Strategy ◽  
Maintenance Costs ◽  
Maintenance Performance

Economic deregulation of electricity markets in many countries has placed nuclear power plants (NPPs) in a new competitive environment where capital, operating and maintenance costs must be minimized. Optimization of the maintenance strategy, enhancement of the maintenance efficiency and monitoring the performance are becoming the key attributes to ensure the survival of nuclear utilities in the energy market. The need to collect relevant experience and suggest a consolidated system of performance indicators to measure the maintenance effectiveness was recognized by the Institute for Energy EC-JRC and research conducted aimed at suggesting such a system. The paper highlights the latest improvements to the system of maintenance performance indicators and discusses further steps and issues to be addressed in the course of the research on enhancing the effectiveness of maintenance at NPPs.

Decommissioning of the Radio Chemical Hot Laboratory of the European Commission Joint Research Centre of Ispra

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniele Ugolini ◽  
Francesco Rossi ◽  
Francesco Basile
Keyword(s):  
Waste Management ◽  
Nuclear Fuel ◽  
Isotopic Ratio ◽  
Liquid Waste ◽  
Laboratory Animals ◽  
Research Centre ◽  
Joint Research ◽  
Joint Research Centre ◽  
Research Activities ◽  
Radiological Characterization

The construction of the Radio Chemical Hot Laboratory (RCHL) of the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of Ispra began in the early 1960s while the laboratory activities started in 1964. In 1976 an annex to the main building was built. At this time the RCHL main research activities were in environment and biochemistry by means of radioactive tracers; neutron activation analyses; extraction of actinides from radioactive liquid waste coming from the nuclear fuel reprocessing plants; and analyses of U, Pu, and Th in samples from the nuclear fuel cycle in order to determine the isotopic ratio and the burn-up. In 1978, a new area of laboratories named “Stabularium” was built to study the metabolism of heavy metal on laboratory animals. Complementary to the laboratory three pneumatic transfer systems for irradiated sources connected the RCHL to two research reactors. The decommissioning activities of the 2650 m2 facility started in January 2008 and they were completed at the end of 2010 with the release for unrestricted use of all the buildings of the facility. They consisted in five main tasks; pre-decommissioning, licensing, dismantling, waste management, and final survey. The main pre-decommissioning activities were the physical and radiological characterization of the facility. The principal licensing activity was the preparation of the delicensing documentation to obtain the license termination from the safety authorities. Dismantling consisted in the removal of all the equipments and ancillary systems, of the pneumatic transfer system, and in the decontamination of the structures of the controlled zone. The waste management was limited to the transfer of the waste and of the clearable material to the centralized waste management facility. The final survey consisted in the final radiological characterization to quantify the concentration of any residual radioactivity remained after the completion of the dismantling activities for the release of the RCHL without any radiological constraints. The safety and radioprotection prescriptions adopted were the minimization of the conventional and nuclear risk for the workers (reducing the dose rate), the minimization of the environmental risks (reducing the external liquid, solid and gaseous releases), and the confinement of the contamination where it was generated. This paper describes the pre-decommissioning, dismantling, and final survey activities undertaken to perform the decommissioning of the RCHL.

EC FP7 Structural Performance of MULTI-METAL Component: Project Overview

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paivi Karjalainen-Roikonen ◽  
Elisabeth Keim ◽  
Philippe Gilles ◽  
Sébastien Blasset
Keyword(s):  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Structural Integrity ◽  
Good Practice ◽  
Research Centre ◽  
Resistance Testing ◽  
Joint Research ◽  
Text Book ◽  
Integrity Assessment ◽  
Dissimilar Metal

The purpose of this paper is to introduce a new EUROATOM project focusing on the structural integrity assessment of dissimilar metal weld. The project started in February 2012 and will last 3 years. The project is coordinated by VTT with 10 partner organizations from Europe: Technical Research Centre of Finland, Finland (VTT) - Coordinator AREVA NP, France and Germany (ANP) Commissariat à l’Énergie Atomique et aux energies alternatives, France (CEA) Joint Research Centre of the European Commission, Belgium (JRC) EdF-Energy, United Kingdom (BE) Bay Zoltán Foundation for Applied Research, Hungary (BZF) Electricité de France, France (EDF) TECNATOM, Spain (TEC) Jožef Stefan Institute, Slovenia (JSI) Studsvik Nuclear AB, Sweden (STU). Within MULTIMETAL, the main objectives are: - Develop a codification for fracture resistance testing in multi-metal specimens. - Develop harmonized procedures for dissimilar metal welds integrity assessment. The underlying aim of the project is to provide recommendations for a good practice approach for the integrity assessment (especially testing) of dissimilar metal welds as part of overall integrity analyses including leak-before-break (LBB) procedures. The project will promote the development of a common understanding for structural integrity assessment of dissimilar metal welds (DMWs) in existing and future nuclear power plants (NPPs) in EU member states. It will provide the technical basis for the development of harmonized European codification for multi-metal components, which is currently non-existing. A trainee program will be finally developed and text book as well as learning materials will be issued. The project will interact with the European Network of Excellence NULIFE and NUGENIA.

Developing an Integrated Energy System Interface for Electricity-Hydrogen Hybrid Nuclear Operations

2020 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 92-96
Author(s):  
Thomas A. Ulrich ◽  
Roger Lew ◽  
Ronald L. Boring ◽  
Torrey Mortenson ◽  
Jooyoung Park ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Human Factors ◽  
Electricity Markets ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Energy Systems ◽  
Energy System ◽  
Human Factors Engineering ◽  
Engineering Project ◽  
Early Integration ◽  
Integrated Energy Systems

Nuclear power plants are looking towards integrated energy systems to address the challenges faced by increasing competition from renewable energy and cheap natural gas in wholesale electricity markets. Electricity-hydrogen hybrid operations is one potential technology being explored. As part of this investigation a human factors team was integrated into the overall engineering project to develop a human system interface (HSI) for a novel system to extract steam for a coupled hydrogen production process. This paper presents the process used to perform the nuclear specific human factors engineering required to develop the HSI for this novel and unprecedented system. Furthermore, the early integration of the human factors team and the meaningful improvements to the engineering of the system itself in addition to the successful development of the HSI for this particular application are described. Lastly, the HSI developed is presented to demonstrate the culmination of the process and disseminate a potential HSI design for electricity-hydrogen hybrid operations that may be useful for others exploring similar integrated energy systems concepts.

PLACE AND ROLE OF COMPETENT INFORMATION IN THE MANAGEMENT OF SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT

Naukovedenie ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 123-138
Author(s):  
Sergei Pyastolov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Technological Development ◽  
Research Centre ◽  
Joint Research ◽  
Joint Research Centre ◽  
Science Activity ◽  
Scientific Organizations ◽  
Special Space ◽  
Scientific And Technological Development

VUCA world (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, Ambiguity), according to experts of JRC (European Commission's Joint Research Centre), is now a special space that corrupts the integrity of science activity, limits thinking and vision of the situation by politicians. In fact, under such conditions, the only reliable resource for scientific organizations is a commercialization, and the payback is a condition of activity. These factors already pose a threat to global security. The mission orientation proposed by European Union experts is still seen as a rather weak alternative.

scholarly journals JRC activities in nuclear safety

2009 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giustino Manna ◽  
Luigi Debarberis ◽  
Andrea Bucalossi ◽  
Roberto May ◽  
Michel Bieth ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Nuclear Energy ◽  
Scientific Work ◽  
Nuclear Safety ◽  
Research Centre ◽  
Joint Research ◽  
Joint Research Centre ◽  
The Public ◽  
Base Load ◽  
Management Issues ◽  
The Eu

Nuclear energy is today the largest single source of carbon free and base-load electricity in Europe. While highlighting its important role in the overall energy mix, it is necessary to address sustainability, safety, and security concerns, in particular nuclear safety and nuclear waste management issues, which influence the public acceptance of nuclear energy. The present paper describes the Joint Research Centre activities in support to the EU nuclear safety policy. It describes the Joint Research Centre role in the EU institutional context, identifies the various customers to which the Joint Research Centre delivers its services, and provides some results of the Joint Research Centre scientific work inherent to nuclear safety.

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