August 1, 2010

Bruce A Proves There Are Second Acts in Nuclear Power

By James M. Hylko and Dr. Robert Peltier, PE

Accuracy Counts; So Does Accomplishment

The Project Controls Team, in consultation with other project groups, establishes the project schedule and major milestones, such as the logical order of tasks and timelines for the various plant systems to return to service. This team works closely with work crews to identify and overcome obstacles encountered during construction and commissioning, training and turnover, and operations. Nevertheless, challenges are inevitable for a project of this scope. At Bruce A, one challenge is keeping up with the myriad accountability tasks.

One critical item on the RTS program plan is the required closeout of a long list of pending design change notices (DCNs) before start-up can begin. By September 2009 the rate at which contractors were closing out DCNs was unacceptable. The average time for closing out a DCN was approximately a thousand days, meaning that another 550 years would be required to finish the project. Instead of maintaining that status quo, a 90-day limit was placed on delinquent DCNs, and the pressure was on the RTS staff to pick up the pace. Through process streamlining, such as grouping like items together to achieve economies of scale, the staff was able to reduce DCN closeout time to about 75 days. There are still more than a thousand DCNs to finish before fuel can be loaded into the reactors.

The RTS process is driven by a staff of about 60 people who verify the DCNs by ensuring that all the supporting documentation, necessary training, on-site inspections and verifications, remedial re-work when required, and signoffs are complete before systems are declared safe and available for service. The transparency of the RTS program, and specifically the DCN process, is extremely important because the CNSC uses it as the basis for regulatory staff to determine whether fuel can be loaded in Unit 1 and 2 reactors.

The Project Controls Team reports that never in the 1,635-plus days of the project (at the time of POWER’ s plant visit in April) have so many deliverables and associated milestones been squeezed into three months as was the case in the first three months of 2010. For example, during those three months the project:

• Completed all delinquent DCNs older than 90 days. The lead time was then further ratcheted down to eliminate DCNs older than 45 days.
• Launched the New Safety Leadership and Human Performance Programs to empower field supervisors with more decision-making authority.
• Completed commissioning activities for 66 new motor control centers.
• Completed a record 350 work packages in a single week. One of those work packages alone required approximately 1,800 valves to be aligned, restored, or replaced.
• Exceeded the 1,000 project tasks–per-week barrier. A climb to 1,500 tasks per week is under way.
• Removed the legacy asbestos discovered under the turbine deck plates in both Units 1 and 2.

Milestone Countdown

The process of recommissioning Units 1 and 2 began in April 2010 when representatives from across the site spent the day with key members of the Restart Team (Figure 10). Using the successful restart of Units 3 and 4 as a guide, management stressed the importance of a smooth transition from reconstruction to operations for Units 1 and 2. Other management representatives recalled the “glory days” of the station’s operating record during the 1980s, when the units were among the top performers in the world, and reiterated that they strongly believe Bruce Power will soon establish new industry reliability records.

10. Motivating the team. Bruce A Executive Vice President and Chief Nuclear Officer Norm Sawyer watches as Executive Vice President, Project Management and Construction John Sauger addresses participants at the Bruce A’s Return to Operations workshop. Sauger directed his remarks to the operations staff: “It’s going to take a Herculean effort. We expect you guys to help us, to pull us across the finish line. You own the plant; you need to take it back from us.” Courtesy: Bruce Power

“There has never been another project quite like this in the Canadian nuclear industry,” said John Sauger, Bruce Power’s executive vice president for project management and construction. “We’re proud to be blazing a path for others to follow, and I thank everyone who has brought us this far. But our work is far from over. Our job now is to put these reactors back together, to do it safely, and to deliver a first-class product.”

The RTS program is also designed to ensure orderly transfer of the plant from construction to operation. When all the equipment has been installed and successfully tested and all the DCNs have been processed as a precursor to CNSC approval, then the final commissioning steps begin for each unit:

1. Load fuel (currently scheduled before year-end 2010 for Unit 2)
2. Remove the “guaranteed shutdown state” designation
3. Refill the primary heat transport system
4. Turbine operation
5. Turbine synchronization to the grid
6. Full reactor power
7. Specific commissioning tests
8. Normal operation and follow-up to monitor plant performance and new or updated programs after return to service

At the end of May, the project team continued moving forward to meet the remaining milestones. Fuel loading and associated operations will precede synchronization to the power grid by approximately five months. Units 1 and 2 are scheduled to return to commercial service by early 2012. When they do, they and their fellow Bruce units will supply about one-quarter of Ontario’s power and will have a longer life expectancy than anyone anticipated two decades ago.