November 15, 2007

Fort Calhoun Nuclear Generating Station, Omaha, Nebraska

Dr. Robert Peltier, PE

The nuclear industry consistently reduced its plant outage durations over the past decade to the point where a 30-day refueling outage now is considered the norm. Enhanced outage planning skills were put to the test when Omaha Public Power District’s (OPPD) Fort Calhoun Nuclear Generating Plant embarked on perhaps the most complex nuclear renovation project in the history of the industry.

 

Located on the shore of the Missouri River, about 20 miles north of Omaha, Fort Calhoun has a single generating unit with a capacity of 478 MW. The plant, based on the Combustion Engineering pressurized water reactor (PWR) design, first went on-line on August 9, 1973. The plant’s operating license was recently renewed for another 20 years (through 2033), although OPPD understood that many upgrades would be required to ensure safe functioning of the plant’s systems over the next 25-plus years.

Planning for Fort Calhoun’s 25th refueling outage and replacement project began in the spring of 2006 with schedule reviews conducted with all the contractors and station personnel. Bechtel Power, with more than 30 nuclear renovation projects under its belt, was engaged by OPPD to manage the project, which included more than 5,000 individual scheduled activities. Work was scheduled 24/7, so contingency plans and materials were developed for all major work packages to ensure their success.

Past projects were studied, especially those that had entailed two replacement outages, in an effort to identify the best practices that typically make the second replacement more efficient than the first. Both formal and informal team-building sessions were conducted to fully integrate all the contractors and station personnel. To help unite the various stakeholders into a single, cohesive team, OPPD’s project slogan was “One Team, One Goal.”

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