Hundreds of years before any of the cities in the eastern part of our country were so much as clearings in the wilderness, a well-established, civilized community occupied the land we know as Phoenix. The Pueblo Grande ruins, which were occupied between 700 A.D. and 1400 A.D., testify to our city's ancient roots.
Today, Phoenix is one of the country's fastest growing and most dynamic regions for tech business growth, particularly in three major industries: satellite telecommunications, electronic manufacturing and aerospace. Businesses in Phoenix are met with operational costs of up to 36% less than California, a major incentive for companies seeking sites for headquarters.
Logistical information about conference activities will be provided.
Opening discussion on the importance of Configuration Management (CM) in the industry, future challenges, and past learning experiences.
This presentation from Institute of Nuclear Plant Operations (INPO) will present an INPO perspective on the overall state of engineering and configuration management across the nuclear industry and describe INPO's CM-related activities and current focus areas.
This presentation will provide a brief history on the Young Generation in Nuclear (YGN) and Women in Nuclear (WIN) organizations and how these groups support configuration management in the nuclear industry.
This session will focus on areas in the industry that conference attendees are looking to address. Questions will be obtained during the registration process and during the conference to facilitate this session. This will be an interactive session that will discuss the issue and identify utilities that have addressed the issue and how they addressed it or others that are seeing the same issue. The goal of this session is to allow attendees to bring up areas in which the utility is struggling and gain OE from the industry in real time.
This learning session is based on a PowerPoint presentation that walks the audience through the fundamental concepts, terms, and examples of Configuration Management (CM), including design and operating margin management. The objective of this session is to engage new conference attendees in the CM process as presented at the conference and provide them with a capsule summary of the process. CM 101 should provide an understanding of how the different plant organizations contribute to and support configuration control of design, processes, and equipment. There will be a discussion of the industry three-ball process model for CM equilibrium, examples of how the equilibrium can be upset, and recommended processes for restoring the equilibrium.
In this breakout session attendees will share information about how their unit has responded to IER 21-4. Attendees are encouraged to bring their experiences in responding to the IER and what services they are using to increase efficiency in vendor quality management. We will discuss critical characteristic identification and evaluation, shelf-life evaluations, and receipt testing programs, all with a focus on improving behaviors in support of plant reliability.
In this breakout session, we will discuss how utilities manage the configuration control between the nuclear utility and the transmission utility. NERC requires specific controls to ensure an interface exists, but utilities may elect to control those interfaces differently. This will be used to discuss both NERC and non-NERC required interface control between the utilities. Participants should be prepared to discuss how their utility controls the interface with their transmission provider.
The nuclear industry has two National Response Centers, one in Memphis, TN, and one in Phoenix, AZ. These response centers help U.S. nuclear power plants meet the requirements of the NRC's Mitigation Strategies Order, which was issued after the Fukushima accident. The centers contain extra equipment to duplicate plants' emergency diesel generators, pumps, hoses, etc. This equipment would maintain plant safety functions for an indefinite period if an event disabled a plant's installed safety systems. An industry group, called the Strategic Alliance for FLEX Emergency Response (SAFER), is managing the response centers. Open to all conference attendees, we will travel to the SAFER facility in Phoenix, AZ, for an educational experience and tour.
10 CFR 50.69, 'Risk-Informed Categorization and Treatment of Structures, Systems, and Components for Nuclear Power Reactors', offers significant regulatory relief for licensees who choose to submit a License Amendment Request (LAR), categorize components within safety-related systems, and implement treatment reductions for SSCs categorized as Low Safety Significant. While 10 CFR 50.69 has not received much industry attention over the past 10 years, recent industry focus on Delivering the Nuclear Promise (DNP) has highlighted opportunities associated with this broad rule. This 50.69 presentation will cover the following:
In this presentation we will discuss Owner's Acceptance Reviews and methods for engaging with on-site stakeholders. Here is a copy of the Owner Acceptance Review Problem Statement.
This presentation will discuss how Palo Verde Generating Station integrated FLEX through primary plant, secondary plant, spent fuel pool cooling, and electrical system modifications.
The industry Design Oversight Working Group (DOWG) was established as part of the implementation of the Nuclear Promise Standard Design Process (SDP) initiative to provide oversight of the SDP and other industry design-related activities. This presentation will provide a brief status update on both current and future planned DOWG initiatives.
This breakout session will allow for benchmarking and questions in the industry for those that use or are looking to use the 10 CFR 50.69 rule. This breakout session is a follow up to the presentation earlier in the day. This breakout session covers a brief introduction to the 10 CFR 50.69 rule and describes the implementation and management of the program at Southern Nuclear Company (SNC). This presentation will share cost-saving successes and lessons learned from implementation. It will also focus on how SNC monitors and maintains configuration control of equipment where 10 CFR 50.69 alternative treatments have been applied.
In this breakout session, we will tackle two smaller issues for CM personnel. First, we will discuss Owner's Acceptance Reviews and share how our stations implement this "black-box" step in the Standard Design Process. Attendees should bring their utility's Owner Acceptance tools for sharing. Second, we will discuss methods for engaging with on-site stakeholders. Callaway will share the seminar presentation that was given to on-site stakeholders to increase engagement in engineering change packages.
Proper management of temporary modifications is vital to facility configuration management. This breakout session will focus on the various aspects of temporary modifications including terminology, the criteria for deciding the proper change temporary modification to use, i.e., modification, procedure controlled, or temporary alterations in support of maintenance. Attendees should be prepared to discuss how their plant manages and tracks temporary modifications, problems related to the removal of temporary modifications, site measures used to monitor temporary modifications, and any problems related to the overdue removal of temporary modifications.
The evolution of 3D models and the use of sub-models to exchange data using Industry Standard Formats (e.g., IFC, STEP, or IGES file formats) in lieu of generating PDFs documents to exchange data, is a key topic for new nuclear projects. Real economic benefits can be gained through the direct exchange of 2D or 3D model data between organizations for new nuclear plant projects, e.g., from NSSS Supplier to manufacturers of reactor vessels and large plant equipment and structures. However, issues have been raised regarding compliance with Quality-related obligations, e.g., Design Interface Control, Document Control and Records Management, and maintaining CM Equilibrium. This breakout session will highlight the core topics and encourage participants to share their experiences and plans to implement similar 3D/2D Model data exchanges. Attendee contributions of ideas and inputs will guide the content and scope of future industry guidelines that will address identified technical and administrative issues.
This breakout session will discuss best practices associated with the management and controls for tracking and updating Facility Configuration Information (FCI) as part of an approved physical change. This breakout will focus on how "as-engineered" FCI is transitioned to "as-built" FCI through closeout of an approved physical change. Topics expected to be discussed include best practices for the various stakeholder organizations involved in managing these changes (Engineering Support, Drafting, etc.), a graded approach regarding the timeliness of implementing FCI changes, and potential opportunities where digital technology could further improve the process (by minimizing backlog and reducing vulnerabilities to a Configuration Management Program) for the session's participants.
This breakout session will provide an opportunity for the various utilities represented at the conference to share OE and lessons learned around vendor supplied equipment which is treated as a "black box". We will discuss how various utilities handle UNID selection to assist Operations and Maintenance. We will discuss how these vendors supplied pieces of equipment are integrated into plant documentation and determine what works best for the various participants.
Past presentations given at CMBG from Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) discussed the development of models and programs to improve the configuration management of Shin-Kori units 5 & 6. This year, KEPCO will present configuration management using 3D models for the Saeul units 3 & 4 project, which is currently being designed for new construction.
This presentation will provide an update on the status of Vogtle, units 3 & 4.
Palo Verde Generating Station is the only nuclear plant in the world that doesn't sit on a large body of water, it's in the middle of a desert! So how does the plant get cooling water and what do they do with the wastewater? The plant receives its cooling water from effluent water provided by nearby cities. In addition, the plant is a zero-release facility, meaning its wastewater is sent to large evaporation ponds and not released back to the environment. This presentation will provide a detailed look at this complex process and how the Palo Verde Water Resources plant, which sits next to the nuclear facility, provides cooling water to the nation's largest power producer.