- TIP Awards showcase nuclear innovation across industry
- NEI awards 12 teams for major breakthroughs and advancements
- Exelon’s equipment testing program wins Best-of-the-Best Award
Facing down economic headwinds, the nuclear industry continues to generate the largest chunk of America’s carbon-free electricity more efficiently than ever before. And it’s not just new reactors that hold the monopoly on innovation—the existing fleet comes in for its fair share as well. As nuclear’s best and brightest gathered in Atlanta for the Nuclear Energy Assembly, NEI honored 12 industry teams who have “powered the extraordinary” and made innovative ideas a reality for their plants.
Twelve teams from across the industry were presented Top Innovative Practice (TIP) Awards for their pioneering advancements, which include a touch-screen simulator to train control room operators, a robotic crawler to measure plant equipment more efficiently, and the first commercial nuclear plant to load accident tolerant fuel.
“Every year, NEI recognizes the achievements of the hardworking men and women of America’s nuclear energy industry and honors the most outstanding innovations that continue to improve the safety, reliability and efficiency of America’s nuclear power plants,” said Sue Perkins-Grew, senior director of nuclear security and incident preparedness.
Our industry thrives on new ideas and the TIP Awards showcase how the bright minds in nuclear are driven by purpose, moving the industry forward.
The industry’s highest innovation award, the B. Ralph Sylvia Best-of-the-Best TIP Award, was presented to Exelon Corp. for their parts quality initiative. By instituting a program to inspect and test spare parts before installation at the plant, Exelon was able to reduce capacity loss due to manufacturing defects by 69 percent. Other utilities have begun to adapt Exelon’s initiative to gain similar efficiencies.
Check out who made up the winning teams in the media gallery below.
