In my role at NEI as a technical advisor in engineering and risk, I have the opportunity to maximize the availability of our cleanest source of electricity. In the past few years, I have worked with several utilities to help update implementation of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s rules that govern plant equipment operations (also known as technical specifications) to be more safety-focused, or “risk-informed."
Recently, Exelon Corp. demonstrated how beneficial it can be to update the approach to implementation of these rules. Because of our work, Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant was able to efficiently maintain a piece of equipment while still generating carbon-free nuclear energy.
Calvert Cliffs needed to take a power inverter out of service for repairs last week. Under a traditional technical specification program, the reactor would have had to shut down within two hours to address the issue. Analysis at the plant had shown, however, that the condition with the inverter would not result in any change in safety at the plant for at least 30 days.
Exelon would have been required to interrupt the generation of clear air electricity to residents throughout the mid-Atlantic region. But with their new risk-informed program as approved by the NRC, the operators were able to deliberately pursue a repair while keeping the plant on line. Using risk analyses to make decisions about plant operations means that Calvert Cliffs was able to keep producing carbon-free electricity efficiently and safely at full capacity.
While this program is not yet widely implemented across the industry yet, several other plants have filed NRC applications to adopt it. Many others are planning to follow over the next 18 months. This will ultimately lead to safer and more efficient operations at plants and will enable all of us to enjoy more clean energy generation from these facilities. The success at Calvert Cliffs provides a great example of what risk-informed regulation can do to help preserve our current fleet of nuclear plants and the carbon-free electricity they provide.
