Rebirth of nuclear power

This paper reports on the coming generation of nuclear power plant designs that carries a special opportunity for configuration management that was impossible in the past because of the limits of computer-based technology. For new nuclear facilities, this opportunity requires none of the efforts inherent in reconstructing the design basis in existing facilities. It can start with the Nuclear Steam Supply System (NSSS) vendor data at the very inception of design and grow with the addition of information from other vendors, the engineer, the constructor, the utility, and the regulatory agencies. The technology for this application of computer-based systems to configuration management is already in daily use in the design of numerous fossil fueled power plants, and if acted upon quickly, offers the foundation for an unprecedented opportunity in nuclear plant configuration management