Shorter outage experiences with PWRs in Japan

This paper summarizes the mission of a Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. (MHI) in-house project team and the results of implementing shorter outage durations for operating PWRs in Japan. The project team was formed to develop integrated action programs aiming to achieve performance goals for shorter outages. Major tasks of the project team were to develop outage performance goals based on benchmarking operational and outage related statistics, and to develop packages of recommendations for outage enhancement covering field procedures, tooling improvements, etc. Optimization studies for maintenance tasks, including inspection, repair and routine overhaul of components, were also carried out. This paper also highlights the actual results of efforts obtained to date at some selected operating plants. (author)