A Systems Engineering Approach - For Capturing Unused Margin in an Aging Plant

It has also become very difficult to procure spare parts for pumps, valves and instrumentation. These issues, in addition to regulatory driven issues, are continually increasing the operation and maintenance (O and M) budgets for the owner utilities. In addition, rising electrical demands, lack of new base load capacity, and the environmental costs of burning plant operators to maintain high availability on their aging plants. In fact, part of the National Energy Strategy developed by the U.S. Department of Energy focuses on extending the normal operating life of these aging nuclear plants by 20 years beyond their 40 year design life. These factors have caused improve plant performance and unit availability as a means of stabilizing or reducing operating and maintenance costs. One such opportunity is margin enhancement through available margin created or captured can then be used for improving operating performance, for addressing aging mechanisms, or for stretching plant power