U.S. DOE emergency diesel performance prediction

The U.S. Department of Energy has been examining extension of the operational lives of commercial nuclear power plants through improved performance and continued operation beyond the initial term of the operating license. One technique that seems promising for this task is the prediction of equipment performance through the use of innovative monitoring schemes. This technique is best applied to equipment that experiences failures that are not easily correlated with other commonly used indicators such as cumulative operating time or number of stress cycles. Such equipment often has testing and maintenance performed at periodic intervals. In response to this testing and maintenance, the performance of the equipment could be degraded. One such piece of equipment is the emergency diesel generator