Turbine pedestal cracking problem at FPL Martin Plant-Unit 2

This paper presents some of the benefits that FPL's Power Plant Engineering Department realized from implementing a reliability approach to civil engineering issues. The paper discusses some cost effective measures that can be implemented in a short period of time, require no new personnel, and provide immediate improvements in operating power plant availability. In addition, the paper presents a case study of how the use of these measures benefited FPL when addressing what, at first, appeared to be a simple reinforced concrete failure. By using a few basic reliability tools, the engineering staff was able to determine that the failure had significant potential for future cost and reliability impacts. Without the use of these tools, the concrete would probably have been repaired and the root causes for the failure and resulting impacts would not have been addressed