Streamlined Reliability Centred Maintenance (RCM) - Application to CANDU 6 Stations

Abstract

Over the past five years, Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. (AECL) has been working with CANDU utilities on Plant Life Management (PLiM) programs that will see existing CANDU plants through their design life and beyond. As part of this initiative, AECL and New Brunswick Power have partnered to develop a Systematic Approach to Maintenance program applied to selected critical plant systems. This paper will describe how streamlined Reliability Centred Maintenance (RCM) techniques have been applied on systems at the Point Lepreau Generating Station to provide a sound documented basis for maintenance strategies. These strategies have emphasised a hierarchy of condition based maintenance, time based maintenance and, where appropriate, corrective maintenance. The major steps in the process are described. The clear benefits of focusing maintenance in areas where it is needed and effective from the context of impact on system function requirements are described. The basis of the maintenance program is fully documented at the individual task level. The results of the program are also used to define maintenance strategies for future CANDU power plants.