Solving the Challenge of "Too Much Work" one "Thin Vertical Slice at a Time"

Abstract

The commercial nuclear power industry, including CANDU designs, is challenged with ever increasing pressures to accomplish more work with fewer resources. Aging plants, shrinking budgets, experienced personnel leaving the industry and an ever increasing required level of performance are all adding to this challenge. The bright side to this challenge is that industry performance has been outstanding. By most accounts performance of the commercial nuclear industry has never been better. According to the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), “Last year’s performance was outstanding.” • The fleet operated at almost 92 percent, the highest capacity factor ever and a reflection of the effort utility personnel bring to plant management and operations. • Output set an all-time record, over 800 billion kilowatt-hours – mostly the result of high capacity factors, but also due to more capacity available. • High output obviously drives economic performance. NEI estimates production cost last year was $16.80 per megawatt-hour – cheaper than coal. • New construction is proceeding. Nine applications filed with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for construction/operating licenses, and between 7 and 11 more are expected before the end of the year. Two current designs have already certified by the NRC, and three are pending certification. Companies are ordering long long-lead components to support construction. The dark side to this challenge is not just “too much work”. The problem in ACA’s view is that existing processes for identification and completion of work have become so complex that they are inefficient and ineffective. Experienced personnel that used to populate our industry could deal with these processes. The newer, less experienced personnel that did not grow up with these processes cannot. Another significant contributor to this challenge of “too much work” at some plants is the under-investment in our assets. Efforts to cut costs have resulted in a long term under-investment in our assets, including people, plant, process, tools and data that have left us with a debt to be paid. Plant resources are being expended on operating and maintaining equipment that should have been replaced years ago. Critical equipment, that should never fail, is failing far too often. The emergent work caused by the failure of this critical equipment significantly impacts our plant organizations. Instead of working on preventing failures much of our time is spent reacting to what failed yesterday. The corrective action program is driving the use of our resources. We are challenged to “get ahead” of where we are today.