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Application of reliability-centered maintenance to the auxiliary feedwater system at San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station

Conference · · Trans. Am. Nucl. Soc.; (United States)
OSTI ID:5529968

Reliability-centered maintenance (RCM) is a systematic methodology for defining applicable and effective preventive maintenance (PM) tasks. In 1984, the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) studied the air transport industry's RCM program as a candidate for technology transfer to the nuclear power industry. EPRI initiated two RCM pilot projects that directly utilized the RCM methodology developed by the aviation industry. The first RCM application was to the component cooling water systems of Florida Power and Light's Turkey Point Units 3 and 4. The second application was to the main feedwater system at Duke Power's McGuire Station. The results of these studies clearly indicate the benefits of the system-oriented RCM approach, and many areas for cost-effective improvements to PM programs were identified. After the completion of these two pilot studies, Southern California Edison and EPRI initiated an application of RCM to the auxiliary feedwater (AFW) system at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, Unit 2. In contrast to the previous EPRI-sponsored applications to normally operating systems, the AFW system is a standby safety system. The study results demonstrate the usefulness of extending the RCM methodology to standby safety systems. The specific results show promise of reducing the PM costs for the AFW system at San Onofre while maintaining highly reliable system performance. The recommendations from this study are currently being considered for implementation by the plant maintenance staff.

OSTI ID:
5529968
Report Number(s):
CONF-870837-
Journal Information:
Trans. Am. Nucl. Soc.; (United States), Journal Name: Trans. Am. Nucl. Soc.; (United States) Vol. 54; ISSN TANSA
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English