Angra 2 began commercial operation in December 2000

The very first refueling outage performed in Brazil's 1350 MWe PWR unit Angra 2 earlier this year took just 28 days to complete - two days less than originally scheduled. Framatome ANP's Integrated Services Concept contributed substantially to this success. By combining individual outage tasks into larger, optimized work packages, the number of interfaces between the plant operator and subcontractors is reduced, waiting time between jobs as well as overall plant downtime is minimized and, finally, outage costs are reduced.

The large scope of work scheduled for Angra 2's first refueling outage in March 2002 included not only reactor services and refueling but also maintenance of various valves, pumps and pump motors. In addition, extensive in-service inspections and maintenance work were performed on the electrical systems and instrumentation and control equipment as well as the ventilation systems and reactor coolant pumps. Steam generators 10 and 40 were subjected to eddy-current examinations and the containment was leak-tested.

The maintenance package also included non-outage-related tasks to be performed during 2002 while the plant is on line.

Close Cooperation with Customer

Thanks to the close relationship which had been built up with the customer - the state-owned company ELETRONUCLEAR (Eletrobrás Termonuclear S.A.) - during construction and initial startup of the plant, Framatome ANP, together with its German partner Gemeinschaftskernkraftwerk Neckar (GKN), was able to make an important contribution towards ensuring successful outage performance by carefully planning the activities well in advance. Here, Framatome ANP's permanent on-site personnel, who support the customer in operations management, played a key role. This on-site team consists of shift supervisors from GKN as well as personnel from Framatome ANP and Siemens, and is supported by a project team based in Germany.

All outage activities were performed in close collaboration with the customer and experienced subcontractors from Germany and Brazil. Approximately 260 people employed by Framatome ANP and various subcontractors as well as about 500 Brazilian specialists supplied by the customer were deployed on site.

Contingency Planning Reduces Delays

To maintain the tight time schedule, contingency measures occasionally had to be implemented to make up for delays. This resulted for example, in the steam generator eddy-current examinations and the work on the reactor coolant pumps being completed in four days instead of the originally scheduled seven.

• The detailed preliminary planning and preparations performed by ELETRONUCLEAR, Framatome ANP and GKN were the prime factors contributing to this success.
• By combining individual tasks into larger work packages, optimum use was made of synergies while simultaneously minimizing the number of interfaces. Technical or schedule-related interdependencies between the various work packages were taken directly into account by Framatome ANP's outage management team, carefully coordinated and integrated each day into the overall outage time schedule. This facilitated outage performance and coordination.
• The ELETRONUCLEAR and Framatome ANP outage management teams worked in close partnership. This enabled any problems or queries arising during the outage to be solved quickly and efficiently, thus ensuring that everything went smoothly.
• Framatome ANP's highly motivated personnel consistently implemented the best technical solutions in line with the outage time schedule.