Browns Ferry Breaks the US Outage Record

TVA's Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant, Unit 3, a 1155 MWe BWR, ended an outage on April 10, 2002 after 14 days, 16 hours, and 54 minutes that broke the US BWR and PWR refueling outage record. In addition, the plant achieved a world record generation of 17.8 billion kilowatt-hours in a 669-day continuous run.

The primary goal for the outage, as defined by Browns Ferry, was to achieve a safe and efficient refueling outage in less than 20 days. Prior to the start of the outage, the site refuel floor was modified to add a track extension to the refuel bridge for parallel use of an auxiliary platform that allowed two or more teams to work simultaneously.

Advanced Planning Reduced Outage Duration

Framatome ANP's scope included fuel movement, in-vessel-visual inspection, core spray piping UT examination, and the exchange of 16 control rod blades. Dual platform capability and multiple crews provided opportunities for parallel path work. This added flexibility to the scheduling of contracted work resulting in an overall outage duration reduction. Extensive pre-outage planning involving all outage participants took place months prior to the start of the outage. Detailed schedules and resource planning were used to minimize transition time between activities.

M. Elvis Hollins, Senior Outage/ Daily Scheduling Manager commented, "We challenged you in several areas such as fuel handling. We had only averaged 9.3 bundles per hour for several previous outages and we set a target of improving to at least 10.5 for this outage and then scheduled the outage at 11.2 to challenge ourselves to meet the target and ultimately averaged about 12 moves per hour. This was a significant contributor to our success."

Cooperation is a Key Factor

Steve Huntington, Framatome ANP's Vice President Outage Services was very complimentary of the level of coordination between TVA and the Framatome ANP reactor service crews. "Our cooperation with the outage staff at Browns Ferry was exceptional. By initiating our preparations a year before the outage started, we were able to fully integrate the Framatome ANP supplied services into the overall schedule. Some creative thinking allowed us to create a number of parallel paths in reactor service activities that really paid off."

TVA Chief Nuclear Officer John Scalice said, "Achieving this level of excellence requires day-to-day attention to detail, forethought, and close tracking and trending of performance."

Even with the delays, the performance of the entire team on this outage proves that a 14-day outage or better in a GE BWR plant is a reality.

Unpacking a fuel assembly in preparation for refueling

Turkey Point Breaks the US PWR Outage Record

Framatome ANP, teamed with Master-Lee, helped Florida Light and Power (FPL) Company's Turkey Point, Unit 4 break the US PWR outage record on April 7, 2002. The outage lasted 15 days, 15 hours and 45 minutes. The previous record was one day longer, set in November 2000, and was held by Exelon's Braidwood Unit 2.

In achieving this record, Ed Avella, Maintenance Manager for Turkey Point commented, "The impact of our partnership with Framatome ANP and Master-Lee has grown every outage. Combining the strengths of our FPL operations and maintenance staff with Framatome ANP led to this world-class performance. FPL expects a very high level of performance and professionalism from our outage contractors. Framatome ANP filled the bill."

FPL indicated that the shorter outage duration can be attributed both to the growing partnership between Framatome ANP and FPL as well as improved management processes. For example, with careful planning, some reactor disassembly was performed simultaneously rather than in series to save outage time. Communications and monitoring capabilities were optimized to quickly identify emerging issues and deal with them expeditiously.

CRDM Ductwork Modification Results in Increased Coolant Flow

The Framatome ANP/Master-Lee workscope included reactor vessel head disassembly and reassembly, full core off load and reload, and a bare-head inspection. Framatome ANP crews also provided reactor coolant (RC) pump seal replacement services and RCP motor advisory services. In addition, modifications were performed to the control rod drive mechanism (CRDM) ductwork to supply increased coolant flow for CRDMs. According to the plant, this modification already is showing improved cooling flows and it is expected that material conditions will be improved as a result of the improved flows. Future outage time savings are expected to be a result of this modification and it also will help reduce the time required for disassembly and reassembly. Other work performed included performing maintenance on the intake structure and replacing the startup transformer and two circulating water pumps.

In addition to setting the outage record, FPL also set an internal record for the lowest personnel exposure with a collective rate of 62.5 person-rem versus their previous best of 87 person-rem.

Steve Huntington, Framatome ANP's Vice President Outage Services, commented, "We have appreciated the trust and confidence that the Turkey Point staff has shown in our team. With our new long-term alliance in place, we will continue to look for ways to help improve outage performance and overall plant operations at the FPL sites. They really are right to ask for more. The performance bar in our industry continues to rise."

Installation of the CRDM ductwork modification