Exelon: Refueling begins with 2-year planning process
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By Doug Schorpp | Tuesday, March 18, 2008 |
CORDOVA, Ill. — Exelon Nuclear’s Quad-Cities Generating Station Unit 2 went offline at 12:01 a.m. March 3 to begin a scheduled refueling and maintenance outage.
Plant employees along with about 2,000 supplemental workers are performing extensive inspections, testing and maintenance on a wide range of components and equipment in addition to refueling the reactor. That ensures that once the unit returns to service it will operate safely and reliably during the next 24-month cycle. The outages must take place every two years.
The station also is performing comprehensive work on the Unit 2 main generator, the machine that actually produces electricity.
“We always prepare extensively for planned outages, but we have doubled our efforts on this one to ensure we coordinate the generator work with the refuel to ensure that all the work is completed safely and efficiently,” site vice president Tim Tulon said.
Unit 2 operated for 368 days prior to the shutdown. Unit 1 continues to supply electricity to Exelon customers during the outage.
According to the generating station, its outages are planned in basically three phases:
n Outage Preparation Phase: Planning a typical 25-day refuel outage entails about 10,000 work activities and takes two years of preparation. This covers goals, scope and control. Lots of work goes into developing a schedule to ensure the maximum efficiencies are reached during the time the reactor is offline. These plans include comprehensive safety plans, preparing detailed work packages, contingencies and procurement of thousands of parts and supplies. This
also is the phase where budgets and work force needs are
determined.
n Outage Execution Phase: Key areas are implementing the safety plan, controlling the plant configuration, monitoring performance, communication, and executing and closing the work.
n Outage Closeout Phase: Key areas are demobilization, reporting, critique, and lessons learned.
Bill Harris, communications manager for the generating station, said each unit is refueled — replacing about a third of the reactor’s nuclear fuel — every two years.
“We have that organized so that every year, one of the units is refueled. However, there is a host of other work that takes place during the outage,” he said. “Think about it. Our intent is that these units, after we button up from a refueling, run continuously for two years. That means many areas with loads of equipment are then not available for service for two years.”
He said this is the 19th time Unit 2 has undergone a refueling.
How long does it actually take with so many people working around the clock? Harris said last year when Unit 1 underwent the same process, it took 19.2 days, which was a record for the plant.
Tulon said the “planning already is in progress for the next one,” on Unit 1, which will take place in May 2009.
In addition to outage work, he said the plant also is rewinding the main electrical generator. “We do this once ever 35 years and it’s never been done.” The plant opened in 1972.
Tulon said the original plan was to have the facility stay open until 2012, but it has been given a 20-year extension to 2032. And it could be extended again.
“There is a possibility that the life of Quad-Cities Generating Station as well as others could have another life extension on the license,” Harris said.
Doug Schorpp can be contacted at (563) 383-2292 or dschorpp@qctimes.com.
Comment on this story at qctimes.com.
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