Maintenance, costs nuclear plant

It seems increasingly clear that the operating cost (operation and maintenance plus fuel costs) is very competitive with the same cost of its main competitors, coal-and gas fired plants. Therefore, the economic advantage of life extension is obvious, and also the clear trend to operate existing nuclear power plants on base load only. Even in France where there are too many nuclear plants to operate them all on base load, there is a trend to decrease the share of nuclear power in total production in view to operate eventually all... 

As of file early 1990s the hislnrieal importance of coball ill alloys for reducing wear resistance was markedly diminished by the development of Norem alloys, which were derived from stainless steel, particularly the Armco Nitronic 60. admittedly one of the few stainless steels that has excellent wear resistance. This is an outgrowth of research conducted by EPRI (Electric Power Research Institute) in an effort to lower equipment costs. Initial uses of the new cobalt-frec alloys will he power plant valves and turbines. Also. In nuclear reactor applications, the Nnrem alloys will not become activated [Co does), reducing worker-protection and maintenance costs. Tests have confirmed that the new cobalt-free alloys retain their wear-resistant properties when produced as rods and powders, the most common forms used by welders. 

Optimized preventive maintenance programmes can contribute to ensuring both safe and competitive NPPs. Reliability centered maintenance provides an optimization of preventive maintenance. The principles underlying reliability centred maintenance include preventing failures where the repercussions for the plant could be serious in terms of safety or economics. The methodology involves evaluation of the functional consequences of failure, analyses of experience feedback, and optimization of preventive maintenance tasks. Electricite de France (EdF) has implemented preventive maintenance programmes based on a reliability centred maintenance methodology at EdF nuclear plants, and results have shown benefits in safety, performance and cost. 

Production costs are the key issue in the competitiveness of electricity generation. Although nuclear power is a capital-intensive generation form, low operation and maintenance costs are a mandatory target for every power plant. At Olkiluoto we have been able to keep the fixed O M costs at almost constant level during the past 15 years, as shown in Fig. 1. 

To ensure safest possible operation and to get best overall eeonomie performance of its Nuclear Power Plants, 10 years ago Electricite de Fiance launched a Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) project to optimize the preventive maintenance programs. The principles underlying the RCM approach are based on common sense failures must be prevented by preventive maintenance operations in all cases when the repercussions for the installation could be serious or critical in term of safety, availability or maintenance costs. The approach is a 3-phases process ... 

The implementation of optimized Preventive Maintenance Programs drawn up using the RCM methodology is now effective at EDF nuclear plants. The first experience feedback shows some appreciable benefits regarding safety, performance and cost. The impact on the operator culture is proven positive as well. 

Siemens Nuclear Power GmbH, in cooperation with plant operators, is currently implementing new and improved service concepts which can have a major effect on the way in which maintenance will be performed in the future. Innovative service packages for maintenance in nuclear power plants are available which can be used to perform a time- and cost-effective maintenance. 

Today, Siemens Nuclear Power GmbH already has a number of innovative tools and service packages available for future nuclear power plant maintenance. The potential for cost reduction in the field of maintenance of nuclear power plants has been exploited thanks to the use of optimized processes and these innovative technologies. The maintenance services provided by Siemens Nuclear Power GmbH enabled to make an important contribution to this success. 

Note, however, that wind plants also have high up-front costs though their maintenance costs are relatively low. Wind, though a free resource, is an erratic unreliable source of power. Consequently, the plants tend to operate at low capacity levels, around 23% in 1994. Fossil fuel and nuclear power plants typically operate at 75-90% of capacity [62]. 

Low Operating, Maintenance and Security Costs The nuclear plant must be no more demanding in any aspect of normal operation than a small fossil-fired station. Small size... 

The infrastnicture of nuclear ship maintenance centres available in the Russian Federation could be effectively used to minimize maintenance costs under operation as well as requirements for local construction skills this could be especially important when exporting the plants to developing countries and... 

The infrastructure for nuclear ship maintenance available in Russia would make it possible to minimize maintenance costs in operation of the plants as well as reduce the requirements for local labour skills, which could be especially important when exporting such plants to developing countries. 

Payofffunction of site licensed companies The generation of electricity from nuclear sources has an associated economic revenue from trading off in the energy market as well as some cost related to the construction, maintenance, running and decommissioning of the nuclear plant. 

Safety and investment protection Accident resistance Design simplification in all aspects of design, construction, operation, and maintenance. Complexity of the plant design has been one of the main sources of high capital cost and threat to the safety of nuclear plants A large thermal capacity of the primary system in a pool-type reactor... 

Reduced outage rate at a nuclear plant and an estimated direct annual maintenance cost saving of half a million dollars... 

The estimated annual maintenance cost for a plant of the size considered is approximately. I, iO(),(KX), which includes the capital investment of maintenance equipment. This amounts to about 4 mills/kwh at 60% capacity factor or 3 mills/kwh at 80% capacity factor. I hc lo0,000-kw nuclear power plant described is estimated to cost 375.00/kw or 850,400,000, excluding 85,000,000 to 10,000,000 for research and development. 

Even if wind is free, wind farms need to be built, operated, and maintained and cost about 1000 to 2000 per kW to build. Some claim that with the operating and maintenance costs, the cost of a productive wind farm is in the same range as coal, gas, and nuclear power plants [16]. Wind-based technology costs from 0,045 to 0.140/kWh. The capacity of a wind turbine is dependent on the wind speed and therefore cost can vary radically. Every little increase in wind speed (even just 5km/h) will multiply exponentially the power generated by a wind turbine. A wind speed of 14-90km/h is needed for wind turbines to operate productively. 

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