Bruce Power Aging Obsolescence Program

Abstract

The Aging and Obsolescence Program (AOP) developed by AECL in cooperation with Bruce Power ensures that Bruce Power is able to proactively manage plant critical component vulnerabilities before failure, thereby improving unit forced outage rates and reliability. AOP involves application of INPO AP-913 guidance for aging and obsolescence. The process includes component criticality identification and prioritization, single point vulnerability identification, and development of the technical basis to support maintenance. This includes replace or repair strategies, identification of critical spare parts and stocking parameters, through to the identification and resolution of obsolescence issues. The program is applicable to all components in a plant, but is being applied initially to critical components. This includes all Bruce B criticality category 1 components and those components that have caused plant trips or outages The program was also expanded to include review of buried piping for both Bruce A and B, additional plant systems based upon health status, and heat exchangers. Critical Spare Parts and Obsolescence Assessments identify and manage critical spare parts and obsolescence for Bruce Power SSCs (structures, systems, and components) and optimize spare parts inventory, which is intended to meet both planned and un-planned demand. In order to facilitate implementation of the AOP, the project includes integration of the program into Bruce Power processes and procedures. The cooperation between Bruce Power and AECL on AOP began as a small pilot project in 2007 where the program and procedures were developed by analysis of a few select components. The paper describes the Bruce Power Aging Obsolescence Program, the novelties and improvements of this integrated methodology and progress made to date.