|
Frequently Asked Questions regarding the development of new Configuration Management practices at new build nuclear power plants.
If you have a question that is not on this list, please let us know through the Contact Us page.
|
|
What is Configuration Management? |
 |
 |
 |
|
Configuration Management is the set of practices necessary to effectively manage all of the commitments, promises, and obligations made regarding the design, construction, operation, maintenance, and de-commissioning of a commercial nuclear electricity production facility from the inception of the design until the return to 'green field' over a period as long as 80 to 100 years.
Configuration Management includes the practices of identifying and documenting the design characteristics of a facility's structures, systems and components (including computer systems and software), and ensuring that changes to these characteristics are properly developed, assessed, approved, issued, implemented, verified, recorded and incorporated into the facility documentation.
These practices must be sufficient such that at any moment during the lifetime of the facility, fulfillment of any or all the promises made regarding regulations, codes & standards, and contractual commitments associated with the facility can be demonstrated on demand with little or no overhead.
|
|
|
Why is Configuration Management needed? |
|
|
|
|
Without effective and complete Configuration Management, there is no confidence that the nuclear power plant has been designed, constructed, and is being operated in accordance with design requirements, and that changes to the plant configuration are consistent with those requirements.
Without this confidence in plant configuration, regulators, governmental authorities, and the public will not allow continued operation of an industrial facility that carries the inherent perceived risk of a nuclear power plant.
|
|
What does Configuration Management do? |
|
|
|
|
Configuration Management maintains a precise correlation between all design requirements, regardless of origin, the documentation that supports plant design, maintenance, and operation, and the physical configuration of the plant.
|
|
|
What is the current state of Configuration Management in the US? |
|
|
|
|
Currently, there is a great degree of variance in the understanding and implementation of Configuration Management in the United States. The current state of the art has evolved based on the cost-prohibitive reconstruction of design requirements, and consequently works with an artificially limited subset of plant design requirements.
While considered adequate by US regulatory authorities for existing nuclear power plants, it is generally considered ineffective management of design requirements in contrast to contemporary Configuration Management practices, and inadequate for the management of the configuration of new nuclear power plants. |
|
|
|
|
<< Start < Prev 1 2 3 4 Next > End >>
|
|
Page 1 of 4 |