Nuclear units nationwide are struggling to increase plant reliability and availability while at the same time reduce their operating and maintenance costs. Some very costly investments have been made in programs such as Reliability Centered Maintenance [RCM]. Florida Power & Light’s approach at the St. Lucie Nuclear Plant has taken a slightly different approach. Building on our knowledge of the RCM process and an already existing “World Class” Predictive Maintenance Program, a “Condition-Based” Maintenance Program that takes advantage of the RCM philosophy and our toolbox full of advanced and highly successful predictive maintenance technologies. These tools currently consist of vibration analysis, lubricant analysis (both physical property & wear metals analysis, thermographic analysis, motor current signature analysis, tribology & process parameter trending. All employed with the intent to evaluate a machines health. This machine health check allows the forecasting of future preventative maintenance [PM’s] tasks and the revision of existing PM’s to maximize machine performance and eliminate “no-value-added” maintenance activities/costs. Within the last year, the Condition-Based Maintenance Program has produced a cost saving of approximately $1.5 million dollars. As the program matures, these cost savings will accumulate well into the millennium.

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