Improving Outage Performance: Outage Optimization Process

Planned outage performance is a key measure of how well an Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) is operated. Performance during planned outages strongly affects virtually all of a plant’s performance metrics. In recognition of this fact, NPP operators worldwide have and continue to focus on improving their outage performance. The process of improving outage performance is commonly referred to as ‘Outage Optimization’ in the industry. This paper starts with a summary of the principles of Outage Optimization. It then provides an overview of a process in common use in the USA and elsewhere to manage the improvement of planned outages. The program described is comprehensive in that it involves managing improvement in both the Preparation and Execution phases of outage management.