ADVERTORIAL FEATURE | PARAGON ENERGY SOLUTIONS
Nuclear Moneyball: The Art of Winning
In the high-risk era of plant modernisations and closures, can playing the odds help modest-budgeted plants thrive?
IF YOU’RE A FAN OF baseball or even sports analytics, you have likely heard of Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game. The book by Michael Lewis – published in 2003 and made into a movie in 2011 – is about a resource-constrained baseball team and its savvy general manager. Its focus is the team’s analytical, evidence-based approach to assembling a competitive baseball team despite a seemingly unsurmountable budget disadvantage. We will explore a key, parallel idea relevant to securing the future of nuclear instrumentation and control (I&C) systems.. Unfortunately, in the two decades since the book’s
Tighe Smith
Paragon Energy Solutions
Ryan Marcum I&C Operative
publication, the nuclear industry has been frustratedly anticipating the next true renaissance. Though, as full-plant modernisations are underway, the long-heralded new era looks to be “just around the corner.” What can we learn from the triumph of a modest baseball team that might just help us get over our own systematic hump? Hint: it’s an unlikely link between on-base percentage and your plant’s bridging strategy. The 2020s are an exciting time to be supporting nuclear. Along with the first subsequent license renewal (SLR) approvals (and subsequent de-approvals #NoTakeBacks) from the NRC, the DOE is heavily invested in advanced reactor technology. Many SMR start-ups are starting to show real promise to bring Gen IV reactors online within the next decade. While a handful of current-fleet and advanced reactors are bravely leading the US digital revolution, most
of the remaining industry must figure out a way to move their more risk-averse cultures onboard with their future at stake.
Surprisingly, some digital safety-related systems selected
for present-day modernisation are considered obsolete from the OEM perspective. Modernisation evokes excitement and hope but often
carries an intimidating connotation because of legacy challenges with digital upgrades. Are we dutifully pausing to ask whether it is necessary or even worth the additional resources and regulatory risk for all plants to pursue the same steep, uphill path? What can plants without the appetite or resources for such an undertaking expect? A full-scale digital upgrade of safety-related systems plus a control room overhaul might be too daunting for non-fleet reactors or single-unit plants to justify. Yet the pressure of obsolescence – concerns from analog component sourcing scarcity to unsupported vendor platforms – is undeniable. In a presentation on digital transformation, one subject
matter expert and executive at a large US-based nuclear fleet, presented their thoughts on the factors contributing to the industry’s current technological bottleneck as an
Industry-wide problem: ● Original construction systems are reaching the end of their practical service life and performance issues are becoming more common
Right: The HIPS platform
30 | June 2022 |
www.neimagazine.com
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