Millstone’s two pressurized water reactors in Waterford, Conn., and Seabrook’s single PWR in Seabrook, N.H., are the only power reactors in operation in the New England region, with total capacities at Millstone and Seabrook of 2,122 and 1,248 Net MWe, respectively.

The region’s governors, though, may seek to expand these numbers. The governors of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont issued a joint statement in support of exploring next-generation nuclear energy technologies. The bipartisan announcement also urges continued support for local nuclear facilities like Millstone and Seabrook.

Natalie Yonker

It’s all about finding the sweet spot: performing the correct maintenance at the correct interval (that is, the longest possible) with the correct resources (people, parts, and plant conditions) in a safe and efficient manner.

When engineering and maintenance teams adjust periodic maintenance (PM) intervals for plant components, they must take into consideration operating history, industry experience and guidelines, and vendor recommendations. This data, in conjunction with risk assessment, can be used to stretch maintenance intervals. If a valve fails before the scheduled PM, for example, the PM interval may be too long. But if a valve is overhauled during every refueling outage and the soft parts still look new each time, extending the PM interval would save money via man-hours, parts, and scope. A smaller outage work scope results in shorter outages, which results in less money spent on replacement power for the utility. That’s the real savings.