A Digital-First Strategy for the Nuclear Renaissance
Managing Information Technology to Support New Nuclear Reactor Delivery and Operation
By Maggie Berg, Andy Zetlan
& Keith Cooke
Adopting a Digital-First Strategy is essential for the future of nuclear energy.
INTRODUCTION
As a new era of nuclear energy unfolds, countries are gearing up to deliver innovative Nuclear Power Plants and Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) in response to the urgent demand for carbon-free, reliable electricity. This article explores the technological advancements driving this nuclear renaissance and highlights how a Digital-First strategy addresses historical challenges in information technology during the lifecycle of a nuclear plant. By ensuring seamless data integration from planning through to decommissioning, this approach promises significant cost savings and enhanced operational efficiency for plant Owner Operators and their teams.
For the first time in decades, new nuclear builds—both conventional and small modular reactors (SMRs)—are gaining momentum worldwide. This renaissance in nuclear energy technology is primarily driven by the ongoing push to deliver sustainable, net-zero-emission clean electricity.
The 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) and the World Economic Forums stated that future economic growth is strongly dependent on a future of NetZero carbon emissions in the global battle to slow climate change. Further it recognized that technologies, such as AI, are driving explosive growth in the demand for electricity.
At COP28, over 20 countries committed to tripling global nuclear energy capacity by 2050, requiring 25-30 GW to be built annually, starting in 2030.
The World Economic Forum released a framework of nine priority areas that were essential for enabling nuclear across the globe. One of the priority areas, released at the World Economic Forum, focused on transforming project delivery and a key component of this is a digital-first approach.
It stands to reason that with these developments, we look at advances in information technology that supports these plants, from planning through all the new-build phases to the operate and maintain effort stage once the plant is placed into service through to its eventual decommissioning.
One of the areas that has been at issue with new-builds in the past is the availability of software and related information technology used across all phases of the lifetime of the plant.
In older plants, we have experienced a serious disconnect between the design, construction and preparation for bringing the plant online that occurs between the Architectural Engineering (AE) and Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) firms and the transition to the Owner Operator of the plant.
Typically, the AE & EPC firms delivered massive amounts of information as disorganized files of paper. The transition for the Owner Operator has been costly and cumbersome to ensure that their information systems have accurate data to support commissioning, operations and maintenance activities from day one.
The Owner Operator often hired consulting firms to organize and convert the paper-based information into digital formats, enabling key decision making for the 60+ year life of the plant. This was a costly endeavour that delayed the actual operations of the plant.
A digital-first strategy addresses these challenges by ensuring significant cost savings and enabling the comprehensive recording of assets, materials, standard work orders, critical documentation, and other essential information. This data is seamlessly accessible when it’s time to hand over the plant for operation.
Additionally, the digital-first approach provides workflows that empower the Owner Operator to efficiently commission and operate the plant from day one, ensuring safe and effective performance. It also supports the smooth adaptation to process changes as regulations or internal procedures evolve.
The digital-first approach is an important cost and time-saving toolset that streamlines moving a plant successfully from concept to operation.
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The Challenges
Key Problems with Traditional Information Technology Approaches in Nuclear New-Builds
In past new-build projects, Architecture and Engineering firms often designed and constructed complex plants without considering the eventual handover to the Owner Operator. The software and paper-based processes used during design and construction frequently differed from the systems the Owner Operator used for plant operations and maintenance. As a result, during turnover, new software had to be acquired, and data had to be manually entered into these systems.
This process was tedious and time-consuming, involving significant manual efforts such as data conversion, asset and material walkdowns, document reorganization, and the creation of workflows with links to critical documents and materials. This resulted in several problems that Owner Operators faced when turnover took place:
Time & Money
Cost and schedule impacts
Data conversion, manual inputs and testing bring along large information technology implementation projects, coupled with possible change management impacts for employees and the need for rigorous project oversight.
Workflow
Establishment of workflows and related processes
Owner operators must create and test workflows that ensure safety and compliance with regulatory requirements.
Connection
Integration of
workflows with critical documentation
Owner operators must link critical documents to workflows and business processes to ensure safety and compliance and must test these connections.
Data Sharing
Information Security
Moving information and manual data entry brings the possibility of data that has multiple eyes looking at it, just to ensure that the handoff to the owner operator is successful. This results in data security issues that must be avoided.
Third-parties
Regulatory relationships
Making information available to regulators through inquiry and audit typically requires significant time and effort.
Obstacles
Lack of maintenance information
Leveraging advanced maintenance analytics requires a complete history of maintenance. Owner operators have realized that maintenance begins at manufacturing and continues by the AE & EPC firms to turnover. This lack of maintenance history caused advanced analytics to deliver inadequate predictive capabilities.
Other inefficiencies
Owner operators must have material records (e.g., materials and related purchasing documentation and warranties) and must create training and certification processes for users of the system to avoid errors and achieve compliance with regulation and industry standards. These must be populated either from the architect and engineer information systems or manually created.
A Digital-First Approach: Empowering IT Engineers and Chief Nuclear Operators for the Next Era.
LEVERAGING TECHNOLOGY
As we enter this revitalized and reimagined nuclear age, the industry must leverage today’s modern information technology and plan for a future that alleviates these well-known issues. This process requires forethought about the information technology landscape at each phase of the new-build project. It also emphasizes the need to capture and maintain critical information, ensuring it remains seamlessly useful at the turnover point.
The Digital-First Strategy
A digital-first strategy is the recommended approach for nuclear new-build projects. This approach requires that data, workflows, and business processes related to plant construction be digitalized and maintained in a manner that supports the technology systems to be used by the Owner Operator throughout the 7+ year project lifecycle. Digitalization provides additional value by delivering information seamlessly and in near real-time to the software that will be used by the Owner Operator.
A commitment to digitalization is one of the keys to enable the successful turnover of the plant in a manner that will satisfy regulators that the plant is ready for productive service. Digitalization on its own creates efficiencies and offers the opportunity to reimagine traditional business models and workflows in the context of future plant operation and maintenance during construction.
Another key aspect of the digital-first strategy is to implement a standardized user interface that serves throughout all phases of construction and turnover. This approach reduces training and change-management issues for plant personnel. Having a common user interface keeps everyone aligned and facilitates early problem identification before the critical commissioning turnover to plant operation and maintenance.
Advantages of Digitalization include:
Data Capture
Ensures completeness of data and workflows at turnover
Digitalization during plant construction ensures that data is captured as the plant is constructed and will not require re-entry for new software when future phases of the plant’s lifetime occur. A commitment to digitalization reduces errors and ensures that all parties to the construction, test and turnover process are working from the same information.
Compliance
Yields up-to-date workflows and processes
Commitment to digitalization of workflows ensures that compliance requirements are met, and that the connection of people, processes, equipment and tools are built with that compliance in mind. This is a critical need when considering the expected changes in nuclear safety and operations caused by the introduction of so many new nuclear technologies, such as SMR’s, and new operating standards for traditional and existing plants that are forthcoming.
Adaption
Provides a platform for agile adaptation to process and regulatory change
Digitalization of workflows and related business processes enables the adjustment to new approaches and ensures their enforcement in any phase of the new-build process. Many of these changes will require immediate and agile responses from owner operators.
Continuity
Maintains a well-documented audit trail to provide valuable feedback
Ensures that compliance is documented and usable for work analytics and issue resolution, and that the impact of changes to those processes and materials can be measured and reported.
Training
Unifies the user interface
A standardized digital interface simplifies training and compliance when new processes or materials are introduced. It reduces the risk of non-compliance and mitigates traditional implementation challenges that can accompany technological transitions.
Cost Benefits
Reduced cost and time of deployment of newly constructed plants
A digital-first strategy shortens delivery time and accelerates plant turnover and operating license acquisition. Thoughtful and comprehensive information technology approaches can significantly reduce overall project costs. While there is an initial investment to implement the digital-first program, it yields substantial long-term savings.
Enables Training
Assists regulatory training of the Owner Operator's personnel to utilize actual plant information.
Introducing digitalization to a plant feeds real-time data into training systems, such as simulators. This enables instructors to create lifelike scenarios for the training and instruction environment.
The Emphasis on Mobility
The most significant upgrade for Information Technology in the nuclear industry is the growing need for mobile solutions.
These solutions aim to:
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Improve communications with employees and contractors
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Ensure easy access to work process documentation and on-site documents
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Capture relevant data, including photographs, videos, discussions, and voice notes
Workers now expect to:
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Access job-related information and work orders through various devices available throughout the plant site
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Utilize mobile systems (e.g., phones, tablets) even when disconnected
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Have assurance that once reconnected, data will be transmitted and databases securely updated
The human interface must be adaptable to multiple device types, accommodating varying job requirements.
Enabling Digital Strategies
Digital solutions are designed to resolve the issues mentioned earlier, and to provide the common user interface that will secure the information at point of capture that can be utilized throughout the plant life cycle. Further, a digital approach is easy to use, is secure, and empowers both stationary and mobile users in multiple languages. Its data capture includes the following:
Online Forms
The capture and availability of digital forms for permits, requests and any other activity that requires some type of forms to be completed.
Document Management
The capture of documents and with indexing in SharePoint or other document management system (via digital delivery or via scan). The data capture will include contracts, documents regarding the equipment, permits – every digital document that comes into the organization as the plant is designed and built.
Asset Maintenance
The capture of maintenance and inspection workflows (mobile) and recording maintenance activity against the equipment to ensure it is kept up, follows the warranty, even if the asset is not yet installed and operational. It must collect data provided to and collected by Dynamic Procedure applications.
Asset Tracking
The capture of equipment information as delivered by the manufacturer, including all supporting documents, location, and other relevant data. If a digital twin is developed, this will help connect the twin to plant configuration and maintenance actions through all phases of plant construction through turnover.
TRANSCENDING THE INDUSTRY
How does the "Digital-First" strategy compare to traditional IT approaches in nuclear plants
The "Digital-First" strategy represents a transformative shift in the nuclear energy sector, contrasting sharply with traditional IT approaches.
Conclusion
Enabling the Digital-First Strategy
The ultimate toolset for the nuclear renaissance that is happening worldwide requires the following business and technological elements to be implemented from the very start:
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Transformation Services supporting the development of a roadmap for Owner Operators to achieve a Digital-First Strategy.
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Industry Process Standardization leveraged within the workflows contained in the software designed based on industry regulatory standards, such as the World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO), Institute of Nuclear Power Operations (INPO), International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
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Standard User Interface used across all phases of plant design, development and turnover to operation and maintenance and eventual decommissioning. This means that while the software may change from the build to the operate phases, the user interface will remain unchanged, and the impact of software transition can be minimized.
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Complete and Secure Capture of Relevant Data to ensure that turnover of the plant to the Owner Operator occurs seamlessly and without the expensive, time-consuming, and complex process of data transition and training or change management for employees.
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Mobile Support for Employees to enable team members to accomplish their work and for the secure upload and download of data on a wide variety of devices in local languages.
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Delivery Agility that enables the update and enhancement of workflows and processes to accommodate new industry regulations and standards. Considering the state of new nuclear technology such as SMR’s, these changes are likely to occur at higher frequencies than for traditional nuclear plants.
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Multi-Language a solution that supports the workforce in multiple languages simultaneously through usage of localization technology within the database. The application dynamically changes screens from one language to another based on user preferences, eliminating the need for custom application for different contractors who leverage a different language than the Owner Operator.
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Deliver Analytics to support evaluation of plant and employee performance as the plant matures, and to ensure that the plant is meeting operational goals and expectations.
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Digital First: Emphasizes a unified data ecosystem, creating a "single source of truth" that enhances collaboration and operational efficiency throughout the plant's lifecycle.
- Traditional IT: Often relies on siloed systems, leading to fragmented data management and increased risks of miscommunication during transitions between design, construction, and operation phases.
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Digital First: Incorporates advanced technologies like digital twins, which allow for real-time monitoring and proactive maintenance planning, improving safety and reducing costs.
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Traditional IT: Typically focuses on post-construction phases with limited foresight into operational needs, resulting in reactive rather than proactive management.
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Digital First: Aims for long-term cost savings by streamlining processes and reducing the need for costly retrofits or corrections post-implementation.
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Traditional IT: Often incurs higher upfront costs due to the lack of integrated systems and the need for extensive manual data reconciliation.
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Digital First: Fosters a collaborative environment among stakeholders through shared platforms and workflows, enhancing transparency and accountability.
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Traditional IT: May hinder collaboration due to disparate systems and documentation practices, leading to inefficiencies and potential errors.
