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Engineering
A Bentley White Paper
Hilmar Retief
product manager
AssetWise
www.bentley.com
Design Engineering
Sometimes nuclear plant managers fail to see the forest for the trees. Day-to-day
information management challenges seem overwhelming, and the obvious strategy
of implementing a well-defined and managed enterprise information system is often
neglected. The main challenge is the ability to comprehensively manage changing
information throughout the facilitys lifecycle. The operational goal is to enable
engineers to easily access accurate, up-to-date design basis information and make
necessary document changes to maintain plant configuration. Superior enterprise
information management results in seamless business processes that support plant
personnel to effectively manage the facility.
This white paper focuses specifically on the design engineering process and how a
consolidated information management practice can increase efficiency, while reducing
rework due to field change notices (FCNs) and regulatory findings.
This information access challenge applies to various processes in the daily operation of
a nuclear plant, including the origination (training and qualification), creation, approval,
and closeout processes involved in design change packages (DCPs). DCPs define the
scope of work and consolidate the engineering products necessary to effect changes in
the physical plant, manage material equivalency, and apply administrative changes and
corrections. (Continued on page 4.)
Design Engineering
Design control must include a process to verify or check the adequacy of designs,
either through design reviews, by the use of alternate or simplified calculational
methods, or by the performance of a suitable testing program. This verification process
may be completed by personnel from the same organization, but not by those who were
involved in the development of the original design.
Design control should be applied to items including: reactor physics, stress, thermal,
hydraulic, and accident analyses; compatibility of materials; accessibility for inservice
inspection, maintenance, and repair; and delineation of acceptance criteria for
inspections and tests.
Design changes, including field changes, must be subjected to design control
measures equivalent to those applied to the original design. They must also be
approved by the organization that performed the original design unless the applicant
designates another responsible organization.
ANSI N45.2.11
Developed by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)
ANSI N45.2.11 is the primary industry standard most plants have adopted and
committed to, and discusses all aspects of the design control process in general detail
from developing the design inputs and functional requirements to the implementation
and closeout of the change. It discusses the documentation requirements and the
requirements of the business relationship between the plant and the many outside
organizations involved in the design process.
Design Engineering
Design Engineering
calculation change notices, and the as-built products. For the purposes of this white
paper, we will examine the simplified process, but the additional complexities found in
real-world situations only enhance the need for effective solutions.
Often, change requests define the scope of the proposed change. They are evaluated
by the engineering change board for budgetary concerns and other factors before the
change package is initiated. Other engineering products such as the written basis for
the acceptance of the change, program review documents, and reference documents
are then added after the engineering department approves the change request. It then
becomes part of the change disposition. This compilation of information allows easier
access to relevant information and is submitted to an established workflow for review,
approval, coordination, and closeout. The information is then available electronically
during troubleshooting and future design changes to aid in the research of problems in
that area.
Change Request
The change request also has three key elements:
The reasons for the change, mostly elevated through the corrective action process
or requests for information, and directed to the engineering department;
The scope of the change, which includes identifying the affected documents,
systems, components, processes, and people;
Change approval.
Design Engineering
A critically important, though typically manual, part of the change request process
is identifying related components and documents that are indirectly affected by the
change, but that could significantly impact the modification. For most plant operators
and engineers this is an arduous and error-prone process of brute force research,
comprised of a combination of keyword and other database search techniques. The
search results often end up in another data silo, namely the modification summary
form, which is reviewed, approved, and filed away in a document management system.
The modification summary form is generally a paper-based form where engineers
capture information about the affected documents and components, as well as any
markups and change notices derived from it.
Domain Experts /
Tacit Knowledge
Mu
ultipl Data Bases
Multiple
Engineers
Paper Archives
Collaboration
Mu
ultipl Data Bases
Multiple
Domain Experts /
Tacit Knowledge
Electronic
Design Change
Process
Engineers
Collaboration
Paper Archives
Design Engineering
An electronic design change process automates and streamlines these actions, where
the affected and potentially affected components, documents, and processes are
identified through established relationships and made available as a comprehensive
change effects analysis with a click of a button. In this case the modification summary
form is a report rendered from previously captured and related information, which could
be stored away as a quality record.
Lastly, the electronic change request represents the entire population of as-built
documents, components, and equipment affected by the proposed modification. The
change request is then reviewed and approved electronically. The process generates an
electronic approval report, which contains all the information identified in the scope of
the change, the reviewers, and their electronic signatures.
Change Disposition
The change disposition (also known as the modification package) represents the
collection of engineering products used by the field during the actual implementation
of the modification. These engineering products include construction drawings,
redlines, updated calculations, updated component configurations, new and updated
cable routes, and much more.
Again, at most plants the creation, compilation, and approval of this change
disposition, or modification package, is a manual, mostly paper-based process.
Even if the documents end up in electronic form for the purpose of storing the quality
record, the process for creating them is primarily manual and the search tools
available are limited.
Clearly, an electronic design change process transforms this effort into a single,
simple, and streamlined electronic process. Using an electronic process fully automates
the creation of the change disposition, including the redlines (markups), updated
components (prototypes), calculations, and change notices. Moreover, a fully automated
process does not require engineers to print and manually mark up drawings (though
this is still an option). The software tool maintains the relationship between the
original drawing, the change package, and the markup document. The markup is
always available to anyone with the appropriate security access to view it, and to
collaborate and add value during the markup process.
Upon creation and collection of the necessary engineering products, the change
disposition is again sent for electronic review and approval with the same rigor and
detail as for the package itself.
Design Engineering
Engineering Products
Engineering products, also referred to as modification documents, are those documents
and SSCs created as part of the design change process. For instance, drawings, which
are the most familiar, would include markup or redline drawings and drawing change
notices. Modification documents, especially markup drawings, are copies of the
original as-built drawing made during the creation of the engineering change package.
These markups are made by, or provided to, the design engineer and are used during
Design Engineering
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10
Many plants can attest to having received regulatory findings ranging from lack of rigor
in the design change process and inadequate drawing management disciplines, to
exceeding the recommended change notice count on calculations, among other findings.
These problems stem from multiple sources, but the cost and effort involved in the
closeout process are the most significant. Most documents, especially drawings, have
very specific requirements in terms of their turnaround time from field implementation
to release. For example, drawings with a class of essential, class 1 or A class have a
mandatory 24-hour turnaround time due to their importance to operations. These documents
are most often handled according to guidelines and dont get plants in trouble.
The remaining documents
in the closeout process
have less restrictive
closeout routines and are
prioritized primarily based
on cost and resource
availability factors.
The remaining documents in the closeout process have less restrictive closeout
routines and are prioritized primarily based on cost and resource availability factors.
This is where problems typically arise. The configuration department makes judgment
calls based on whether the incorporation of redlines or change notices into the source
drawings are worth prioritizing based on the potentially significant expense and
dedication of staff. In many cases, they leave the change notices attached as a
separate annotation rather than incorporate them into the source document.
Unfortunately, a drawing with too many attached change notices is prone to cause
errors. This happens because when change notices are not identified, it is difficult to
determine what the as-built configuration is when change notices conflict with each
other, or if they are of poor quality, or no longer valid. In this scenario, the users
interpretation of the information becomes extremely challenging, and there is a high
risk of making decisions based on incorrect or incomplete information.
In response, regulatory agencies enforce an arbitrary cap, such as limiting the allowed
number of change notices per document to five. However, a more effective and efficient
solution is to implement an electronic design change process based on industry best practices.
An electronic design change process with robust software support will provide a
method of minimizing the risk by maintaining a controlled process where anyone
can find the applicable design basis information. Most significantly, a proper change
request and change notice infrastructure would allow for an easier and less resource
intensive closeout process. An electronic infrastructure allows the establishment of
permanent relationships between change notices and the source documents. This
way, the outstanding change notices are visible and reportable, ensuring drawing and
document accuracy and integrity.
Design Engineering
11
Ideally, the design change process solution will be able to leverage the information
already present in the records management system. In this way, documents created
outside the regular engineering process, like training records, qualifications, procedure
updates, etc., can also be considered during the modification process as part of the
previously mentioned effects analysis.
PPLICATIO
A
R
TE
SUI
TRAINING
COMPLIANCE
LLicensing, Requirements
DESIGN ENGINEERING
INFORMATION MANAGEMENT
PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT
Corrective Action, Human Performance,
Operating Experience
KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
NUCL
EA
The applications in the eB Nuclear Application Suite are designed based on industry best practices and
guidelines from industry regulatory and advisory agencies.
Design Engineering
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Action /
Service
Request
eB
Work
Order
B. Change Request
D. Change Disposition
Change
Request
Modification
Package
E. Engineering Products
AS BUILT
AS PLANNED
Affected
Item
Prototype
Item
Affected
Document
Mark Up
Document
F. WORKFLOW
A) Problem Identification: In this case we show a request for resolution (also known as engineering request for
information RFI). eB can either use its own internal corrective action and action tracking capability, or interface
with an external system.
B) Change Request: The change request is used to describe the nature of the problem, its priority, and any additional
user-defined information applicable to this phase of the project.
C) Affected Information Assets: These are the documents and components that are directly affected by the proposed
change. They are related to the change request and will eventually describe the full scope of the change.
D) Change Disposition (also known as modification package): The change disposition encapsulates all the
engineering products that will be issued to the field. The change disposition can also be configured to have additional
user-defined attributes, including the engineering impact, whether it is a safety-related package, etc.
E) Engineering Products: These are related or encapsulated by the change disposition and may be independently
tracked through eB in terms of review and approval. Some plant operators prefer to only review the package as a
complete entity and approving the package implies that all the engineering products were also reviewed.
F) The Workflow Element: The eB workflow capability is used to track the entire package through creation, review,
approval, implementation, and closeout.
Design Engineering
13
In these trying economic times, organizations seek technologies that lower cost
of operations, increase operational efficiency, and reduce the risk of regulatory
noncompliance to gain competitive advantage. Bentleys eB vastly improves the
integrity, visibility, and access to all relevant information at the time it is needed.
Bentley Systems would like to thank the following contributors and reviewers:
Scott Clardy, supervisor, configuration management,
AmerenUE - Callaway Nuclear Plant
Janice Hoerber, IT supervisor, development operations,
AmerenUE - Callaway Nuclear Plant
Nick Olivia, general supervisor engineering,
Constellation Energy Nuclear Group
Laurent Perkins, senior solutions architect,
Enterprise Informatics
Ben Scott, supervisor, configuration management,
CENG Fleet Engineering, Constellation Energy Nuclear Group
Tom Stotlar, supervising engineer, configuration control,
AmerenUE - Callaway Nuclear Plant
Design Engineering
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About AssetWise
Bentleys AssetWise platform combines multiple information modeling services to
improve the lifecycle management and operational performance, safety, compliance,
and governance of infrastructure assets while increasing the return on investment
for owner-operators. AssetWise enables operations and maintenance to take full
advantage of information modeling and thus realize the potential of intelligent
infrastructure assets. The AssetWise platform encompasses eB Insight, featuring
powerful asset lifecycle information management capabilities to manage change and
to control information throughout the lifecycle of infrastructure, and Exor, providing
for the management and operations of linear networks including roads, rails, and
utilities. AssetWise applications include SUPERLOAD, facilitating intelligent permitting
and routing of oversize-overweight vehicles, and Optram, a decision support system
enabling proactive management of railway assets. For additional information about
Bentleys AssetWise offerings, visit www.bentley.com/AssetWise.
2011 Bentley Systems, Incorporated. Bentley, the B Bentley logo, eB, and eB Superload are either registered or unregistered trademarks or
service marks of Bentley Systems, Incorporated or one of its direct or indirect wholly owned subsidiaries. Other brands and product names are trademarks of
their respective owners.
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