China's power plants are catching up with the great tide of digitalization of nuclear power

China is the country with the largest number of nuclear power plants in the world. Many power plants are in the early stage of design. This state of late is precisely a good opportunity to catch up with the trend of digitization of nuclear power.

Digitalization is no stranger to people in the energy industry. Especially in nuclear power companies, many employees believe that their own nuclear power plants have already achieved digital operations. Because in the operating room of nuclear power, it is indeed computer software that detects the state of reactor operation and analyzes the data.

However, the concept of digitalization of nuclear power that I mentioned here does not mean simply a digital software. We can define it as a digital nuclear power solution.

The core construct of this solution is the full lifecycle management of nuclear power assets. By providing highly stable and reliable information systems, we strive to ensure the safe operation of nuclear power production. Through the flexibility and forward-looking nature of the information system, we help nuclear power companies achieve rapid business development and expansion.

The nuclear power market is not limited to one country or region, but a global market. For example, a nuclear accident occurred in Fukushima, Japan, but it has had a great impact on the global nuclear power industry.

After the Fukushima accident, all countries have taken measures to improve their nuclear power facilities, including France, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Many new safety regulations have been issued, and nuclear power plants need to be upgraded and extended. In the course of this security upgrade and life extension, it also greatly promoted the application of digital nuclear power solutions.

New requirements after security upgrade

In the wave of national security upgrades for nuclear power plants, major power companies spend a lot of money. As far as I know, the French power plan to invest about 10 billion euros for the safety renovation of its nuclear power plant equipment, the British government is ready to invest 15 billion euros for nuclear power plant upgrades and decommissioning work. The introduction of digital solutions will become an inevitable choice for future nuclear power companies.

For example, the United Kingdom currently faces the issue of the need to retire several nuclear power plants. Retirement is actually a very complicated project. In particular, it is necessary to master the complete information of the nuclear power plant, from the initial design to the construction, to the later operation and maintenance. Without complete information, it is difficult to design a suitable retirement plan.

The British NDA agency is currently responsible for the decommissioning of nuclear power plants in the UK. It manages all nuclear power plants in the UK that need to be decommissioned. Their management funds have reached approximately 75 billion pounds.

However, the biggest problem they now face is how to obtain the information and documentation required for the decommissioning of a nuclear power plant. According to them, the paper materials they currently collect are about 25 kilometers long.

If you only look at paper information, it will be difficult to obtain complete and effective information. Therefore, their primary task is to turn such a huge paper document into digital information, and then, in accordance with the requirements of asset management, finally find a reasonable plan for retiring.

In fact, the application of digital nuclear power can learn from the experience of the petroleum and chemical industries. But compared with the petrochemical industry, nuclear power has its own uniqueness. Because, in the nuclear power industry in all industries, the security requirements are the highest. This requires that the digital solution of nuclear power is more accurate than any other industry.

One of the prerequisites for security is the need for accurate and complete information. If the information provided is not complete and accurate, the decision-maker will not be able to make a correct decision once it encounters an unexpected situation.

In addition, the display of nuclear power information is very "friendly", that is to say, even if it is not a professional design staff, we can get the information we need from this platform.

Previously, nuclear power companies mostly used flat two-dimensional drawings, which required a lot of expertise. Nowadays, with the advancement of technology, it is possible to realize 3D digitization and establish a concrete model, which facilitates the intuitive observation of information by nuclear power station personnel, realizes preventive detection, and improves the efficiency of diagnosing accidents, which greatly improves the safety of nuclear power plants.

On the other hand, nuclear power plants are not the same as other ordinary power plants. From design, construction to operation and maintenance, to complete decommissioning in the end, it can take about a century and the involved period is very long. During this period, how to maintain the integrity and continuity of information at all stages is very important.

At present, many old nuclear power plants in the United States still have a large number of first-generation nuclear power workers. Some elderly people aged up to 60 or 70 are still running and maintaining power stations. why? Because many nuclear power plants in the United States do not digitize information, once older employees retire, it is likely that no one has such continuous and reliable information.

However, this is a bad phenomenon. We should use digital solutions to turn the tacit knowledge in the human brain into explicit knowledge in computers. This is why we emphasize the management of the entire life cycle of nuclear power assets. Fortunately, US nuclear power companies are realizing the importance of digitalization of nuclear power plants.

"Digital debt is not good yet"

Compared to other countries in Europe, the use of digital power plants by US nuclear power plants can be described as late. One of the reasons is that the US nuclear power stations were built earlier. More than half of the nuclear power stations have been in service for more than 30 years. The youngest one was put into production in 1996.

It can be said that all nuclear power plants in the United States have failed to catch up with the digital era, and the cost of digital remediation is also very high. The United States initially disapproved of this kind of transformation because officials questioned the reliability of non-human mode of operation and were unwilling to invest funds to carry out digital upgrades. However, with the increase in security levels, digital transformation has become a cost that must be faced.

In 2011, a nuclear power plant in South Carolina began to digitize, but a large-scale upgrade was not carried out. In fact, in a globally-operated nuclear power plant, complete digital applications, that is, full-life-cycle management, occupy a very small part of the entire nuclear power company or nuclear power plant.

Although some nuclear power plants in France and the United Kingdom were also built earlier, it is important that they realize the importance of digitalization earlier and gradually begin digital transformation.

Take French Power as an example, it is a company that carries out digital transformation projects. Its 58 units, but so far, only just four units have fully realized the digital management, the remaining units are part of the realization of the digital, most of the links in the digital 2D, and even paper management era. However, the plan of the French power is that in the future these 58 units are to achieve digital management.

However, the situation facing China is completely different. Because China is the country with the largest number of nuclear power plants in the world, many power plants are in the early stage of design, and they attach great importance to safety and are willing to invest funds.

It can be said that the current technological environment provides a very good historical opportunity for China's new nuclear power plants. If China's nuclear power companies can take advantage of this trend, the newly-built nuclear power plants will adopt full digital management from the beginning of the design, which will benefit the operation, maintenance, and retirement of the nuclear power plant in the later stages.

This will largely help save time and money. Once this window period has passed, if digital reconstruction is to be carried out in the future, it will increase difficulty and cost more money, and it is even not conducive to the subsequent development of power plants.

At present, China’s nuclear power companies have adopted digital management in some aspects, such as design and operation and maintenance, and none of the nuclear power stations has been fully digitalized. The biggest factor affecting China’s nuclear power companies’ adoption of full digital management lies in the high level of the company.

Because it is necessary to realize complete digital management, it is not only to provide one software. The system built needs to meet the requirements of various departments and links, such as design institutes, construction and operation and maintenance personnel. Each department has its own requirements and ideas. This requires the support and decision-making of the company's top management to achieve unified coordination.

Promoting digitalization of nuclear power is actually a top-down process. This problem not only exists in China, but also in Europe and the United States.

In short, no one can escape this inevitable trend.

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