NIST Processes to Help Build Next Generation Nuclear Plants

Blog Post: NIST Processes to Help Build Next Generation Nuclear Plants

from Nuclear Power Industry News by Cam Abernethy

Information exchange processes developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) will be at the center of the effort to design and build the next generation of modern, highly efficient nuclear power plants.
New nuclear power plants will be designed, procured and constructed using advanced software applications for three-dimensional modeling and exchange of engineering information. Construction information gleaned from multiple databases and electronic documentation sources also will be used. The power industry and regulators recognize that an automated, integrated and interoperable configuration management capability must be established to maintain consistency between the design requirements and facility configuration documentation to ensure the ability to document and maintain compliance with a plant’s Nuclear Regulatory Commission license.
The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) is leading the effort to develop this needed capability for new nuclear plant projects. EPRI assessed the results of the NIST-led Automating Equipment Information Exchange (AEX) project and adopted the AEX methodologies and specifications as foundational technology for achieving this new level of integrated and interoperable configuration management for critical equipment in new nuclear power plants.