Proceedings of the 2017 25th International Conference on Nuclear Engineering
ICONE25
TRANSITION FROM TIME‐BASED PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE
TO CONDITION‐ BASED MAINTENANCE
Liu Xiaonian
China National Nuclear Corporation CNNP
Haiyan, Zhejiang, China
ABSTRACT
An optimized maintenance strategy is being pursued in the
nuclear power industry, so as to reduce the maintenance cost
and improve equipment reliability. Transition from time-based
preventive maintenance (TBM) to Condition-based
Maintenance (CBM) or Predictive Maintenance (PdM) is being
set as a site initiative by different utilities. This paper analyzes
the key elements a plant should focus on to achieve a
successful CBM transition; discusses the implementation steps
and matters needing attention for the pilot project of CBM
transition; and depicts precursors for CBM such as CBM
equipment scope screening, equipment failure history
collection, failure mode and degradation mechanism analysis,
monitoring parameters and frequency setting, CBM result
evaluation, and CBM planning. The paper also discusses the
impacts and challenges of CBM transition campaign to the
existing production scheme.
INTRODUCTION
The main concern of the world nuclear power industry is
moving from nuclear safety to addressing “nuclear power plant
is too big, too complex and too expensive, which makes many
countries who wish to develop nuclear power can't afford to
build and use” [1] while nuclear safety is ensured. In 2013, the
United States closed four nuclear power units permanently; in
2014, one unit was closed, and in 2016 another eight units were
announced retirement prematurely. Most of the decisions were
made on economic factors. Nuclear power plants are facing
pricing challenges both from new energy and from power grid
regulation requirements. As a result, more concerns are being
given to generating cost after nuclear safety than ever. Lots of
nuclear power plants still adopt TBM strategy. The traditional
approach to scheduled maintenance programs is based the
concept that every item on a piece of complex equipment has a
‘right age’ at which complete overhaul is necessarily conducted
1 Copyright © 2017 ASME
July 2-6, 2017, Shanghai, China
ICONE25-66757
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Wang Liansheng
China National Nuclear Corporation CNNP
Haiyan, Zhejiang, China
to ensure safety and operating reliability. However, it was
discovered that many types of failures could not be prevented
or effectively reduced by such maintenance activities. Timothy
Allen (2005) made a survey to the failure rates from studies
conducted previously by airlines and the U.S. Navy, and from
his own studies. The survey concluded that a significant
percentage of failures (71−92%) are not age dependent [2]. To
some extent, TBM can contribute little to the reliability of a
specific piece of equipment. Furthermore, it introduces human
error during intrusive maintenance, which reduces the
availability and reliability of the equipment. According to
incomplete statistics, in 12 mechanical seal failure events
reports to COG (Candu Owners Group), 2 cases were caused
by improper alignment and foreign material.
Challenged by MW price and the problems caused by TBM,
more and more nuclear power plant managers are recognizing
the value of CBM which can tremendously reduce maintenance
cost by properly arranging preventive maintenance as required.
However, lots of effort should be taken for a stable and firm
transition from TBM to CBM.
1. ORGANIZATION PREPARATION FOR CBM
TRANSITION
1.1Management support
Support from the management is a key factor in successful
CBM transition. The management should set a vision and let
plant personnel know why to change the maintenance strategy
to CBM and how the plant and personnel will benefit from it in
the long term. Plant managers should provide supports to the
transition project by fiscal budget, human resources and
management policy, etc.
1.2 CBM Group
 CBM group, as the owner of CBM, plays a key role in the To Component in Qinshan
22 246 619 373 252 10
project [3]. Different departments of the plant are involved in NPP
the CBM transition, such as operations, maintenance, A: Acoustic
engineering, work management, chemistry and IT. Close U: Ultrasonic

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collaborations and communication among the departments are Vib: Vibration Analysis
vital in putting forward CBM transition. It is suggested that the Lu: Lubricant Analysis
CBM group be lead directly by the managers. A good practice V: Valves Testing
is to set up sub- groups under the CBM group, such as the InT: Infrared Thermography
rotating component group, the high volt electrical component Table 1: investigation result example for CBM
group and etc. The group is responsible not only for CBM technologies application
coordination and planning, but also for the CBM
implementation on site. 2.2 Investigation for the Existing Monitoring Point and
Available Monitoring Data
1.3 Personnel Training An investigation for the existing monitoring point and
The managers, operators, maintainers, component engineers, available monitoring data should be taken to collect the
chemical workers, planners and IT engineers should be trained potential data which could be used in CBM. If the data is
with the CBM principle, CBM technologies and knowledge of available, more details should be further investigated to find
CBM assessment reports. Also, varying levels of awareness of where it is saved and abstracted from. Table 2 is an example for
CBM program activities, goals, roles and responsibilities, and the investigation result for existing monitor point.
results should be effectively communicated to the appropriate
plant and support personnel [4]. CBM technologists or Tag Equipment Available Data in Data
component engineers should be properly trained to perform the data Tag
condition monitoring and analyze the result of the monitoring. CEX00 CEP A Bearing PI XCEX1
Sampling personnel should be trained for right behavior during 1PO Vib. 01KT
sampling. Human error and safety risk should be paid attention CEX00 CEP B Bearing PI XCEX1
to during the training [5]. Critical activities should require 2PO Vib. 02KT
formal certification. Management should support certification … … … … …
of personnel in CBM technologies [4]. Table 2: an example for available monitoring data for
rotating component
2. TECHNICAL PREPARATION FOR CBM
TRANSITION 2.3 CBM Process, Procedure Preparation and Work
The CBM process involves new PdM technologies, Management System Optimization
numerous individual activities, and interactions of different The following process would be affected by the application
groups within the utilities. According to the existing good of CBM: plant work planning and scheduling; preventive
practices for CBM, it is suggested that the following maintenance (PM) program; corrective action program;
preparation should be considered before transition. performance monitoring programs; operator rounds; outage
planning and scheduling; spare parts procurement. The CBM
2.1 Preparation for CBM Technologies process, including its interface with all engineering groups,
At present, the following CBM technologies are common for maintenance, operations, and work planning and control,
most of nuclear power plants (may not be used in a way of should be well defined and well understood by those
CBM): vibration analysis, infrared thermography, lubricant performing the work. In addition, the processes should be
analysis, motor-operated valves testing, air-operated valves documented and supported by procedures and guidelines [4].
testing, transformer oil analysis, gas analysis, acoustic and Directed by TBM strategy, work management system usually
ultrasonic monitoring. The CBM group needs to make a survey comes up with PM work orders at a certain frequency.
of the application status of CBM technologies for the utilities. However, CBM triggers a PM work order when there is a
The gap could be found and the supplement of equipment, tool, requirement from condition monitoring result assessment. The
and software should be well planned for supporting CBM work management system should be effective at planning and
technologies. Table 1 is the investigation result for Qinshan scheduling PM work orders called for by the CBM program.
nuclear power plants on CBM technologies application status. There should be a formal, timely, and effective process for
Vibration analyses are the most common-used CBM work orders to be triggered based upon CBM data and analysis.
technologies.
2.4 CBM Information Platform
There should be an information platform for CBM because
PdM technology Application A U Vib Lu V InT
thousands of data points need to be saved, tracked, evaluated
and fed back. One of feasible ways is to optimize the current

2 Copyright © 2017 ASME

work management system, while another way is to design new
software which could store data, alarm the limit, help
judgments made on equipment condition, trigger a work order
and give feedback. The interface should be user-friendly. The
software should be graphical orientated and equipment
performance data are easy to be withdrawn, trended and
assessed.
Figure 1. An illustration of CCW pump/motor
conditioning
All related actions and information for CBM should be
recorded and maintained in the database. The operation
information includes operating time, duty cycle, operator
rounds and operating testing result. The maintenance
information includes As-Found/As-Left status, maintenance
cost, maintenance work plan and corrective maintenance
history, and experience from other plants. The engineering
information includes design data, engineer walk down,
operating parameters and trending, modification and chemical
data. The cost of spare parts is also useful information and
should be entered in the database. Information integration tools
should be included to make the above data available on a
broader basis for plant-wide decision making. The software
should be capable of accepting common, one-time entry of
information on costs, physical descriptions, and identifications
that can be permanently stored in the database and easily
retrieved for future reference [4]. The software is expected to
have the capability to be updated by analysts, trigger
recommended actions, and be accessible to various users to
provide an overall assessment of current condition of the plant
equipment or a certain piece of equipment.
Component condition confirmation information should be
accessible in a timely and integrated manner with effective user
interfaces. There should be a process in place to generate and
distribute component condition reports including a technology-
3 Copyright © 2017 ASME
integrated status of anomalies for component engineers to
review [4].
3. COMPONENT SCREENING FOR CBM
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A CBM screening process of equipment is necessary and
should be done before implementation, because not all
equipment in a nuclear power plant is suitable for CBM
strategy. Firstly, not all failure modes of components can be
detected at early stages (or at all). Secondly, some failure
modes develop so rapidly that there is no enough time for
reaction to renew the equipment condition. Thirdly, some
equipment, Single-Point-Vulnerability as an example, tends to
adopt the TBM rather than CBM, because any interruption of
the equipment running for CBM activities will
cause production loss which is unacceptable. Therefore, it is
strategically important to find out what categories of equipment
are CBM applicable, what are TBM applicable, and what are
TBM and condition-monitoring combination applicable. As a
supplementary to CBM and TBM, a comprehensive
combination of TBM and condition monitoring, which is not
regarded as a CBM strategy application, is advisable to be
adopted to protect equipment against all failure modes.
Equipment condition-monitoring plan, which is mainly for
incipient failure detection, troubleshooting or CBM strategy
determination, also relies on equipment maintenance categories,
namely CBM or TBM.
The CBM scope needs to be defined and screened prudently.
It is suggested that equipment screening for CBM be conducted
as the following steps.
3.1 On-line Maintainability
During the first step for component screening, those
components which could be accessible and be repaired during
plant operation should be considered, such as the components
in Balance of Plant.
3.2 CBM Technologies Attainability
The condition monitoring technologies are highly relied on
when deciding the component types for CBM. For example,
vibration analysis, oil analysis and infrared thermography could
detect the bearing wear potential failure in rotating equipment.
Infrared thermography could detect the poor termination of
breaker, motor control center and high volt electricity
equipment. It is suggested the following equipment could be
scoped for CBM because the related technologies are well used
in industry: pump; motor; compressor; fan; high volt electricity
equipment, air operated valve, motor operated valve.
3.3 Equipment Classification
The result of classification for the equipment is another
consideration in CBM screening. The critical equipment should
be scoped in while the non-critical equipment should be listed
on condition that CBM is more cost-effective compared with
TBM. Run-to-maintenance Equipment should not be put in.
3.4 Safety Regulation Requirements and Specification
Limitations
When regulations require TBM, the equipment should not be
listed in the scope of CBM [2]. Some instrumentation whose
calibration is included in technical specifications should be
screened out.
3.5 Condition Monitoring Feasibility
When monitoring is impractical due to technology
implementation difficulties, the component should not be
included in CBM equipment list. For example, the fan in a
cabinet whose vibration could not be effectively monitored; the
panel for high volt electricity equipment could not be opened
so that infrared thermography could not be used for monitor the
termination status; there is no high quality sample point for
lubrication oil of the pump so that lubrication analysis is not
feasible.
3.6 Equipment Duty Cycle Consideration
For the equipment which stays at standby as normal state and
runs for periodic test, it is not suitable for CBM strategy. The
operation data for this equipment is very limited, which brings
difficulties to explain the true condition of equipment; yet it is
not recommended to add a function test for getting monitoring
data. As an alternation, failure-finding activities can be applied
to this equipment.
An equipment list covered by CBM strategy could be
eventually made with other considerations may be taken after
the above steps, such as personnel skills, maintenance risk etc..
The whole process of layered screening must be clearly
recorded and archived in the form of technical documents, on
which the follow-up review could be based. Change of external
conditions or equipment modification could initiate a review of
the equipment list, which could be used for CBM planning
during CBM wide spread application later.
4. CBM PILOT
According to the experience of most plants who have
successfully applied CBM program, the transition usually takes
3 to 5 years [2]; it is relatively a safe way to transfer the
strategy by starting from a pilot project. The plant can benefit
from the pilot project by finding out the key points in CBM
transition. The engineers involving the project will get
experience and ability improving by problem solving. Pilot
project can also reduce the resource pressure for power plants.
The achievement of the pilot project will bring confidence to
the manager and make the plant personnel buy into the
program.
4.1 Pilot Equipment Selection
During pilot equipment selection, it should be considered
how to complete CBM transition at a low risk. Usually it would
be a good choice to select non-critical rotating equipment in
BOP system with high cost of preventive maintenance as pilot
4 Copyright © 2017 ASME
equipment group for CBM strategy application. On one hand, it
is difficult to determine the frequency of monitoring activity,
and experience needs to be accumulated to give an appropriate
value to ensure that potential failure symptom is not missed. On
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the other hand, oil analysis, vibration monitoring and infrared
thermography monitoring are suggested to be considered
firstly, because these technologies are relatively mature.
4.2 Failure Mechanism Analysis
Further analysis should be carefully carried out for pilot
equipment before CBM is in active. The analysis is a key step
of CBM transition which could help the CBM group members
comprehend component failure while it may be tedious and
expensive. The right PdM tasks could be easily selected to
ensure all fail modes are multiply covered by conducting
FMEA analysis. Before conducting analysis of the pilot
equipment, failure history, maintainer feedback, As-Found/As-
Left data and operation experience from the plant and the other
plants should be collected. The FMEA template could be used
to check which parts would fail mostly and what kind of failure
modes would be a predominant failure mode.
Analysis should include failure cause, failure character and
whether there is enough time for the implementation of the
corrective action after a potential failure symptom is detected.
What kind of predictive maintenance technology is more
economically feasible should be compared. Analysis process
could refer to the flowchart of Annex A.
If all the predominant degradations can be monitored, then
the strategy for the equipment might be CBM. However, if
some degradation can be adequately monitored and some
others might require an intrusive inspection, then the total
strategy is CBM plus TBM [2]. It is important to decide
monitoring parameters and monitoring interval beforehand.
Monitoring interval couldn’t be too long, which would miss a
potential failure, and couldn’t be too short, which would
increase unnecessary maintenance cost and reduce the value of
CBM at last [6]. A feasible solution is to refer the experience of
the pilot project and good practices from the other power
plants.
N
Data Nom
Alarm Alarm Setpoint
o Parameter Setpoint by by Manual
Tag value
. CBM
Bearing
XC
Tempera-
EX1 <75 >=70 >=75 >=75 >=85
1 ture 1 of
01K ℃ ℃ ℃ ℃ ℃
CEX
T
pump A
Table 3: an example for equipment monitoring
parameters and limits
4.3 Monitoring Point and Monitoring Device
If continuous monitoring is required for equipment,
monitoring sensors and instruments generally needs to be
installed to ensure the effectiveness of monitoring. In early
design of nuclear power plants, there is usually no monitoring
device. Under this situation, mobile monitoring or a
modification for adding online monitoring device or sampling
point may be adopted. Attention should be paid to setting
identifications for the monitoring points or the sampling points
to ensure that each time the detected values are identical and
comparable.
4.4 Equipment Maintenance Plan
Equipment maintenance plan should be prepared after failure
mechanism analysis is finished. It is very important that no
delay occurs between the time of potential failure found and
corrective work taken on the equipment, which could reduce
the failure consequences effectively. Any potential failure
detected by CBM monitoring will trigger a maintenance request
for the equipment. Therefore, maintenance plan, spare parts and
tools must be ready as required and be easily reached.
4.5 CBM Performance Indicators
The purpose of setting performance indicators for pilot
project is that the CBM group could verify the effectiveness of
CBM so that there would be a reliable proof for CBM benefit.
The indicators would be put in the report for the manager
before spread application of CBM. It is suggested that the
indicators should be set up before the CBM transition starts up.
Data should be collected from the beginning, as a benchmark in
the future. The indicators should be able to reflect the change
of equipment reliability, availability and maintenance cost.
The following is an example for the indicators:
z Equipment Failure Events
z Improve Equipment Performance improvement
z Unavailability of Equipment Due to Preventive
Maintenance
z Unavailability of Equipment Due to Failure
z Preventive Maintenance Costs
z Spare Parts Costs
z Spare Parts Inventory
4.6 Implementation of CBM
Condition monitoring is part of the maintenance activities,
but generally performed by technical personnel. All the
monitoring activities should be carried strictly in accordance
with the analysis results. When an abnormal condition is found,
other monitoring technologies could be used for reconfirmation
when possible. It is necessary to evaluate whether follow-up
monitoring cycle should be shortened to catch potential failure
effectively. For example, if a bearing vibration trend showed
a small deviation, the CBM group could put up a work request
for an extra oil sample for the bearing and conduct vibration
monitoring more frequently. The CBM group should confirm
an abnormal condition and determine whether equipment needs
to be shut down for maintenance. When equipment is stopped
as required, the CBM group should attend visual inspection on
site, verify whether equipment As-Found status is coincided
with the condition evaluation of the group, examine other parts
5 Copyright © 2017 ASME
for imminent failure and decide which failure mode should be
focused on later.
5. ASSESSMENT AND WIDE APPLICATION
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When the pilot project for CBM is on line, an assessment or
summary for the project should be made per half a year or a
year. The object is to find out the strengths and weaknesses,
improve performance of the CBM group, and optimize the
CBM transition process. The assessment should include the
CBM indicators calculation and analysis.
There are many evaluation methods for CBM performance.
Self-assessment is used more often [4], which could judge the
performance of CBM by answering some questions. Another
way for evaluation is a peer review. The CBM group could
invite experts for the review from other plants who have
performed very well in CBM strategy application. CBM
application improvement could be achieved by learning the
internal and external CBM transition operation experience
feedback. The CBM group could find a shortcut to
continuously optimize CBM work from these OE.
Upon completion of pilot, the CBM group would gradually
apply CBM strategy to all applicable non-critical equipment in
the list, finally extended to the critical equipment in important
systems. Before application to critical equipment, it should be
ensured that there are appropriate tasks for all the important
failure modes, in addition to condition monitoring tasks
selection for dominant failure modes.
6. IMPACT AND CHALLENGES
The impact and challenges brought by CBM application to
nuclear power plant management, component engineers,
maintainers, operators and planners are as follows:
6.1 Manager
The introduction of CBM strategy would bring a
maintenance concept transformation for the manager, and test
the collaboration of the existing organization. The CBM
strategy would bring some new change in the number of
Corrective Maintenance (CM): the numbers of CM work order
would come up [2]. The management should pay attention to
this change and actively respond when developing stimulating
policy or assessment indicators. Introduction of new PdM
technologies and installation of monitoring sensors would give
burden to Change Management.
6.2 Engineering
Engineering personnel would face a challenge from CBM
technologies. Sometimes it is very difficult to make a decision
on equipment conditions with abnormal monitoring results. The
group would also face emergent demand of spare parts.
6.3 Maintenance
CBM strategy has a higher expectation for the worker in that
they are to response rapidly to the emergency work request
from CBM, and to feedback in high quality. To satisfy this new
expectation, the preparation of maintenance activity should be [2] Guidelines for Transitioning from Time-Based
enhanced. The maintenance organization would be expected to Maintenance to Condition-Based Maintenance. EPRI,
leave more time and resources for preparation of maintenance Palo Alto, CA: 2013. 3002000493. pp. 24,40-42,52,55,56,
activity. Strategy transition is also likely to bring some changes 61

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of maintenance organization. [3] Condition-Based Maintenance Guideline. EPRI, Palo
Alto, CA: 2011.1022957. pp.56-60
6.4 Operations [4] Predictive Maintenance Self-Assessment Guidelines for
The transition of the strategy would strengthen operator Nuclear Power Plants, EPRI, Palo Alto, CA: 2000.
routine rounds and improve communication with other 1001032. pp.26,27,30,49,52
organizations. Operators should give suggestions on more [5] Performance Metrics for Condition-Based Maintenance
reasonable equipment duty cycle, such as coping with Technology Application Programs, EPRI, Palo Alto, CA:
monitoring or sampling frequency [2]. 2003. 1003682. pp.48
[6] John Moubray, RCM II, Industrial Press Inc., New York.
6.5 Planning 1992
CBM strategy would bring changes to existing planning
method. Firstly, it would affect unit outage scope management
[2]. Work orders may be raised from CBM after the unit outage
work scope is frozen. Secondly, CBM task planning is different
from corrective maintenance planning or time-based preventive
maintenance planning. All condition monitoring tasks need to
be arranged on time while the overhaul tasks which are
triggered by the evaluation result on abnormal monitoring data
need to be identified, graded, and scheduled properly.

Conclusion: The application of CBM strategy has been proved

to an important way in improving equipment reliability and
reducing the maintenance cost. The successful implementation
of CBM transition relies on a good technical preparation,
organization, motivation and step-by-step moving forward.
CBM practices in Qinshan NPP concluded:
1) The determined CBM group ensures the smooth
transition and minimizes the impact on the existing
organization;
2) The CBM technologies are the bases and should be
grasped and fully applied to the plant;
3) CBM transition takes certain steps such as
investigation, component screening, piloting transition etc.
should be basically followed;
4) The CBM process, component screening criteria,
information platform should be set up with the CBM
progress;
5) A continuous support from the management and
visible CBM Indicators will bring the CBM transition
completed.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This paper is based upon equipment reliability enhancement
campaign in Qinshan Nuclear Power Plants.

REFERENCES
[1] Wen Hongjun, The World's Nuclear Power Technology,
the New Trend of Market Development, Nuclear Power of
Information And Technology, 2014 ,Vol. 3, pp.10

6 Copyright © 2017 ASME

 ANNEX A

CBM ANALYSIS FLOW CHART

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Maintenance
Analysis FMEA History/OPEX/
No As Found

Failure mode
FMEA analysis Failure Predominant Defense for
Equipment Yes caused by Yes
available? Location 1, 2... Failure Mode human error
Human error?

No
A

Failure is age-
No Yes Optimize TBM
related?

CBM
Technology No
available?

Yes

P-F analysis Yes

No

Other
P-F time enough
No technology
for intervene?
available?

Yes

Determine CBM monitor

parameter\frequency
Compare the
technologies, determine
the one used

Critical
No CBM
Equipment?

Yes
是

Any other
A Yes critical failure No
mode?

7 Copyright © 2017 ASME