RCM in nuclear power plants

Messaoudi Darragi, Abdulnour Georges*

Université du Québec à Trois Rivières
Cp.500,Trois Rivières,Qc, G9A5H7
Raynald Vaillancourt, Dragan Komljenovic
Nuclear Power Plant Gentilly 2, Hydro Quebec.

* Correspondence: georges.abdulnour@uqtr.ca

Abstract

The objective of this research project is to make a synthesis of the RCM experience in
nuclear industry during this ten last years. Guidelines and essential points in RCM
approach which optimizes on one hand balancing between risk and availability and
on the other hand effectiveness and maintenance costs, are recommended.
New practical approach while concentrating on applicability and benefits will be explained.
Thereafter, guidelines in order to assist decision-makers in RCM implementation process
will be presented including the living program and the effectiveness assessment.

1- Introduction

In the current evolutionary market, competitiveness and safety represent the most
important stakes for nuclear industry. This industry is constantly solicited to update its
maintenance policies [1]. This continual update focuses on preventive maintenance
optimization and equipment availability improvement.

Nuclear industry always tries to increase reliability and availability with acceptable costs
without compromising the safety standards in 2 essential ways:

- Giving a continuous aspect to the process with a minimum of interruptions (increasing

reliability).

- Decreasing the unplanned outages durations (increasing availability).

The experience in nuclear industry showed that RCM could have several advantages on
the management and the documentation of the preventive maintenance. The globalization
of this experience was confirmed by RCM consulting firms, the use of RCM tools by the
majority of nuclear establishments, and the development of performance indicators to
monitor maintenance effectiveness.

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Despite the progress in the use of this new concept, several nuclear power plants hesitated
in integrating RCM to their maintenance program due to the high costs generated by
RCM implementation. Hence, RCM will be summarily defined through its philosophy,
principles, advantages including its different alternatives applied in the nuclear industry
with an aim of clarifying duality between RCM approach and failures causality.

In the next stage, some RCM implementation failures and success factors will be
expounded, RCM will be approached by determining the various steps and requirements
for a successful implementation process.

Finally, strategies for a correct living program as well as RCM effectiveness assessment
will be specified.

2- Philosophy

In a global vision, it is by maintenance policies that critical equipments are identified

especially whose functional failures consequences are crucial for company objectives
(Safety, availability, costs, quality, etc.)

Although RCM concepts can vary from one field to another, RCM always tries to analyze
a given situation, to find answers to the following questions [4]:

1- How does the system or equipment operate?

2- What are the most probable functional failures?
3- What will be possible consequences of these functional failures?
4- What shall we do to prevent and avoid such functional failures?

RCM does not increase equipment reliability but tries to reach and maintain its inherent
reliability level. This inherent reliability level is defined by design and operation
parameters. RCM leads to maintenance program optimization and not to the perfect
maintenance program.

3 – RCM principles

The RCM logic is based on several principles. The most important are showed below:

- Maintains, initially, safety on its highest level (Costs to maintain a work on its
highest safety level are not regarded as RCM costs).
- Focuses on maintenance of system functionality than components functionality.
- Identifies the relationship between age and component failures according to time
using actuarial statistical approach.
- Recognizes design limits of systems and equipments and ensures experience
feedback to equipment originator.

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 - Recognizes the following maintenance categories: reactive, preventive (time
based or predictive), and proactive.
- Minimizes failure number, duration and damage through preventive maintenance
tasks.
- Is a continuous process that ensures an experience feedback to the living
maintenance program (improves design and effectiveness of maintenance
activities).

4 – RCM approaches

RCM creates an optimal mix between intuitive approaches and rigorous statistical
methods in order to decide how to maintain the equipment. Keys success of the
development of an effective RCM program depends on the capacity to effectively
combine these two approaches.

The statistical approaches, even rigorous, admit limits such as:

- Cost: The development or the analyses of databases, to lead to plausible statistical

results, is an expensive task.
- Applicability: Sometimes statistics cannot tell all the history, nor to suggest final
decisions.

Complex equipment is subject to multiple failures modes. Sometimes, one failure mode
can be dominating and leads to situations where the failure rate increases with age. [11]

From the preventive maintenance viewpoint, the aim is not to predict equipment break
down, but to know if the reduction of the breaking resistance level can be detected as a
result of a physical obviousness in order to prevent an imminent failure.

Time-directed repair of complex equipment must thus be limited to components that

showed aging effects. In fact, several cases of time-directed repair of complex
equipments had as effect to increase failures number by introducing new wear in failures
into stabilized equipment failure rate.

5 – RCM benefits

RCM benefits are numerous such as equipment reliability improvement, maintenance

improvement as well as the increase of plant performance.

5.1 – Equipment reliability improvement

- Allows drawing up critical failures list for the equipment.

- Envisages effectiveness through the equipment or system life cycle.
- Generates a significant reduction in equipment failures number and duration
(increase in equipment availability and reliability).

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 - Search to obtain necessary information to improve equipment design especially
for equipments with low inherent reliability, etc.

5.2 - Maintenance and planning improvement

- Concentrates maintenance efforts only on equipments whose failures

consequences are important for the company objectives.
- Is a powerful systematic approach to tame plant maintenance experience by
maintaining this experience up to date through the maintenance living program.
- Optimizes all maintenance levels.
- Is a direct link between maintenance and effectiveness based on rigorous and well
documented methods.
- Facilitates maintenance management through Computerized Maintenance
Management Systems.
- Is a real basic infrastructure for advanced equipment monitoring.
- Assesses resources requirements.
- Reduces preventive maintenance load.
- Reduces reactive maintenance load and allows scheduling by minimizing
unplanned outages, repairs, start-up duration, etc.

RCM reduces gradually unnecessary and ineffective maintenance tasks (Respectively

overstated task intervals and ignorance of the equipment instantaneous state) and gives
more time to maintenance personnel to schedule, supply themselves with spare parts, and
make logistic arrangements before carrying out maintenance tasks.

5.3 – Plant effectiveness improvement

- Reduces accidents related to working conditions.

- Offers to reduce or even to eliminate incidents and environment problems (Safety
oriented).
- Preserves and even restores inherent safety and reliability levels of equipments
and systems.
- Optimizes equipments, systems and processes availability.
- Reduces maintenance expenditure by reducing failures costs.
- Optimizes maintenance costs.
- Improves productivity, maintenance effectiveness, etc.

The first RCM goal is to improve equipment reliability while complying with safety
rules. This reliability improvement is a consequence of communication improvement
within maintenance team and especially as a result of experience feedback. This feedback
preserves maintenance in a continuous improvement loop implying simple mechanics to
suppliers.

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6 – RCM Alternatives

The RCM standard process “known as Classical” consists of a several stages succession,
which starts with system boundaries identification to lead in final step to preventive
maintenance recommendations. However, 60% of necessary time to perform RCM
analyses is concentrated only in two essential stages: failures modes Analyses and their
effects FMEA / FMECA and fault tree analysis.

New studies and researches were undertaken to carry out RCM improved approaches,
especially on determining significance and importance of systems functions [4].

Standard RCM process works out FMEA / FMECA for all system functions
independently of their importance, while with Streamlined RCM process, only functions
identified as important are analyzed. Thus, the time spent on system FMEA / FMECA
analysis decreases by 60%. Precision and objectivity are the only keys success for such
improved approach.

7 – RCM success and failures implementation factors

There are several factors influencing RCM implementation failure and success. Some
factors are closely related to plant specificity, while the majority of factors are generic
and applicable to any kind of plant.

7.1 - RCM success keys

RCM success keys can be indexed in 7 different classes [5]:

1- RCM program objectives: Traditionally, the objectives were never identified

through technical stages. Objectives identification must start at the task level. This
is essential to achieve and respect general goals of the preventive maintenance
program.
2- Management support: Since RCM program affects the whole company
structure. It is necessary to maintain a constant management support through
various preventive maintenance activities to be able to ensure an effective
program. The valuable management decisions are the only way to overcome
problems such as: scheduling, capacity balancing, tasks priority, etc.
3- Structures of teams: It is necessary to insert a new RCM technical team through
the existing team so that it can operate effectively. In addition RCM analysts must
have a good knowledge of maintenance fields to achieve analyses with concrete
results. These results are easy to implement by the maintenance team considered
as the first customer of RCM.

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 4- Communication and technical leadership: An effective communication is
necessary to maintain management informed with technical advances and
resources requirements. RCM must know how to make use of the best onsite
maintenance techniques and technologies as well as personnel abilities.
5- Administrative and technical procedures: Make development of technical
procedures in order to implement optimization methods for preventive
maintenance. It includes also administrative procedures essential to the process
life and maintenance activities coordination. Without administrative procedures
RCM program becomes, for the plant personnel, no more than a simple project.
6- Resources: In addition to allocated personnel, it will be necessary to envisage the
use of computers, software, new monitoring technologies and other
subcontracting resources to be able to supplement work. A lack of any of the
resources mentioned previously could delay RCM positive results.
7- Technical Results: Results must be suitable for implementation and must be the
concern of all organizations without discrimination.

7.2 – Failure factors of RCM implementation

There are several reasons generating difficulties and even failure of RCM program
implementation. Here are, some examples quoted in table 1 according to their appearance
in the practical field [10].

Failure factor Principal cause

RCM integration - Difficulty in inserting a new proactive concept in a highly reactive culture
rules of plant.
- Demonstration of positive results, concerning RCM improved program of
preventive maintenance, only after 12 to 18 months.
- The RCM program exceeds the budgets.
- Stopping before achieving RCM process.
- Absence of the update of recordings, procedures, specifications. The
program experience will remain in the starting point and will be limited to
key people.

Management - Lack of management support.

implication - Disappointment of maintenance teams: Criticisms arrives especially when
RCM generates already existing tasks. This gives illusion to prove with a
great exercise what is already made.
- Lack of suitable resources.
- Bad team (lack of comprehension and confidence in RCM), which
introduces continual errors into RCM process.

Lack of data - Lack of information on equipment and selected systems for the analysis:
recorded on the generally this raised point is not a true significant obstacle since it could be
failures diverted.

Needs to measure - Difficulty in assessing maintenance effectiveness at implementation

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what we do beginning. Generally due to absence of objectives.
- Collecting correct operation and downtimes is a task easier than to
evaluating losses, direct and indirect costs related to failure effects.

Communication - Lack of communication to inform teams about obtained results

Not to motivate the teams.
Table 1: failure factors of RCM implementation and their causes

8 – RCM program implementation

RCM program implementation is made in two essential steps. The first consists of the
implementation process phases. The second is represented in the maintaining of such
process by the RCM living program.

8.1 – implementation process

In fact, RCM process implementation includes 4 essential phases [5]:

1- Planning for RCM: Planning starts with reaffirmation of the objectives of the
preventive maintenance program as well as the selection of approaches and
compatible technical methods to reach them. It is essential to find the adequate
resources according to the technical approach type and to identify the needs for
teams implied in RCM organisational structure. This phase continues with the
development of technical and administrative procedures and the refinement of
maintenance living program.
2- RCM technical work: consists in applying different technical approaches defined
in the first phase; selecting and analyzing systems, selecting maintenance tasks,
collecting and analyzing data, developing technical results and solutions which
will be used for preventive maintenance program optimisation and finally
documenting the results.
3- Technical review of RCM results: It is the update and the modification, if
necessary, of results concerning preventive maintenance optimization process.
This phase must always provide a solid interface between RCM organisational
structure and plant personnel. One of the most important points of this phase is the
scheduling of RCM activities to ensure an implementation success of the results:
This planning consists mainly in necessary changes in procedures and other
implementation activities before applying them.
4- RCM results implementation: Technical procedures will work as a preventive
maintenance optimization process thanks to administrative procedures, developed
with the beginning of the process. The tasks planned in the preceding phase will
be carried out in this final phase. Success in RCM implementation process and
accurately precision in procedures modifications closely depends on the level in
which results are detailed and clarified.

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8.2 – RCM living program

It is one of the most critical elements met in the final step of the RCM implementation
program. In fact, it consists of structured methods and needs to maintain preventive
maintenance program and RCM analyses [6]. The objectives are:

 To make sure that design changes and procedures are completely and adequately
applied on the maintenance preventive program.
 To collect reactive maintenance experience to confirm that RCM changes and the
recommendations remain valid and effective.
 To maintain RCM documentation up to date.

Some essential points of the RCM living program are listed below:

 To review and record RCM effectiveness by a periodic monitoring of

maintenance experience.
 To solve and enclose the open files of items in study.
 To maintain RCM analyses and to record them (changes and recommendations) in
controlled documents
 To edit RCM annual report.
 To evaluate plant modifications.

For the first 4 elements mentioned above, it is possible to carry them out in a continual
way. However it is more effective to carry out work on all the elements for each system
with regular intervals. Thus, for each system concerned with RCM an annual report will
be edited.

9 – RCM effectiveness assessment

9.1 – Conceptual approach

In order to encourage a broader use of RCM methodology in various nuclear power

plants, EPRI proceeded to measure the profitability and the effectiveness of RCM
programs [7] based on the two essential points mentioned below:

1- To monitor the RCM program effectiveness through the evaluation of changes in

equipment reliability and the availability.
2- To ensure periodic refinement of preventive maintenance tasks through
experience feedback.

Indeed, the monitoring process of the RCM program effectiveness and periodic
refinement of preventive maintenance tasks is not used to measure the total maintenance

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effectiveness, because it is influenced by a great number of factors which makes
measurement difficult. It is a question of measuring the influence of RCM program on the
general maintenance program through the cost-effectiveness:

 On a total level (program): if objectives defined in the different program stages

were met.
 On a specific level (tasks): if the objectives were met in term of cost-
effectiveness.

9.2 – Difficulties to measure RCM program effectiveness and guidelines for a

successful implementation

Assessment of RCM effectiveness will depend on the monitoring level either the
effectiveness of a simple preventive task or the total plant effectiveness. EPRI
distinguished 2 levels:

Plant efficiency

When measuring influence of the RCM program on the total maintenance program we
can face many difficulties according to the objectives needed. This measure is easy to
quantify reduction of the preventive maintenance tasks and related costs, but more
complicated if we deal about reliability estimation due to many intangible benefits. This
measure could not be carried out through the shortened singular units; it is recommended
to analyze all elements contributing to improve system effectiveness.

Assessing RCM benefits, through the maintenance standard measures of effectiveness

(Example: plant availability, plant capacity, etc.), is ineffective and erroneous. In fact,
those measures are influenced by both the indirect factors (planned outages periodicity,
refuelling, equipments design, procedures modifications, human errors, etc.) and the long
period to see positive results during the first years of RCM program implementation.

Evaluation of RCM program effectiveness can be followed in 4 essential stages showed

by flowchart below (figure 1).

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To use probabilistic concepts to
evaluate failures elimination:
Probability that the failure will
occur if the RCM program
never decided the addition or
the change of the task.
Probability that the failure will
have the estimated
consequences on availability
and safety.
Probability that the failure can
be detectable.
Probability that the task
envisages failure appearance,
ect.
Figure 1: Guidelines for successful RCM implementation
To improve plant capacity and the availability.
To improve systems reliability and safety.
To eliminate inapplicable or ineffective preventive
tasks.
To make priority on the critical components on the
Step 1 preventive maintenance program.
To eliminate unnecessary tests.
Define RCM program
objectives To improve systems design.
To determine necessary spare parts for the preventive
maintenance program.
To improve preventive schedule.
To widen vision on potential failures, etc...
Step 2
To quantify tangible benefits associated to
RCM program objectives.
Costs changes on tasks, spare
parts, administrative
procedures, etc, by using
standards.
Long term tangible Short term tangible
benefits Example : costs related to the
benefits substitution of a time directed
task to a reactive task.
Step 3
To identify and measure short term
intangible benefits on qualitative basis
Step 4
To determine improvement tendencies and
thresholds of system availability.
System unavailability and unreliability due to
maintenance can be estimated by multiple methods such
as “Probabilistic Risk Assessment” ) or “Individual
plant evaluation” could be used with the help of some
changes.
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 Task efficiency

One of the most important objectives of RCM program is replacement of time directed
tasks by predictive tasks. The measure of task effectiveness consists of two essential
points:

 What will be the task applicability to complete successful preventive maintenance

program?
 What will be the task effectiveness?

Failures of the critical components always continue to appear as a consequence of several

external factors to the RCM program such as the following causes:

 RCM field limitation (system not included in RCM analysis).

 Failure mode identification: the failure was not considered as critical.
 Inadequate implementation of the preventive maintenance program.
 The applicability of the task.
 Execution time of corrective maintenance or preventive task interval.
 Random failures and ageing not controlled.
 Human errors etc.

Conditional tasks Time directed tasks

In practice, results of conditional tasks are far from
being perfect considering failure uncertainties. The
results credibility of conditional tasks depends on
both equipments and failures. Hence, measure of
potential failures remains probabilistic, which
implies continual occurrence of invisible failures to
diagnostic tools.
The estimation of time directed task interval
(Adjustment, replacement, repair) is a decisions
based on human judgements. The judgements
reliability depends on both: a total comprehension of
the failures mechanisms and an increased reliability
of the collected data. Unfortunately, it is not
generally the case.

Table 2: tasks characteristics

A judgement based on failures elimination is insufficient to decide if yes or not the task is
effective (Table 2). The measure of the efficiency of the task will be made in its definition
context: applicability, frequency, reliability of predictive technology used, etc.

EPRI thus suggests establishing a Root cause analysis for task related failures for all what
leaves RCM program framework. Monitoring task effectiveness must continue
periodically by carrying out all possible modifications and updates since it is an integral
part of the RCM living program.

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Conclusion

The RCM concept was introduced in nuclear industry by EPRI through confirmed
undertaken studies. Nuclear industry experience showed that RCM could have several
advantages on maintenance management, since it leads to maintenance program
optimization. RCM uses a complete set of structured and formal methods. It selects only
effective and applicable tasks of preventive maintenance to reach the level of equipment
inherent reliability. This tasks selection is based on: first, balancing between availability
and reliability, second optimizing maintenance costs.

However, feasibility and effectiveness assessment of RCM implementation, particularly

for a whole nuclear power plant, were never shown completely.

The globalization of this experience was confirmed by the appearance of consulting firms
specialized in RCM, the use of RCM tools by most of nuclear establishments, the
development of expert systems to monitor maintenance effectiveness in nuclear power
plants, etc. Despite a relative progress in the use of this new concept, several nuclear
power plants hesitated in integrating RCM due to high costs generated by such program
implementation.

Since, RCM concept was modified through different streamlined versions in order to
satisfy the needs of nuclear power plants. Consequently RCM implementation costs
dropped substantially to reach considerable records.

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