ATLANTA, Ga. — A team of Exelon Generation and PowerLabs employees took home the nuclear energy industry’s highest innovation honor, “The Best of the Best Top Innovative Practice Award,” for developing a program that has enhanced equipment reliability and supply chain quality across the industry. The employees received the award at the Nuclear Energy Institute’s (NEI) annual conference in Atlanta, Ga., today for their ground-breaking Parts Quality Initiative (PQI).
Through this initiative, Exelon Generation tests critical component spare parts before they are put into use and enters the test results into a comprehensive database called OneLab, which contains performance data on more than 27,000 parts.
“Our nuclear professionals are using innovation and technology every day to work smarter and more efficiently than ever before,” said Bryan Hanson, chief nuclear officer of Exelon Generation. “I’m so proud of our Supply and PowerLabs teams for their pioneering Parts Quality Initiative, which is enhancing equipment reliability across the industry.”
The PQI program helps identify defective or deficient parts before they are issued or installed at the plant. Parts categorized as “critical components” are first sent to Exelon PowerLabs where they are tested for defects. Once tested, parts are either sent to the plant for receipt or back to the supplier for refurbishment or replacement. To date, the PQI program has kept more than 2,100 deficient parts from being installed in the plants.
The PQI team was one of 12 innovation award winners recognized during the Nuclear Energy Assembly conference. On May 22, Exelon Generation’s digital plant innovation team also received an award for the Digital Plant Viewer, a web-based application that provides an interactive plant map with 365-degree images, live video, real-time radiological exposure data and wireless telemetry.
“Innovations like the ones celebrated today help ensure nuclear power plants continue to run safely and stay competitive in today’s marketplace,” Sue Perkins-Grew, NEI senior director of nuclear security and incident response, said at the awards ceremony.
NEI’s Top Innovative Practice awards celebrate industry leaders for new practices, enhanced processes, and improved technology. To be considered for an award, the process or practice must be implemented and address one or more of the following criteria: innovation, safety, cost-savings impact, productivity/efficiency, transferability, communications, or vision and leadership.
