Asset Management Evaluation Methods: The EDF Perspective

Abstract

The long term management of a production asset raises several major issues, among which rank the technical management of the plant, its economics and the fleet level perspective one has to adopt. Decision makers are therefore faced with the need to define long term policies (until the end of the life of the asset) which take into account multiple criteria including safety (which is paramount) and performance. In this paper we describe the French context where EDF (Electricite´ de France) is both Plant Owner and Operator of a fleet of 58 PWRs. We introduce a three-level methodology for asset management: the component / technical level (how to safely operate daily and invest for the future), the plant level (how to translate technical decisions into plant-wide consequences including economic performance) and the fleet level (how to manage a large number of similar assets). We then focus on the theoretical and practical links one can draw between the component level and the plant level. We describe several plant-wide indicators that are used to assess the value of the asset and we show how they can be inferred from the component-level technical and economic assessment (long-term equipment reliability, maintenance strategies, ...) by « rolling up » component level plans into a plant-wide decision process while taking into account the various sources of uncertainty associated with this assessment. We finally exemplify how this process could be applied to the life management of nuclear assets. To conclude, it appears asset management can be a major means for assessing and enhancing the long term value of a production unit while meeting everyday constraints.

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