New Build

As nuclear power plants across the US and other markets across the world look to meet consumers' demand for more energy through uprate objectives, Guy Barlow, Senior Industry Strategist, Power, Energy and Process at Oracle, speaks to us about which solutions are being created to make uprate programmes a viable option going forward. 

Interview by Katherine Steiner-Dicks

Nuclear Energy Insider: Can you explain in a nutshell some of the solutions that Oracle is supplying or developing to address uprate projects and issues?

GB: Oracle certainly has a number of solutions being used by the utilities industry, and in particular the nuclear sector.  I focus on the Oracle Primavera suite of solutions which address the enterprise project and portfolio management area.  In this case it would cover the planning phase of an uprate project, for example, assessing the financial and operational viability, through the construction or delivery phase of that uprate capability and finally the long-term operational challenges (like maintenance, outages and refuelling). 

Regardless of the actual step in the uprate process we help nuclear plant operators manage the myriad of activities across the enterprise, from the executives making the financial decisions to the operational teams executing the project. 

Nuclear Energy Insider: Do you see nuclear power uprate programmes as a lucrative ‘market’ for Oracle?

GB: In light of current developments – like Fukushima – I think you’ll start to see greater interest from existing owners and operators in securing uprate approval.  Clearly this is an opportunity for those of us engaged in the market. 

However, there is still a tremendous amount of new build occurring globally.  So countries like China and India will continue to be of interest from a greenfield perspective.  Overall, it’s still a very exciting market both domestically and globally.

Nuclear Energy Insider: What are some of the skill and technical challenges that utilities/plant operators can expect in implementing your solutions to any particular uprate project?

GB: I believe many of the challenges clients face with new technologies are usually related to a change management issue.  The base of knowledge and experience in this industry is impressive but ensuring successful adoption of technology to leverage that amazing depth of skill is frequently challenging.  So there’s an imperative to align people, process and technology to ensure the successful deployment of a solution.

Nuclear Energy Insider: Stakeholders like to see a quick return on investment, is this something that can be achievable with some of the solutions you are developing for uprate programmes?

GB: With the recent financial crises we’ve found a heightened increase in the desire of clients to manage ROI and other metrics –both financial and operational.  When you’re investing billions of dollars in projects it only makes sense that you want a return on the investment. 

And managing projects, because these are project driven businesses, is by extension a key way to manage financial and operational goals.  We’ve found that less than 50% of companies manage project ROIs so there’s clearly room for improvement.  By enabling the ability to capture key project metrics across the enterprise clients have a greater capacity to monitor and manage their investments.  It really is all about “what gets measured, gets managed”.