Critical path work orders, FME control and post-maintenance testing against a fixed return-to-service date
Commissioning software for nuclear outages where thousands of work orders, hundreds of contractors and a fixed critical path all converge on one return-to-service date.
A refuelling outage compresses a year's worth of maintenance, inspection and modification work into weeks, with the critical path measured in hours and every open work order a threat to the return-to-service date. Deskely holds every work order, FME boundary and post-maintenance test in one register, so outage control can see the true critical path instead of a status update assembled from a dozen contractor spreadsheets.
- Assets
- Work orders, FME boundaries, isolations
- Test
- Post-maintenance test, isolation restoration, leak test
- Cadence
- 24/7 critical path against a fixed schedule
- Gate
- Return to service (RTS)
Choose your project type
The problem
A thirty-day outage runs thousands of work orders in parallel, and a delayed post-maintenance test on the wrong system pushes the whole return-to-service date.
Outage scope spans routine preventive maintenance, in-service inspection, fuel movement, modifications and emergent work discovered mid-outage, executed by station staff and specialist contractors working around the clock against a schedule where every hour of the critical path has a cost.
When FME control logs, isolation boundaries and post-maintenance test results are tracked in separate contractor and station systems, outage control cannot always tell in real time which open item is actually on the critical path to fuel load and start-up versus which is a lower-priority item with float.
Deskely tags every work order, FME boundary and isolation to the system it affects and the critical path step it gates, so outage control sees true readiness rather than a rolled-up percentage that hides the one open item actually blocking restart.
Setting up the register
Work orders, FME boundaries and isolations are tagged assets linked to the systems they open and the tests that close them.
The outage work order list, isolation boundary list and FME control plan are parsed into a reviewed register before the outage starts, so every work order carries its system, its critical path linkage and its required post-maintenance test from day one.
FME control zones are tracked as their own asset with entry and exit logs, tool accountability and foreign material search sign-off, distinct from the maintenance work order itself, because an FME breach can hold up restoration even after the maintenance work is technically finished.
Isolation boundaries opened for maintenance are held with their restoration checklist attached, so the sequence to return a system to its operational lineup is defined before the outage starts, not improvised during the restoration rush.
Execution
Post-maintenance testing and isolation restoration are proven system by system against the critical path, around the clock.
Post-maintenance testing is captured against the specific work order and system, with FME closure verification required before a system boundary can be declared ready for isolation restoration, closing the exact gap that causes late-outage surprises.
Isolation restoration is sequenced and signed step by step, with each boundary's leak test, valve lineup verification and instrument calibration recorded against the tag, so the restoration crew on nightshift can see exactly what the dayshift crew completed.
Emergent work discovered mid-outage is added to the same register with its own critical path assessment, so a new finding on a safety-classified system is triaged against the schedule immediately rather than surfacing at the next morning meeting.
Return to service and post-outage close-out
Return to service is declared from a complete restoration record, not a verbal confirmation that everything got put back the way it was.
The return-to-service readiness review draws on signed post-maintenance test results, FME closure verification and isolation restoration records for every system touched during the outage, giving outage control and the regulator the same evidence set.
Post-outage close-out captures any deferred work, emergent findings not resolved during the outage and updated as-built configuration, feeding directly into the ageing management programme and the next outage's planning baseline.
Every signature carries a name, role and timestamp, which is what the plant's operations shift manager and the regulator's resident inspector both expect before a system is declared restored to its operational lineup.
Radiological controlled area work and ALARP dose control
Every work order inside the radiological controlled area carries a dose budget as well as a schedule, and outage control has to manage both without letting one silently override the other.
Work executed inside the radiological controlled area during an outage is planned against an ALARP dose target for the job, with radiation work permits specifying stay times, dose rate limits and monitoring requirements that a maintenance crew has to observe regardless of how much schedule pressure the critical path is putting on that particular work order.
When dose tracking lives in the health physics team's own system and critical path status lives in the outage schedule, a work order that is behind schedule because its RCA access was dose-limited looks, from the schedule alone, indistinguishable from one that is behind because a part has not arrived, and the two need completely different management responses.
Deskely holds the radiation work permit, the ALARP job dose estimate and the work order's critical path status against the same tag, so outage control can see immediately whether a delayed work order is dose-constrained, resourcing-constrained or genuinely behind, and manage the RCA workforce accordingly rather than pushing a crew to work faster inside a dose-limited job.
The return-to-service evidence set
Six record types clear the critical path back to service on a fixed date, without any of them slowing the outage down to produce.
An outage compresses months of maintenance, inspection and refuelling work into weeks against a fixed return-to-service date, and the evidence trail cannot be the thing that stretches the schedule. These are the records return-to-service authorisation is actually built from.
Critical path work order closure record
That a work order on the outage critical path is complete, including any post-maintenance test, and does not carry an open item that would delay start-up.
Closed as each critical path task finishes during the outage window.
Post-maintenance test record
That a system worked on during the outage performs correctly before it is returned to normal lineup, distinct from the maintenance work order itself.
Executed immediately after maintenance, before system return.
Refuelling sequence verification record
That fuel assembly movements followed the approved core reload pattern and criticality safety constraints, assembly by assembly.
Captured during core offload and reload.
FME entry and exit log
That tool and material accountability inside controlled work areas balances at shift end, with no unresolved foreign material item left against an open outage task.
Maintained continuously through the outage.
Radiological dose and ALARP record
That work in radiologically controlled areas stayed within planned dose budgets and that ALARP reviews were applied to high-dose tasks before execution.
Logged throughout radiological controlled area work.
Return-to-service readiness certificate
That all critical path closures, post-maintenance tests and refuelling verification are complete and signed ahead of start-up authorisation.
Issued at the end of the outage, before restart.
How it runs
From outage scope freeze to return to service.
Outage programmes reward a register built before the unit shuts down, because the critical path is unforgiving of any work order whose status has to be chased down by phone at 2am.
- 01
Freeze and load the scope
Work orders, FME zones and isolation boundaries loaded into the register with critical path linkage before outage start.
- 02
Template post-maintenance tests
Required tests defined once per work order type, instantiated across every occurrence of that maintenance activity.
- 03
Track FME and isolations live
FME entry/exit logs and isolation restoration status tracked in real time against the systems they affect.
- 04
Gate RTS on signed restoration
Return to service reported from signed post-maintenance test and restoration records, with emergent work triaged against the critical path.
FAQ
Questions about Outages and refuelling scopes.
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