News

The Utilities Service Alliance (USA) started the process of assessing and documenting the performance of its members in the four areas identified for improvement in its new Governance, Oversight, Support and Perform (GOSP) model.

That process, approved by USA’s Board of Directors as part of sweeping changes it requested in September, includes developing an assessment and implementation strategy and establishing a tentative schedule for assessing member site performance in each focus area.

“The implementation strategy for our new governance model is designed to transition the focus from monitoring station performance to fixing problems,” says John Christensen, USA Vice President of Operational Performance. “It’s a strategy that reduces member costs and burden, keeps member resources at the plant, yet drives specific performance improvements in key gap areas.”

To implement the strategy, USA will provide the excellence standards and assessment guides in each Gap Focus Area to the stations so self-assessments can be performed if desired.  A small group from USA will then come on site to conduct an assessment in each gap Focus Area using the excellence standard and results of the station’s self-assessment. Following the initial USA assessment, stations will develop and implement actions to address gaps. USA Gap Focus owners will work with existing Networking Team members to monitor progress on actions developed and provide monthly progress updates to the USA Site Leadership Team (SLT) and Board of Directors. Follow-up assessments will occur later in the year to assess improvements at each station.  SLT members will serve as executive sponsors for each gap focus area.

Here is a brief update on the implementation progress in each gap focus area and initiative:

Reactivity Management
Gap Focus Area Owner: Alec McGalliard
Networking Team Interface: Operations, Work Management and Engineering teams
Update: Fleet average score is in the bottom 15 percent of the industry with most members losing points for equipment issues and human performance errors.
Tentative Assessment Schedule (weeks of):
• STP  (Dec. 12, 2016)
• Fermi (Jan. 9, 2017)
• Columbia (Jan. 23, 2017)
• Comanche Peak (Feb. 6, 2017)
• Susquehanna (Feb. 20, 2017)

Schedule & Scope Stability
Gap Focus Area Owner: Dick Ehr
Networking Team Interface: Work Management, Outage, Maintenance, Engineering and Operations teams
Update: The fleet is operating below industry standard thresholds for top performing stations in Scope Stability (Industry ≥90%; USA Fleet average – 89%), Schedule Stability (Industry – ≥95%; USA Fleet average – 90.2%) and Critical Scope Survival (Industry – >95%; USA Fleet average – 91.7%). Adherence to Work Management Principles, Milestone Discipline, and Schedule and Work Package Quality continue to impact predictable performance.
Tentative Assessment Schedule:
• Columbia (December 2016)
• Susquehanna (January 2017)
• Fermi (January 2017)
• STP (February 2017)
• Comanche Peak (February 2017)

Human Performance & Industrial Safety
Gap Focus Area Owner: Doug Davis
Networking Team Interface: Human Performance, Organizational Effectiveness, Industrial Safety and other teams as required
Update: USA continues to have performance gaps in Human Performance (HU). Adherence to human performance standards “Stop When Unsure” and “Questioning Attitude” continue to impact station performance in the form of down power events, safety incidents and equipment failures. The USA fleet operates below industry standard thresholds for Top Quartile Stations. Top Quartile stations currently have a Human Performance Event Index lower than 10. The average for the USA fleet is 21.2, which is Third Quartile.

Tentative Assessment Schedule:
• Fermi (November 2016)
• Susquehanna (December 2017)
• STP (January 2017)
• Comanche Peak (January 2017)
• Columbia (January 2017)

Sustaining Training Excellence
Gap Focus Area Owner: Jim Davis
Networking Team Interface: Training, other teams as required
Update: The USA Fleet has four Training Accreditation Team Visits (ATV) in 2017. This initiative’s strategy includes completing a gap analysis of all accredited programs versus ACADs (Comanche Peak TIF and EB 16-18); accreditation cycle plan progress visits five months before ATV; ATV readiness review visits six weeks before ATV; daily team calls during ATV; and mock board support.
Tentative Schedule:
• Fermi Progress review (December 2016)
• Susquehanna Progress review (January 2017)
• Fermi ATV readiness (April 2017)
• Susquehanna ATV readiness (April 2017)
• Columbia Progress review (May 2017)
• South Texas Progress review (June 2017)
• Columbia ATV readiness (September 2017)
• South Texas ATV readiness (September 2017)

USA is an alliance consisting of six Full-member utilities operating seven nuclear power stations including Columbia, Comanche Peak, Fermi, Monticello, Prairie Island, Susquehanna and South Texas, and two Efficiency-member utilities operating Cooper Nuclear Station and Cook station. Combined, our Full-member stations generate more than 12,000 megawatts of energy. In addition to administering a network of more than 60 nuclear suppliers, USA helps its members leverage their combined resources, talent and expertise to serve their customers with clean, safe, reliable and cost-efficient energy. It is on the web at www.usainc.org.