Advancing Risk Management in Nuclear Power Plant EPC Projects: An Empirical Evaluation of Risk Management Practices on Steam Generator Replacement Projects

Abstract

The nuclear power industry has historically been plagued with new plant deployment risks for engineering procurement and construction (EPC); project cost and schedule overruns present a risk to investors. These risks are anticipated to continue to hinder the growth of the nuclear industry, due to expected increased regulatory requirements due to the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant incident in March 2011. Although several risk management practices have been put in place, considerable cost and schedule excursions have continued to occur in the construction of recent nuclear power plant projects. We identify the limitations with current risk management practices by assessing the level of completeness of risk identification and accuracy of risk assessments on prior steam generator replacement (SGR) projects. SGR projects were chosen for this evaluation because their scope of work is characteristic of large nuclear power plant EPC projects.