Lessons Learned but Not Followed for New Nuclear Construction

Meridian Senior Vice President Ken Aupperle and Executive Consultant Dr. Andy Kadak co-authored a paper titled “Challenges and Opportunities for New Nuclear Construction: Lessons Learned but Not Followed”. A presentation was given at the 31^st International Conference on Structural Failures in Miedzyzdroje, Poland on May 20 – 24, 2024. Follow the links above to view/download copies of the paper and the presentation. The authors reviewed six recently completed new nuclear power projects (USA, Finland, France, UAE, and China) and many industry Lessons Learned public domain reports to provide insights on why new nuclear projects experience significant changes, delays, and increased costs.

The authors concluded that the Key Reasons for Lessons Learned not being followed include:

• Lack of utility project leadership coupled with dysfunctional contracting strategy for FOAK
• Inadequate early planning
• Project complexity not understood
• Nuclear and quality requirements not understood
• FOAK technical and organizational challenges not understood
• Adoption of unrealistic cost estimate and schedule targets has stampeded construction into starting prematurely before final design status was achieved

All of the above have resulted in planning blind spots, design changes, construction delays, and increased costs.