Two demands shape every nuclear refurbishment: a fixed outage window and a traceable record for every installation step. To meet both demands, Advanced Work Packaging (AWP) software for nuclear EPCs needs to do three jobs:
When the software falls short on any of these three jobs, your planners end up manually checking readiness and chasing records while the outage clock runs.
Whether the work is a refurbishment or a new build, your planners need software that supports the full work package hierarchy, from Construction Work Areas through Construction Work Packages (CWPs) down to Installation Work Packages (IWPs). The software has to keep every package up to date as engineering changes. New builds add one more demand: the same plant scope often repeats across units and sites, so the software has to let planners template the project and start each new unit from the last unit’s setup and lessons learned.
On every unit, work packages cross company lines, passing between your team, subcontractors, fabricators and the Owner. Each company should see and change only what its contract role allows, but every company should work from the same up-to-date package data. When a subcontractor updates a package, your team and the Owner should see the change right away.
A work package is only as up to date as its source data, so integration is the first thing to test. Ask every vendor to demonstrate these five connections live:
Once integration keeps package data up to date, the next test is whether field crews receive packages ready to start. In a demo, spend the most time on workface planning and readiness tracking. Look for:
Then ask the vendor to walk one IWP live from model to release to completion, clearing each constraint along the way. Score any capability missing from that walkthrough as not supported until the vendor demonstrates it.
Every package release and every progress update from the field becomes part of the project record. For a nuclear project, that record is itself a deliverable. Look for software that keeps a full change history on every package, showing who made each change and why. The same software should tie each inspection record, walkdown and material certification to its installation or test package.
Your team should be able to link IWPs to the plant systems they complete. A system completions view then shows status, open punch list items and test results for every system in one place. With completions and inspection records in the same software, your team builds turnover packages without chasing records across tools.
Use these 15 items to score vendors side by side. Rate each item as out of the box, configurable, on the roadmap or not supported.
For criteria that apply to any capital project, from workflow fit to scalability, see our guide to evaluating AWP software.
You can start with spreadsheets, but a spreadsheet can't connect constraints to model revisions, so readiness checks turn into manual work. On a multi-unit program, your planners repeat those checks on every unit.
No. Each EPC can plan and execute in its own system. Owners increasingly expect EPCs to show an AWP execution plan, and some Owners then use oversight software to read each EPC's package data. Your AWP software still has to share that data with the Owner's tools, so test that connection in every demo.
Nuclear EPCs need AWP software that keeps packages ready for field crews and the record complete through turnover. O3 has a product for each team on the program:
With O3 Solutions, every team works from the same up-to-date package data instead of reconciling separate spreadsheets. O3 integrates with any system seamlessly through out-of-the-box (OOTB) integrations or enterprise REST APIs, so it connects to the design, scheduling and document control systems your team already uses.
To see what Owners want in AWP software, download the AWP Software Requirement Matrix. It sets out more than 250 requirements Owners use to judge an EPC's AWP plan and tools.
Request a demo to see how O3 works for your nuclear program.