Reactor head assembly and re-assembly activities are major considerations when it comes to the refueling outage critical path schedule, personnel radiation exposure, critical containment resources, personnel safety, and cost.

The Westinghouse integrated head package (IHP) is an enhanced equipment design developed to effect a significant improvement in this outage phase. The IHP includes features specifically designed to reduce the efforts associated with disassembling and re-assembling the reactor head in support of plant refueling.

Recently, Westinghouse has developed simplified head assembly (SHA) designs that costeffectively back-fit the outage optimizationfeatures of the IHP into an operating plant.