Introduction:

As a writer, your introduction should hook your reader, the body should keep them engaged, and the conclusion should emphasize the importance of the document and drive your objective home. It must be effective and succinct! In this assignment, we will practice extracting important information provided in an introduction to craft an effective conclusion.

Instructions:

Please read the assigned reading first:

Budinski, K. G. (2001). Engineers’ Guide to Technical Writing

(Links to an external site.)

. Materials Park, US: ASM International. Retrieved from http://vlib.excelsior.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=e000xna&AN=395832&scope=site&ebv=EB&ppid=pp_139 

Chapter 11

Please read the introduction prior to attempting the assignment:

“On-line maintenance refers to maintenance performed while the main electric generator is connected to the grid. Nuclear power plants can realize many benefits from performing maintenance activities during power operation. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), for example, attributes the following benefits to on-line maintenance in Regulatory Guide 1.182:

* Increased system and plant reliability

* Reduction of plant equipment and system material condition deficiencies that could adversely impact plant operations

* Reduction of work scope during plant refueling outages.

Nuclear plants are also able to achieve longer fuel cycles and shorter refueling outages through on-line maintenance. In the United States in the 1980s and early 1990s, most nuclear power plants operated with a refueling cycle of 12 months and an average refueling duration of three months. Today, U.S. nuclear units operate on an 18- or 24-month refueling cycle, with average outages of just over one month. The relationship between on-line maintenance and outage length reduction, operating interval extension and plant economics is well reported in the literature.

On-line maintenance can also contribute to improved plant safety. By conducting maintenance on-line, plants can resolve equipment and system issues before they can adversely impact operations. Operational and reliability improvements have resulted in a factor of three reductions in forced outages and a factor of five reductions in the automatic SCRAM (trip) rate at U.S. nuclear power plants. Both measures are indicative of improved plant safety.”

Reference:

Huffman, K. (2010). On-line maintenance

(Links to an external site.)

. Nuclear Plant Journal, 28(2), 20-23. Retrieved from http://vlib.excelsior.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.vlib.excelsior.edu/docview/235849120?accountid=134966

For this assignment, based on the introduction provided, answer the following questions with a written paragraph per question:

What is the problem statement provided in the introduction above?

Is the problem statement clear? 

If not, how might you tweak it to meet the standards of a true problem statement?

What information in this introduction should be included in some way in the conclusion?

Was significant research/data introduced in the introduction? How might you use a variation of this information in a conclusion?

These responses should be a paragraph each, comprising 1 to 2 pages in total upon submission. This exercise is to help identify key elements of an introduction so that you may echo them in a conclusion.