Insights
Process Improvement: Identifying the Most Elusive Sources of Cost
MCR has developed a proven strategy for identifying and remedying inefficiencies in core business processes. This comprehensive process improvement approach has been successfully implemented for multiple clients. This white paper details how MCR’s unique blend of industry guidance, employee feedback, and technology yields targeted initiatives to enhance performance and reduce operational costs.
With Criticality achieved, the Nuclear Industry is more important than ever
Nuclear generation is the largest and most reliable source of carbon-free, around-the-clock electricity. While this idea is gaining environmental and mainstream recognition, we believe more needs to be done to economically compensate nuclear for its increasingly crucial role in maintaining grid reliability.
Cost Reduction through Risk-Informed Budgeting
As part of an overall effort to inject more rigor into the development of their Operations & Maintenance (O&M) budget, a top-10 integrated utility in the Southwest sought to engage a firm with extensive experience in providing consulting services in zero base budgeting (ZBB) for utilities.
Reconcile Safety & Reliability Cost
MCR assists nuclear plants by teaching techniques to prepare robust business cases with creative alternatives, quantifying reliability and financial risk. With this information, the Executive Review Team is empowered with previously unavailable insights to confidently make the best decisions.
Capitalization Policy and Units of Property Integration (case study)
Upon completing its merger with another utility, a large, multi-jurisdictional IOU needed to integrate its capitalization policies and unit of property (UoP) catalogues for its expanded generation fleet, transmission, distribution and general utility property. The existing UoPs were overly cumbersome and a perennial source of disputes in project capital/expense classification decisions. As one senior accounting manager at the company described, the UoP catalogues had grown “out of control.”
The merger presented an opportunity to align the capitalization practices of both companies, incorporate industry best practices, address key upcoming projects and resolve previous organizational disputes. Senior management also wanted to ensure any new levels of capitalization would be defensible to the public service commissions overseeing the company’s numerous jurisdictions. MCR had previously worked with the company on a UoP catalogue integration for its merger with a former utility and was asked to assist again.
Download the capitalization policy and units of property integration case study
Reconcile Safety and Reliability with Cost: A Proven Approach to Optimize Project Spending at Nuclear Power Plants (white paper)
Most nuclear plants require some form of business case before a significant project is approved. These business cases, however, often “just go through the motions,” resulting in higher than necessary budgets and crowding out other important projects in the portfolio. A successful business case and project review process requires an active Executive Review Team and robust business cases to quantify alternatives and structure evaluation of cost-risk tradeoffs. This process helps ensure power plants meet their reliability goals in the most cost-effective manner. Moreover, when led by senior plant management, this approach can produce cost savings of 20%-60%, thereby reducing the strain on power plant capital and operating budgets.
Download the project spending white paper
Advanced Life Cycle Management Planning: Building Confidence in the Future (white paper)
When asked, most nuclear utility executives say their organizations develop effective Life Cycle Management (LCM) plans. However, when analyzing industry data, a somewhat different story emerges as industry and regulatory groups continually flag deficiencies in LCM planning. A recent analysis of INPO Equipment Reliability AFIs found almost 25% were LCM-related. LCM is not new to the nuclear industry, but successful implementation appears to be a struggle for many licensees. How did the industry get to this point, and what can be done to fix it?
Download the Life Cycle Management white paper
Is your Nuclear Plant Capitalizing All the Costs you’re Entitled to?
Reducing O&M costs is one of the highest priorities for nuclear generation executives today. Often overlooked, however, are project expenditures. A nuclear generation plant incorporates numerous interdependent pieces of equipment and components, and it can be difficult to identify whether items constitute discrete units of property (UoP), major components or something else.
Read the Nuclear Generation Services Insight
De-Risking New Nuclear Construction
New nuclear projects face a narrow opportunity to prove they can be executed differently than the last generation of U.S. builds. Lessons from Vogtle and V.C. Summer show that extreme cost and schedule overruns were driven by governance failures, weak processes, and unmanaged risks. This white paper presents MCR’s proven framework to quantify risks early, strengthen ownership, and provide leaders clear visibility into project health. MCR’s approach reduces project contingency requirements and avoids surprise cost and schedule impacts.
Nuclear Capital Portfolio Optimization: Maintain Safety and Reliability, Reduce Costs and Surprises
Nuclear capital portfolios are often destabilized by poor discovery, vague problem statements, and weak project valuations, leading to emergent work and cost overruns. This white paper outlines MCR’s proven, risk‑based approach to valuing and prioritizing capital projects, enabling executives to rank projects objectively and allocate limited capital without compromising safety or reliability.
Achieving Siginifcant O&M Reduction with Risk-Informed Budgeting (white paper)
As utilities operate under increasing financial and reliability pressure, O&M budgets can no longer rely on previous years’ assumptions. Risk‑Informed Budgeting applies a structured categorization, challenge, and risk-based decision process to evaluate the necessity and timing of proposed budgets. This approach drives stronger executive engagement, transparent tradeoffs, and sustainable cost savings, turning budgeting from an annual accounting exercise into a strategic risk management tool.