Overview of United States Department of Energy activities to support life extension of nuclear power plants
- USDOE Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy, Washington, DC (United States). Office of LWR Safety and Technology
- Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States)
Today, 109 nuclear power plants provide over 20 percent of the electrical energy generated in the US The operating license of the first of these plants will expire in the year 2000; one-third of the operating licenses will expire by 2010 and the remaining plant licenses are scheduled to expire by 2033. The National Energy Strategy assumes that 70 percent of these plants will continue to operate beyond their current license expiration to assist in ensuring an adequate, diverse, and environmentally acceptable energy supply for economic growth. In order to preserve this energy resource in the US three major tasks must be successfully completed: establishment of regulations, technical standards, and procedures for the preparation and review of a license renewal application; development, verification, and validation of technical criteria and bases for monitoring, refurbishing, and/or replacing plant equipment; and demonstration of the regulatory process. Since 1985, the US Department of Energy (DOE) has been working with the nuclear industry and the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to establish and demonstrate the option to extend the life of nuclear power plants through the renewal of operating licenses. This paper focuses primarily on DOE`s Plant Lifetime Improvement (PLIM) Program efforts to develop the technical criteria and bases for effective aging management and lifetime improvement for continued operation of nuclear power plants. This paper describes current projects to resolve generic technical issues in the principal areas of reactor pressure vessel (RPV) integrity, fatigue, and environmental qualification (EQ).
- Research Organization:
- Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC04-94AL85000
- OSTI ID:
- 10104054
- Report Number(s):
- SAND-93-2480C; CONF-9310211-1; ON: DE94002650; BR: GB0103012; TRN: 94:000127
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Civilian nucear reactor safety working group on nuclear plant aging and life extension,Washington, DC (United States),26-28 Oct 1993; Other Information: PBD: [1993]
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
An overview of the U. S. Department of Energy Program to extend the service life and operating license of nuclear powerplants
Current Status of Continued Operation for Kori unit 1 beyond Design Life