The effects of age on nuclear power plant containment cooling systems
- Brookhaven National Lab., Upton, NY (United States)
- Science Applications International Corp., New York, NY (United States)
A study was performed to assess the effects of aging on the performance and availability of containment cooling systems in US commercial nuclear power plants. This study is part of the Nuclear Plant Aging Research (NPAR) program sponsored by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The objectives of this program are to provide an understanding of the aging process and how it affects plant safety so that it can be properly managed. This is one of a number of studies performed under the NPAR program which provide a technical basis for the identification and evaluation of degradation caused by age. The effects of age were characterized for the containment cooling system by reviewing and analyzing failure data from national databases, as well as plant-specific data. The predominant failure causes and aging mechanisms were identified, along with the components that failed most frequently. Current inspection, surveillance, and monitoring practices were also examined. A containment cooling system unavailability analysis was performed to examine the potential effects of aging by increasing failure rates for selected components. A commonly found containment spray system design and a commonly found fan cooler system design were modeled. Parametric failure rates for those components in each system that could be subject to aging were accounted for in the model to simulate the time-dependent effects of aging degradation, assuming no provisions are made to properly manage it. System unavailability as a function of increasing component failure rates was then calculated.
- Research Organization:
- US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), Washington, DC (United States). Div. of Engineering; Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Science Applications International Corp., New York, NY (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC02-76CH00016
- OSTI ID:
- 10147600
- Report Number(s):
- NUREG/CR-5939; BNL-NUREG-52345; ON: TI94011190; TRN: 94:011982
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: Apr 1994
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS
CONTAINMENT SYSTEMS
AGING
COOLING SYSTEMS
BWR TYPE REACTORS
PWR TYPE REACTORS
REACTOR SAFETY
FAILURES
FAILURE MODE ANALYSIS
REACTOR COMPONENTS
MAINTENANCE
220900
210100
210200
POWER REACTORS
NONBREEDING
LIGHT-WATER MODERATED
BOILING WATER COOLED
POWER REACTORS
NONBREEDING
LIGHT-WATER MODERATED
NONBOILING WATER COOLED