Impact of mechanical- and maintenance-induced failures of main reactor coolant pump seals on plant safety
This document presents an investigation of the safety impact resulting from mechanical- and maintenance-induced reactor coolant pump (RCP) seal failures in nuclear power plants. A data survey of the pump seal failures for existing nuclear power plants in the US from several available sources was performed. The annual frequency of pump seal failures in a nuclear power plant was estimated based on the concept of hazard rate and dependency evaluation. The conditional probability of various sizes of leak rates given seal failures was then evaluated. The safety impact of RCP seal failures, in terms of contribution to plant core-melt frequency, was also evaluated for three nuclear power plants. For leak rates below the normal makeup capacity and the impact of plant safety were discussed qualitatively, whereas for leak rates beyond the normal make up capacity, formal PRA methodologies were applied. 22 refs., 17 figs., 19 tabs.
- Research Organization:
- Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Impell Co., Melville, NY (USA)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC02-76CH00016
- OSTI ID:
- 6474022
- Report Number(s):
- NUREG/CR-4400; BNL-NUREG-51928; ON: TI86004714
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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