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U.S. Department of Energy
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Plant maintenance and aging management: Are they the same?

Conference ·
OSTI ID:131682
 [1]
  1. Brookhaven National Lab., Upton, NY (United States). Dept. of Advanced Technology
A common belief in the nuclear industry is that current maintenance practices manage aging degradation. As part of the NRC`s Nuclear Plant Aging Research Program, a number of aging studies were performed on safety-related systems and components which found that, even with current maintenance and monitoring practices in place, a large number of the reported failures are related to aging. This suggests that current practices are not sufficient to completely manage aging degradation, and other factors need to be considered. This paper examines the aging management process and the degree to which maintenance plays a part in it. Component failures and degradation mechanisms identified in aging studies of several different safety systems are summarized and evaluated, then correlated with the components most frequently failed. This information, along with an analysis of failure causes, is then used to determine the extent to which aging is managed by current maintenance practices. Conclusions and recommendations for proper aging management are also presented.
OSTI ID:
131682
Report Number(s):
CONF-950740--; ISBN 0-7918-1347-9
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English