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U.S. Department of Energy
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Insights from the Interim Reliability Evaluation Program pertinent to reactor-safety issues. [PWR; BWR]

Conference ·
OSTI ID:5091385

The Interim Reliability Evaluation Program (IREP) consisted of concurrent probabilistic analyses of four operating nuclear power plants. This paper presents an integrated view of the results of the analyses drawing insights pertinent to reactor safety. The importance to risk of accident sequences initiated by transients and small loss-of-coolant accidents was confirmed. Support systems were found to contribute significantly to the sets of dominant accident sequences, either due to single failures which could disable one or more mitigating systems or due to their initiating plant transients. Human errors in response to accidents also were important risk contributors. Consideration of operator recovery actions influences accident sequence frequency estimates, the list of accident sequences dominating core melt, and the set of dominant risk contributors. Accidents involving station blackout, reactor coolant pump seal leaks and ruptures, and loss-of-coolant accidents requiring manual initiation of coolant injection were found to be risk significant.

Research Organization:
Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (USA)
DOE Contract Number:
AC04-76DP00789
OSTI ID:
5091385
Report Number(s):
SAND-82-0383C; CONF-820802-21; ON: DE82021870
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English