An application of risk-informed evaluation on MOVs and AOVs for Taiwan BWR-type nuclear power plants

Abstract

Implementing a risk-informed inservice testing (RI-IST) program provides a good aspect to the nuclear power plant licensee as an alternating program in the current ASME Section XI and 10 CFR 50.55a relevant testing programs. RI-IST concentrates testing resources on highly significant components, reduces excess testing burden, increases plant's availability, decreases dose rate on the plant's staff and also reduces cost on plant's operation and maintenance under nuclear safety expectations. Furthermore, RI-IST also gives a feature on prospective licensing change basis to a nuclear power plant's licensee. This study will focus on safety-related and PRA-molded motor-operated valves (MOVs) and air-operated valves (AOVs) under the inservice testing program in boiling water reactor (BWR)-type nuclear power plant. As MOVs and AOVs have crucial safety functions throughout the nuclear power plant's safety systems, the steady operation and performance of MOVs and AOVs will definitely ensure that the nuclear power plant operates under safety expectations; therefore, this is the key reason to implement risk-informed evaluation for MOVs and AOVs in this study and being able to provide the safety significance classification for MOVs and AOVs under the current IST program to the plant's management. As a pilot study of RI-IST, the methodology of qualitative assessment will incorporate with probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) analyzing MOVs’ and AOVs’ safety significance within the current PRA model. The evaluating result will then classify its safety significance into a high-safety significant component (HSSC) and a low-safety significant component (LSSC) for MOVs and AOVs based on relevant regulatory criteria. With this initiating achievement, it can provide a cornerstone for further studies on the other types of valves and pumps in RI-IST program and also provide a valuable reference as proposing license change to the licensee.