Analysis of potential common cause failure events for Romania-TRIGA 14 MW reactor

Abstract

Common cause failure (CCF) events can have significant impact in the availability of safety systems in nuclear power plants or research reactors. For these reasons CCF data are being collected and analyzed in many countries.The paper presents first the methods for CCF parameters estimation and mathematical models for estimation of the probability of occurrence of common cause events. Then, the paper describes data collection and statistics referring to the potential CCF for components of Romania-TRIGA SSR 14MW reactor.Potential CCF's components for Romania-TRIGA reactor involves pumps, control rods and control rods mechanisms, valves, fans, ejectors. Every group of components susceptible to CCF is discussed taking into account the event attributes like root cause, coupling factor, detection method and corrective action taken. An example of quantitative CCF analysis using different mathematical models for main circulating pumps is also considered.