Commercial-Grade Item Dedication for Nuclear Safety-Related Application

Abstract

This paper describes the general practice and lessons learned from Commercial-Grade Item dedication for nuclear safety-related system applications in Taiwan. The dedication process qualified the commercial off-the-shelf components to be applied as basic components. In past fifteen years, Institute of Nuclear Energy Research (INER) has actively performed the dedication service to help local nuclear power plants solve their procurement problems of nuclear grade items, due to reduced availability of qualified suppliers and/or obsolete issues of qualified components. The Scope of dedication includes material, electrical and mechanical components located in mild and harsh environment. Thousands of components such as piping, fitting, breaker, relay, motor, and control device etc., have already been dedicated to and successfully used in local nuclear power plants. The Commercial-Grade Item dedication process is based on EPRI documentations. Besides, the technical evaluation and equipment qualification are included during the dedication process. The requirements for equipment qualification are described in IEEE standards. Although the codes and standards for dedication in Taiwan refer to those in USA, the challenges may happen due to different regulators, utility, manufacture’s quality culture, and personal responsibility. The key to successful dedication will be dependent on the well-defined component requirements and good project planning. This paper introduces the self-reliant experiences in dedication and economic benefit to local nuclear power plants.