CURRENT STATUS AND PROSPECT FOR PERIODIC SAFETY REVIEW OF AGING NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS IN KOREA

Abstract

Korean utility has utilized a Periodic Safety Review (PSR) that assesses the cumulative effects of plant aging, modifications, operating experience, technical developments, and site characteristics since 2000. In particular, the assessment and management of plant aging is one of the major areas in PSR. It includes identification of critical Systems, Structures, and Components (SSCs) for aging, assessment of aging effects, and implementation of aging management programs. Since the PSR system was introduced based on the atomic energy acts and related laws, PSRs of eight sets for 12 Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs) that have been operating more than 10 years have been completed. PSRs of two sets for 4 NPPs are currently being carried out. The utility has confirmed that domestic NPPs have been operated safely through these PSRs and have implemented the follow-up corrective activities to increase the nuclear safety. In this paper, the status of PSR implementation is discussed and improvement programs to conduct PSR follow-up corrective activities efficiently for NPPs are suggested based on experiences with aging assessments.