Helping nuclear plants to operate beyond their designed lifespan
Nuclear energy is crucial for the compliance of international environmental commitments. With current technology, it is impossible to simply disregard nuclear energy while being able to ensure a supply of electricity and comply with greenhouse gas emission requirements.
That is why more and more countries are opting for a long-term operation strategy for their nuclear plants.
The term Long-Term Operation refers to the continuous operation of an industrial installation beyond its originally intended lifespan, maintaining or improving safety and reliability levels, while also meeting the applicable structural, systematic and component safety requirements.
The analysis corresponding to the safety assessment of nuclear plants is made based on a hypothetical lifespan of 40 years.
In order to operate beyond this period, a review of the original analysis needs to be carried out to decide upon the hypothesis of an extended lifespan, and to obtain more knowledge on the actual state of the structures, systems and components of the plant.
This will allow for, if necessary, the adoption of more timely measures for the replacement, repair or mitigation of the deterioration that may have affected the materials.
Therefore, to operate a long-term nuclear plan, a safety assessment needs to be made showing it maintains the safety requirements applicable to its systems and components.
At Tecnatom we have a wealth of experience in the development of assessment programmes for the long-term operations of nuclear plants, and we are able to support plants with the following activities:
This type of Lifecycle Management Plan contains the structure, system and key component scope and selection as well as the ageing management review and the ageing management schemes definition and implementation.
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Why is it necessary to check the habitability of a control room? The control room of a nuclear power plant is the area from which
