Common cause failure analysis of hydraulic scram and control rod systems in the Swedish and Finnish BWR plants

摘要

The main task of the project included the analysis of the operating experiences at the BWRs of ABB Atom design, comprising 9 units in Sweden and 2 in Finland. International experience and reference information were also surveyed. A reference application was done for the Barsebaeck plant. This pilot study covered all systems which contribute to the reactor shutdown, including also the actuation relays at the interface to the reactor protection system. The Common Load Model was used as the quantification method, which proved to be a practicable approach. This method provides a consistent handling of failure combinatorics and workable extension to evaluate localized dependence between adjacent control rod and drive assemblies (CRDAs). As part of this project, instructions of handbook style were prepared for the CCF analysis of high redundancy systems. The primary focus in the analysis of operating experience was placed on the scram valves and CRDAs. Due to the limited component population, the experiences for the scram valve constitute only a few single failures and some potential but none actual CCF event. These insights are compatible with the generic data for these valves. The experiences for the CRDAs include several single failures, and some actual and many potential CCF events of varying degree of functional impact. Special emphasis was placed to identify any multiple failure or degradation indicating that adjacent rods would be more vulnerable to failure, because such phenomena are far more critical for the scram function as compared to failure of randomly placed rods. 17 refs. (Atomindex citation 28:037525)