Performance Characteristics of Check Valves Based on Specific Valve Type

摘要

Although it had been widely theorized by nuclear industry valve experts that the two most significant factors in assessing check valve performance were specific valve type and operating conditions, until recently, no data was available to supporty their assumptions. Therefore, in cooperation with the Nuclear Industry Check Valve Group (NIC), the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) undertook a review and analysis of check valve failures recorded in the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations (INPOSs') Nuclear Plant Reliability Database System (NPRDS). This study involved the characterization of failures according to several parameters, including specific valve type (e.g. swing check). Since the specific valve type is not inherently included within the NPRDS engineering record for each component, ORNL relied on input from NIC, valve manufactures, and catalogs to supply the mission information. As a result, nearly 60