NUCLEAR POWER PLANT PERFORMANCE AND SAFETY: DO THEY DETERIORATE WITH AGE?

摘要

Nuclear plant performance is analysed on the basis of indicators reported by the plants in the course of the programmes of the World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO). Since 1991, WANO's member utilities have reported data on plant performance, reliability and operational safety to a common database. The data do not show any significant overall change in plant performance with increasing age. However, some indicator trends seem to point to a greater amount of unplanned outages and maintenance as plants become older. The increased attention paid by utilities during recent years to improving the safety level, performance and reliability of their plants seems to have been effective in counteracting any deleterious effects which might have occurred because of ageing of the plant and its equipment.