CHALLENGES TO MAINTAIN THE SAFETY LEVEL OF NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS IN GERMANY

摘要

One possible tool to identify new challenges is the evaluation of operating experience.rnFor example, the evaluation of operating experience has resulted in the furtherrndevelopment of safety standards and regulations. Also, it is highly useful in connectionrnwith the identification of generic weak points. The development of safety managementrnsystems in German nuclear power plants was initiated in the wake of two events withrnhigh safety significance. As a result, the Fundamentals of Safety Management Systemsrnwere published by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation andrnNuclear Safety in 2004. Another important challenge is the need for an ageing managementrnsystem in nuclear power plants. In 2004, the German Reactor Safety Commissionrnsubmitted a comprehensive recommendation on the control of ageing processes. Thernaim was to include all possible ageing mechanisms. Finally, a further challenge is thernincreasing tendency to perform realistic or so-called best estimate calculations.rnImproved analyses increase the degree of certainty associated with calculated safetyrnmargins of acceptance criteria. Once this increased margin has been identified, the bestrnpossible uses of this gain of margin have to be identified. One of them might be tornimprove the plant’s performance. The lessons learned from these examples can bernsummarized in the following statement: to maintain safety under changing boundaryrnconditions, progress is necessary.