Preparing for old age

摘要

As a result of the deregulation of electricity markets, many nuclear plants have had to improve their competitiveness. Provided that maintenance costs do not become excessive, life extension of existing units provides a practical means of continued electricity generation within a fiercely competitive marketplace. On the other hand, if the lifetime of an existing reactor should be shortened by about ten years, dismantling and renewal would be brought forward which would increase its costs by several billion euro. For life extension to be successful, utilities must improve their knowledge of ageing mechanisms, demonstrate to safety authorities the feasibility of life extension (especially taking into account critical compo- nents) and operate existing units in an exemplary way. Electricite de France's (EdF's) lifetime programme was set up to research and gather data on ageing phenomena in order to understand the effects that operating conditions have on components and their lifetimes.