Analysis of Balance-of-Plant Regulatory Issues.

摘要

The MITRE Corporation, under contract to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), has examined certain regulatory and performance aspects of the conventional, or power conversion, side of nuclear plants, often referred to as the Balance-of-Plant. The report includes: MITRE's characterization and analysis of the Balance-of-Plant failures; a perspective on the safety significance of these failures; a description of current NRC activities and industry initiatives that have the potential to reduce these failures; and the formulation of a set of recommendations for NRC's consideration in addressing the safety issues raised by the Balance-of-Plant. In general, the Balance-of-Plant problems represent the most frequent reason for unanticipated plant shutdowns, and they compromise safety. The NRC needs to look at the total power plant facility as a system, and provide the same level of attention to reducing challenges to the plant safety systems as it does to responding and mitigating those challenges. MITRE believes that this can be accomplished within the context of NRC's present regulatory posture.