OECD/NEA expert group on plant life management

The ageing of Nuclear Power Plant components, systems, and structures presents a unique challenge to energy regulators, energy policymakers, and industry decisionmakers in terms of both the scale and the complexity of the machine involved. There are closely interrelated safety, technical and economic factors which influence the decisions. Although plant lifetimes on the order of 70 years appear to be technically feasible many nuclear plants may well be retired prematurely simply because of uncertainties in the economics, safety requirements, technical feasibility, and in other factors affecting the decisions for continued operation. (author)