Management of aging in technical facilities of E.ON Kernkraft plants

The publication explains, by means of specific measures, the management of aging in technical facilities as practiced in the plants of E.ON Kernkraft GmbH. First, the historical background is outlined and the reasons for introducing management of aging in order to limit and control factors influencing the lifetime of nuclear power plants are described. This is followed by a definition of management of aging in important safety-related facilities as against lifetime management of technical systems relevant to plant availability. This is the context in which the scope of the survey of continuous management of aging is defined in respect of physical aging. A classification is then made in accordance with the staggered requirements to be met in the quality of technical facilities. On the basis of the quality to be assured, the different component groups are assigned corresponding operational measures and explained. These continuous measures extend from failure-oriented maintenance to preventive maintenance to the integrity concept for technical installations. To document the findings and evaluate the effectiveness of the measures taken, the integration of the process is described and reference is made to continuous optimization according to PDCA principles. The explicit introduction of the process of management of aging creates a platform which allows a documentation to be accumulated of the manifold and comprehensive measures taken to control phenomena of aging in technical installations. (orig.)