Equipment qualification data bank EPRI/NUS

Nuclear plants in the United States do not enjoy some of the well-known benefits that accrue from standardization. The more than one hundred U.S. operating reactors have a great variety of types and makes of electrical and mechanical equipment because the reactors are owned by over fifty distinct utilities and were designed by several nuclear steam supply system vendors and architect-engineers. All of the various types of safety-related equipment have been qualified by test or analysis to industry standards and regulatory requirements that have become increasingly rigorous during the three decades of commercial nuclear power in the U.S. The same model may have been qualified differently by various combinations of utilities, steam suppliers, architect-engineers and test laboratories. The material property values used to predict resistance of non-metallic subcomponents to thermal and radiation aging also varies widely. When in the late 1970's the need for a central computerized system of equipment qualification information became evident, the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) sponsored the establishment of the Equipment Qualification Data Bank (EQDB) by NUS Corporation. EQDB is now operated by NUS under license to EPRI. This paper briefly describes the current contents and uses of the EQDB and the ways it may be adapted to meet future international needs of equipment qualification