NPP evaluation, backfitting and life extension - an engineering viewpoint

During the decade of the '80s, the owners of the two oldest operating plants in Spain, namely, the Jose Cabrera plant, a Westinghouse PWR, and the Santa Maria de Garona plant, a GE BWR, undertook the following important programmes: 1) a far-reaching Systematic Evaluation Programme for the Jose Cabrera plant consisting in a systematic safety review of the plant design followed by the necessary hardware modifications to upgrade it and to make it comply with current safety criteria, and a Plant Upgrading Programme for the Garona plant focusing on specific topics affecting GE BWR Mark-I type plants of the same vintage; 2) a Remaining Life Management Programme to ensure that the units, after extensive backfitting and high capital investment, would complete their design life, leaving open the option for plant life extension. These two units are today looked upon by the Spanish nuclear industry as the pilot plants for Plant Life Extension programmes for PWRs and BWRs in Spain. The experience learned by the organization of Empresarios Agrupados in the engineering, design and implementation of these programmes is summarized. (Z.S.)