Internal Flooding Probabilistic Safety Assessment of an OPR-1000 Plant during Low Power and Shutdown Operation

In 2009, the electric power research institute (EPRI) published a guideline for the development of IF-PRA that addresses the requirements of the ASME/ANS RASa-2009 PRA consensus standard. The EPRI guideline delineates a level of detail and assessment complexity that has been significantly increased with respect to the guidance for IF assessment performed for the individual plant examination (IPE) to address Generic Letter 88- 20. The main differences include: A more systematic approach to the definition of flood area. The identification, screening and analysis of flooding sources and scenarios. The calculation of the initiating-event frequency (IEF) based on the actual length and characteristics of the piping. The inclusion of spatial effects such as spray from pipe leaks. The specific documentation associated with the plant walkdowns. Among these differences, this research focused on the third and fourth items when performing the internal flooding PSA. This is done by identifying the pipe and fluid characteristics, assessing the pipe pressure, characterizing the pipe (i.e., pipe diameter, length, etc.) and determining the pressure boundary failure frequency. The results were summed for the various piping systems within a given flood area to arrive at an overall internal flood initiating frequency for a given flood mode (i.e., spray, general flood, or major flood) for that particular area by each POS (Plant Operational State). In this initiating event frequency evaluations, the POS duration time is especially considered to get the real values for LPSD state. Characterizations of spray scenarios were evaluated to determine their impact on plant risk caused by internal flooding events.