ICDE project report: collection and analysis of common-cause failures of motor operated valves

This report documents a study performed on the set of common cause failures (CCF) of motor operated valves (MOV). The data studied here were derived from the International CCF Data Exchange (ICDE) database, to which several countries have submitted CCF event data. The purpose of the ICDE is to allow multiple countries to collaborate and exchange CCF data to enhance the quality of risk analyses that include CCF modeling. Because CCF events are typically rare events, most countries do not experience enough CCF events to perform meaningful analyses. Data combined from several countries, however, yields sufficient data for more rigorous analyses. This report is the result of an in-depth review of the MOV events and presents several insights about them. The objective of this document is to look beyond the CCF parameter estimates that can be obtained from the CCF data, to gain further understanding of why CCF events occur and what measures may be taken to prevent, or at least mitigate the effect of MOV CCF events. The report presents details of the ICDE project, a quantitative presentation of the MOV events, and a discussion of some engineering aspects of the events. (authors)