An engineer-constructor's view of nuclear power plant safety

At SWEC we have been involved in the development of safety features of nuclear power plants ever since we served as the engineer-constructur for the first commerical nuclear power station at Shippingport, Pennsylvania, in the 1950s. Our personnel have pioneered a number of safety innovations and improvements. Among these innovations is the subatmospheric containment for pressurized water reactor (PWR) power plants. This type of containment is designed so that leakage will terminate within 1 to 2 hours of the worst postulated loss of coolant accident. Other notable contributions include first use of reinforced-concrete atmospheric containments for PWR power plants and of reinforced-concrete, vapor-suppression containments for boiling water reactor (BWR) power plants. Both concepts meet rigorous U.S. safety requirements. SWEC has performed a substantial amount of work on developing standardized plant designs and has developed standardized engineering and construction techniques and procedures. Standardization concepts are being developed in Canada, France, USSR, and Germany, as well as in the United States. The West German convoy concept, which involves developing a number of standardized plants in a common effort, has been quite successful. We believe standardization contributes to safety in a number of ways. Use of standardized designs, procedures, techniques, equipment, and methods increases efficiency and results in higher quality. Standardization also reduces the design variations with which plant operators, emergency teams, and regulatory personnel must be familiar, thus increasing operator capability, and permits specialized talents to be focused on important safety considerations. (orig./RW)