Cost-benefit evaluation of containment related engineered safety features of Indian pressurized heavy water reactors

The typical containment system for a commercial nuclear reactor uses several engineered safety features to achieve its objective of limiting the release of radioactive fission products to the environment in the event of postulated accident conditions. The design of containment systems and associated features for Indian Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs) has undergone progressive improvement in successive projects. In particular, the current design adopted for the Narora Atomic Power Project (NAPP) has seen several notable improvements. The paper reports on a cost-benefit study in respect of three containment related engineered safety features and subsystems of NAPP, viz. (i) secondary containment envelope, (ii) primary containment filtration and pump-back system, and (iii) secondary containment filtration, recirculation and purge system. The effect of each of these systems in reducing the environmental releases of radioactivity following a design basis accident is presented. The corresponding reduction in population exposure and the associated monetary value of this reduction in exposure are also given. The costs of the features and subsystem under consideration are then compared with the monetary value of the exposures saved, as well as other non-quantified benefits, to arrive at conclusions regarding the usefulness of each subsystem. This study clearly establishes for the secondary containment envelope the benefit in terms of reduction in public exposure giving a quantitative justification for the costs involved. In the case of the other two subsystems, which involve relatively low costs, while all benefits have not been quantified, their desirability is justified on qualitative considerations. It is concluded that the engineered safety features adopted in the current containment system design of Indian PHWRs contribute to reducing radiation exposures during accident conditions in accordance with the ALARA ('as low as reasonably achievable') principle. (author)