Evaluation of unavailability of the containment spray system by use of a cause consequence chart

In this paper, a cause-consequence chart is applied to evaluate the probability that the containment spray system in a nuclear power plant may not be woring properly, given a demand for spraying at loss of coolant accident (LOCA). It is shown how the diagram provides a basis for calculating two probability measures for malfunctioning of this system, in case the test policy of the system is taken into account, i.e., average probability that the containment spray cannot be established, and average probability that the containment spray is established; spray stops before the required operating time is over. (author)