Application of ageing management on structures

Monitoring the condition of plant building structures is amongst the plant owners prime concerns. Safe operation and minimizing electricity production costs form the basis for determining the application of suitable monitoring methods. Building structures are important elements of nuclear plants and for this reason sufficient accurate information on their condition should be readily available as in the case with mechanical and electrical components. This presentation provides examples from a current building structure review program in which the extent and methods of the review and evaluation of results obtained are shown. In addition to the safety aspects concerned, attention is drawn to certain economical advantages of a compact ageing management program. (orig.)