Behavior and maintenance of piping snubbers in EDF nuclear power plants

This article concerns piping snubbers in service in EDF nuclear power plants. Three types of snubbers are used: hydraulic, mechanical and mechanical-hydraulic. Following a brief description of each type, the principles and general results of corresponding maintenance policy are discussed, together with the results of feedback on the behavior of this equipment in service. The article concludes with a review of current EDF studies concerning the reduction of the number of piping snubbers, and the effective implementation of their findings