Review of emergency diesel generator performance at nuclear power plants

This study was performed by BNL for the NRC's Vendor Program Branch, Office of Inspection and Enforcement, in order to evaluate recent Diesel Generator (DG) and DG vendor performance. All DG vendors were reviewed with the exception of Transamerica Delaval, Inc. (TDI), due to the emphasis already being given to TDI diesels. For the time period 1980 through 1983 inclusive, BNL reviewed and evaluated DG failure data, DG vendor inspection reports, the TDI lessons learned as they related to the other vendors, and pertinent studies that had previously been completed. BNL also contacted DG vendors currently in the business to determine their present and projected work scope. An overall conclusion is that non-TDI DG performance has been reasonably good. Considering the complexity of the DG, the overall number of failures is not excessively high in terms of failures per DG year when compared to other equipment in a power plant. Also, the DG reliability figures are generally good. Additionally, losses of offsite power have been decreasing. Hence, it is not felt that an immediate, intensive inspection program of all DGs is required. Nonetheless, important areas were identified for inspection followup at DG vendors, subvendors, and nuclear power plants. The most significant areas requiring followup are: auxiliary systems components, failure analyses and corrective actions, DG maintenance, DG design modifications, and spare parts