Analysis of containment venting at the Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station

An analysis of the extent to which containment venting would be effective in preventing or mitigating the consequences of severe accidents has been completed for the Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station, Units 2 and 3 (BWR-4s with Mark I containments). The analysis indicates that the effectiveness of venting in preventing containment overpressurization highly depends on the sequence of the severe accident. Containment venting can be effective for several classes of sequences, including transients with failure of long-term decay heat removal and loss-of-coolant accidents with breaks inside the containment. However, based on draft procedures and equipment in place at the time of the evaluation, containment venting has limited potential for further reducing the risk associated with three severe accident sequences currently identified as important risk contributors at Peach Bottom. Means of improving the potential for risk reduction is identified, but their influence on risk is not analyzed