Performance of operating and advanced light water reactor designs. Proceedings of a technical committee meeting

Nuclear power can provide security of energy supply, stable energy costs, and can contribute to greenhouse gas reduction. To fully realize these benefits, a continued and strong focus must be maintained on means for assuring the economic competitiveness of nuclear power relative to alternatives. Over the past several years, considerable improvements have been achieved in nuclear plant performance. Worldwide, the average energy availability factor has increased from 66 per cent in 1980 to 81 per cent in 1999, with some utilities achieving significantly higher values. This is being achieved through integrated programmes including personnel training and quality assurance, improvements in plant system and component design and plant operation, by various means to reduce outage duration for maintenance and refuelling and other scheduled shutdowns, and by reducing the number of forced outages. Application of technical means for achieving high performance of nuclear power plants is an important element for assuring their economic competitiveness. For the current plants, proper management includes development and application of better technologies for inspection, maintenance and repair. For future plants, the opportunity exists during the design phase to incorporate design features and technologies for achieving high performance. This IAEA Technical Committee meeting (TCM) provided a forum for information exchange on design features and technologies incorporated into LWR plants commissioned within the last 15-20 years, and into evolutionary LWR designs still under development, for achieving performance improvements with due regard to stringent safety requirements and objectives. It also addressed on-going technology development expected to achieve further improvements and/or significant cost reductions. The TCM was attended by 32 participants from 14 Member States: Argentina, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russian Federation, Slovakia, Spain, Ukraine, the European Commission and the IAEA. A total of 19 technical papers were presented in the following areas: design features and technical means for improving current LWRs; and development of new LWR designs and technologies with a focus on performance and economic viability. Key results concerning performance of current plants include the following: The European Commission (EC) is funding an extensive project in plant life management at a funding level of EURO 9.2 million within the 5th framework programme (1999-2002). This work is being co-ordinated with the IAEA through EC participation in the IAEA's International Working Group on Plant Life Management. Technical areas addressed include the following: integrity of equipment and structures; irradiation embrittlement; optimization of operational conditions focusing on corrosion issues; prediction of structural safety margins; optimization of operational conditions focusing on dynamic fluid-structure interactions; on-line monitoring, inspection and maintenance; organization and management of safety