AP1000 plant safety verification

The AP1000 Plant is an 1100-MWe class pressurized water reactor (PWR) with passive safety features and extensive plant simplifications that enhance construction, operation, maintenance and safety. One of the key design approaches in the AP1000 Design is to use passive features to mitigate design basis accidents. In addition to redundancy, these features incorporate diversity based on probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) insights. Active defense-in-depth features provide investment protection, reduce the demands on the passive features and support the PRA. The AP1000 Design has incorporated a standardization approach, which together with the level of safety achieved by the passive safety features, results in a plant design that can be applied to different geographical regions with varying regulatory standards and utility expectations without major changes. (author)