Role of the mechanical failure during the maintenance optimization in the nuclear power plant

One of the most recent applications of Probabilistic Safety Analysis (1997 - 2003) to Embalse Nuclear Power Plant in Argentina, is the Safety Oriented Maintenance Program (2006 - 2009) developed with employment of the Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) methodology. The general objective of the paper is to demonstrate the high contribution of the mechanical failures in the maintenance program design through the RCM methodology. The composition, structure and operation strategies of the technological systems of many risk associated facilities, similar to the analysed systems included in this study, allow deduce that the results will equivalent in case of application of RCM methodology in such facilities