Individual plant examination program: Perspectives on reactor safety and plant performance. Part 1: Final summary report; Volume 1

This report provides perspectives gained by reviewing 75 Individual Plant Examination (IPE) submittals pertaining to 108 nuclear power plant units. IPEs are probabilistic analyses that estimate the core damage frequency (CDF) and containment performance for accidents initiated by internal events. The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) reviewed the IPE submittals with the objective of gaining perspectives in three major areas: (1) improvements made to individual plants as a result of their IPEs and the collective results of the IPE program, (2) plant-specific design and operational features and modeling assumptions that significantly affect the estimates of CDF and containment performance, and (3) strengths and weaknesses of the models and methods used in the IPEs. These perspectives are gained by assessing the core damage and containment performance results, including overall CDF, accident sequences, dominant contributions to component failure and human error, and containment failure modes. Methods, data, boundary conditions, and assumptions used in the IPEs are considered in understanding the differences and similarities observed among the various types of plants. This report is divided into three volumes containing six parts. Part 1 is a summary report of the key perspectives gained in each of the areas identified above, with a discussion of the NRC's overall conclusions and observations. Part 2 discusses key perspectives regarding the impact of the IPE Program on reactor safety. Part 3 discusses perspectives gained from the IPE results regarding CDF, containment performance, and human actions. Part 4 discusses perspectives regarding the IPE models and methods. Part 5 discusses additional IPE perspectives. Part 6 contains Appendices A, B and C which provide the references of the information from the IPEs, updated PRA results, and public comments on draft NUREG-1560 respectively