CANDU severe accident management guidance update

The CANDU Owners Group (COG) developed a set of generic and initial station-specific Severe Accident Management Guidance (SAMG) documents to mitigate the consequences to the public in the event of a severe accident. The generic portion of the COG SAMG was completed in 2006; the overall project including the station-specific phase was completed in April 2007. Over the years, the CANDU industry and utilities have continuously increased the knowledge base for SAMG and have incorporated various engineered features based on the knowledge obtained. As a result of the event that occurred at the Fukushima Daiiachi nuclear power plant (NPP) in Japan, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) established the CNSC Fukushima Task Force. The results of the task force were documented in INFO-0828, CNSC Staff Action Plan on the CNSC Fukushima Task Force Recommendations. Among the recommendation documented in INFO-828 were Fukushima Action Items (FAIs) directed towards the CANDU utilities in Canada; a portion of which are related to SAMG documentation updates and directed at enhancing SAM response. A COG joint project was established to support the closure of the CNSC FAIs and to revise the current CANDU documentation accordingly. This paper provides a high level summary of the COG project scope and results. It also demonstrates that the CANDU SAMG programs in Canada provide robust protection and mitigation of severe accidents. (author)