Analysis of containment venting for the Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station

The effectiveness of containment venting as a means of preventing or mitigating the consequences of severe accidents was evaluated for Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station Units 2 and 3 (BWR-4s with Mark I containments). Results from this evaluation indicate that the effectiveness of venting in preventing containment failure is highly dependent on the severe accident sequence. Containment venting can be effective for several classes of sequences, including loss-of-coolant accidents with breaks in the containment and transients with a failure of containment heat removal. However, based on draft procedures and equipment in place at the time of the evaluation, containment venting has limited potential for further reducing the risk associated with several sequences currently identified as significant contributors to risk. Means of improving the potential for risk reduction were identified, but their influence on risk was not analyzed