Review of safety-related events at nuclear power plants as reported in 1978

This article reviews the reports of safety-related events at light-water-reactor nuclear power plants submitted in 1978 to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The review covers 1239 reports from boiling-water-reactor facilities and 2084 reports from pressurized-water-reactor facilities. Information is presented in tables listing instrument failures, equipment failures, systems involved, causes, deficiencies, and times of occurrence (i.e., refueling, testing, operation, or construction). The tables give the number of reports concerned with each listed item and therefore indicate the frequencies of events and those events which should receive more attention in the form of maintenance and testing to improve plant reliability and safety