Instrumentation needs and data management by the French Protection and Nuclear Safety Institute for the diagnosis and prognosis of the release during an emergency on a PWR

IPSN in conjunction with EDF has been developing for the last few years an approach for the diagnosis and prognosis of the source term during an accident on a PWR. Intended for the off-site emergency teams, this methodology is implemented with dedicated manual and computerized tools within the frame of the SESAME project. It is necessary to have access during the accident to various information dealing with the state of the plant. These information needs and the various means available to pick up data from the plant are described. Emphasis is given and the analysis of data that is needed to avoid any failure in the assessment of the state of the safety barriers and functions. This analysis deals with: the quality of the information depending on the environmental conditions and on the availability of the supply systems, the cross-check between measurements of same type, the cross-check between measurements of different types. (orig.)