Modern safety practices in operating nuclear power plants in Spain

At the end of the Nuclear Power Plant design, we were faced in Spain with several challenges to transfer the knowledge and developments acquired during this stage to the operation and maintenance practices. Two aspects were particularly relevant: the transfer of the design and licensing bases to the operation documentation and to the design of plant modifications and to use the results of the probabilistic safety analysis (PSA) for improving the operational and maintenance practices. Both concepts have been developed and applied to the NPPs in Spain. The first has been carried out trough a plant configuration management and the second by the development of specific software which has allowed to use the models and results of the overall plant PSA for practical maintenance and operation applications. This paper describes the work performed in both areas, as examples of the connection between the design and operation of NPPs, which leads to a systematic safety improvement. Several safety practices which are being implemented in Spanish nuclear power plants have been selected as an example of some current methods which systematically improve operational safety. (authors)