Plant Life Management Models: A Comparison With Analysis of Impact on Both Safety and Nonsafety Issues

Motivated by social and economical issues, over the last 20 years, many nuclear power plant owners started a program for the long-term operation (LTO)/plant life management (PLIM) of their older nuclear facilities. A PLIM framework requires both a detailed review of the features of the main safety programs; maintenance, surveillance, and in-service inspection (MS&I); and a complete integration of these safety programs into the general management system of the plant. Therefore, PLIM should address safety, as well as economics, knowledge management, and decision making and provide an overall framework to keep the whole plant in a safe and economically sustainable condition. Moreover, the existence of new external factors, such as extensive use of subcontractors, need for efficient management of spare parts, and request for heavy plant refurbishment programs, demands for updated techniques in the overall management of the plant. Therefore, new organizational models have to be developed to appropriately support the PLIM framework. In recent years, a network of European research organizations (SENUF) carried out many R&D tasks aimed at capturing the aspects of the maintenance programs, where research is mostly needed and at developing suitable optimized maintenance models. Using the outcome of these initiatives, this paper aims at identifying the technical attributes of the PLIM program more directly affecting the decision for a long term safe operation of a nuclear facility and the issues related to its optimal implementation. A comparison of some of the available models is presented and an analysis of the potential impact on safety and nonsafety programs is provided in order to support the development of optimized life management models.