OPERATIONAL MONITORING IN GERMAN NUCLEAR-POWER-PLANTS

The Atomic Energy Act requires that measures made feasible by state of the art technology be adopted to avoid damage that could be caused as the result of the construction and operation of a nuclear plant. This stipulation constitutes the basis for deriving requirements for plann ing, design, construction, operation and decommissioning. Ensuring the function and integrity of those components and systems that are relev ant to plant safety is of major significance with regard to operation of a nuclear power plant. The basis for ensuring these features is lai d in planning, design and construction. Important as these foundations may be, it is absolutely essential to monitor the quality originally planned and achieved in an object as undeniably complex as a nuclear p ower plant. The RSK-Leitlinien fur Druckwasserreaktoren (Reactor Safet y Commission Guidelines for Pressurized Water Reactors) incorporate fu ndamental requirements for design, mechanical design, materials, manuf acturing, testing and examination, and operation. Meeting these requir ements makes it possible to exclude a catastrophic rupture of the comp onents in the reactor cooling system pressure boundary (primary system ), as has been demonstrated in detailed research and development work. The term basic safety was defined for this concept. Basic safety coup led with multiple redundancy suffices to exclude the possibility of la rge ruptures (rupture preclusion). The principle of plant monitoring a nd documentation (operational monitoring) implements redundancy in a s ignificant manner within this concept. The monitoring techniques used in Germany have reached an advanced state of development and are still being optimized. Thus, operational monitoring is a major contributory factor in the safety and high availability of nuclear power plants. I t also provides a means of expanding our knowledge of life time expect ation.