RISK-BASED APPROACHES TO AGING AND MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT

This paper addresses the means of integrating probabilistic assessment (PRA) results into reliability centered maintenance (RCM). Several me thods are discussed, including methods derived from a recent American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) report on Risk-Based Inspection and new methods which both identify items for maintenance attention a nd then calculate the revised risk. Ageing PRA's take into account the changing failure probability with time. Some examples of the applicat ion of these techniques to reactor systems are reviewed. Results from PRA's including ageing can also be used on their own to optimise certa in aspects of maintenance. An example of optimising test intervals is described. This example indicates that potentially, there could be a c onsiderable reduction in the frequency of testing of some items with n o increase in risk. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved .