The development and demonstration of integrated models for the evaluation of severe accident management strategies - SAMEM

This study is concerned with the further development of integrated models f or the assessment of existing and potential severe accident management (SAM ) measures. This paper provides a brief summary of these models, based on P robabilistic Safety Assessment (PSA) methods and the Risk Oriented Accident Analysis Methodology (ROAAM) approach, and their application to a number o f case studies spanning both preventive and mitigative accident management regimes, In the course of this study it became evident that the starting po int to guide the selection of methodology and any further improvement is th e intended application. Accordingly, such features as the type and area of application and the confidence requirement are addressed in this project. T he application of an integrated ROAAM approach led to the implementation, a t the Loviisa NPP, of a hydrogen mitigation strategy, which requires substa ntial plant modifications. A revised level 2 PSA model was applied to the S izewell B NPP to assess the feasibility of the in-vessel retention strategy . Similarly the application of PSA based models was extended to the Barseba ck and Ringhals 2 NPPs to improve the emergency operating procedures, notab ly actions related to manual operations. A human reliability analysis based on the Human Cognitive Reliability (HCR) and Technique For Human Error Rat e (THERP) models was applied to a case study addressing secondary and prima ry bleed and feed procedures. Some aspects pertinent to the quantification of severe accident phenomena were further examined in this project. A compa rison of the applications of PSA based approach and ROAAM to two severe acc ident issues, viz hydrogen combustion and in-vessel retention, was made. A general conclusion is that there is no requirement for further major develo pment of the PSA and ROAAM methodologies in the modelling of SAM strategies for a variety of applications as far as the technical aspects are concerne d. As is demonstrated in this project, the generic modelling framework was refined to enable a number of applications. Some recommendations have also been made regarding the applicability of these approaches to existing opera ting reactors and future reactors. The need for further research and develo pment in the area of human reliability quantification was identified. (C) 2 001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.