NUCLEAR-POWER-PLANT PERFORMANCE AND SAFETY - DO THEY DETERIORATE WITHAGE

Nuclear power plant performance is analysed on the basis of indicators reported by the plants in the course of the programmes of the World A ssociation of Nuclear Operators (WANO). Since 1991 WANO's member utili ties have reported data on plant performance, reliability and operatio nal safety to a common database. The data do not show any significant decline overall with increasing age. However, some indicator trends se em to point to a greater amount of unplanned outages and maintenance a s plants become older The increased attention paid by utilities during recent years to improving the safety level, performance and reliabili ty of their plants seems to have been effective in counter-acting any deleterious effects which might have occurred because of ageing of the plant and its equipment.