Page 24 - Nuclear Plant Journal - March April 2013
Basic HTML Version
A Safe
Plant for
the 21
st
Century
By Anthony Robinson, AREVA Inc.
Anthony Robinson
Mr. Robinson holds the position of Vice
President, for the North American New
Builds business group of AREVA NP.
Located in
Lynchburg,
Virginia, Mr.
Robinson oversees
and manages the
organizations
responsible for
all aspects of
the nuclear new
plant deployment
activities in the U.S.
and Canada.
Mr. Robinson has
over 25 years
of combined
leadership
experience in
the nuclear and telecommunication
industries. Prior to his tenure with
the New Builds organization, he was
Director of Project Management for
AREVA Inc.
Mr. Robinson holds a degree in
Mechanical Engineering from the
University of Akron, attended the
Executive MBA program at Kent
State University, and is a registered
Professional Engineer in the State
of Ohio.
Response to questions by Newal
Agnihotri, Editor of Nuclear Plant
Journal.
1. What is the current licensed life of
EPR in the United States and in China?
The duration of the operating license
is governed by the regulations of the
country in which the plant is located. In
the United States, the license is for 40
years and may be extended in 20-year
increments. In France and China, the
licensees update the safety case every 10
years and submit a license amendment
application for regulatory approval.
2.
What is the design life of the EPR?
The design life of the EPR
TM
is 60
years. All structures and large mechani-
cal components are designed for 60
years. Other equipment has a design life
of 60 years unless it
is impractical such
as 1) parts that are
replaced or refur-
bished during normal
plant maintenance,
2) equipment that
cannot be procured
from suppliers at
this design life (e.g.,
large motors, trans-
formers, switchgear
or internals of ro-
tating
machinery
such as pump shafts,
pump impellers, tur-
bine shafts, turbine
blades, fans, etc….
as manufacturers do
not offer 60-year design life for these
components), and 3) equipment that be-
comes obsolete due to rapid technology
development (e.g., digital instrumenta-
tion and controls). Regardless of design
life, with the exceptions of the reactor
vessel and turbine casings, all equipment
in the EPR
TM
is designed to be removed
and replaced without the deconstruction
or demolition of any structures, using
pre-engineered lifting devices and haul
routes designed for the task.
3.
What modifications in design,
structures, systems, equipment, and
instruments have been made to support a
plant life higher than 40 years?
Most operating plants have shown
significant margins built into the design
such that extending the design life
from 40 years to 60 years was possible
without significant plant modifications or
equipment replacements. AREVA simply
incorporated those design requirements
into the EPR
TM
from the beginning,
including sufficient heat-up/cooldown
cycles, maneuvering cycles and erosion/
corrosion allowances to bound 60 years
of operation. The largest contributors
to fatigue of major components (what
some would call “wear and tear”) are the
stress caused by thermal expansion or
contraction caused by heating the plant
from cold to hot full power conditions or
from cooling the plant fromhot conditions
to room temperature. The effect is similar
to bending a piece of foil in your hands
forward and backward. Eventually, after
a large number of bendings (e.g. cycles)
the foil will break. Big equipment must
be designed for a number of loading and
unloading cycles so as to bound operation
for 60 years with a very wide design
margin. Furthermore, certain operating
conditions and plant maneuvers were
modified to reduce fatigue on critical
components. Materials were selected
based on proven reliability over four
decades of operation in the light water
reactor fleet. Just as significant, many
EPR
TM
components were designed by
analysis rather than code equations,
which increases operating margin by
reducing unnecessary conservatism in
the design. INPO AP-913
1
is integrated
into the detailed design, procurement
and construction processes to further
enhance equipment reliability. Equipment
diagnostics and on-line monitoring
systems provide additional confidence in
the equipment as the plant ages.
4.
Are there any plans, built-in EPR to
enable its 80-year life?
AREVA is confident that significant
conservatism is built into the design such
that after 60 years of operation there will
be sufficient design margin available to
accommodate an additional 20 years of
operation. On-line fatigue monitoring,
transient assessments and in-service
inspections will validate the condition
of the plant to operate beyond the design
life.
1.
INPO- AP 913 “Equipment Reliability
Process Description” November 2001.
24
Nuclear Plant Journal, March-April 2013
