Development of Regulation on the Integrated Materials Aging Management for Nuclear Facilities

원자로시설의 경년열화 종합관리에 관한 규정개발 방향

The renewed global interest in nuclear power has arisen from the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to provide sufficient electricity for a growing global population. Many countries with nuclear power plants (NPPs) are still implementing license extensions of 10~20 years, and even consideration is being given to the concept of life-beyond-60, a further period of license extension from 60 to 80 years. To solve the materials aging problem is integral to its success. A foundation for effective aging management of nuclear power plants is that aging is properly taken into account at each stage of a plant's lifetime, i.e. in design, manufacture, construction and operation including long term operation and decommissioning. To evaluate the plant aging phenomena, a lot of background information such as materials and environment of the parts of the reactor and plant systems is needed by the experts. Information on degradation mechanisms is also used. In this paper, a regulation on the integrated materials aging management for nuclear facilities is proposed. The proposed regulation identifies key elements of effective aging management for nuclear power plants and provides the requirements on aging management for nuclear facilities throughout all stages of the lifetime of the plant.