• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
• /
• v.15 no.4
• /
• pp.150-156
• /
• 2000

In this paper, the human error contributions to the system unavailability are calculated and compared to the mechanical failure contributions. The system unavailability is a probability that a system is in the failed state at time t, given that it was the normal state at time zero. It is a function of human errors committed during maintenance and tests, component failure rates, surveillance test intervals, and allowed outage time. The THERP (Technique for Human Error Rate Prediction), generally called "HRA handbook", is used here for evaluating human error rates. This method treats the operator as one of the system components, and human reliability is assessed in the same manner as that of components. Based on the calculation results, the human error contribution to the system unavailability is shown to be more important than the mechanical failure contribution in the example system. It is also demonstrated that this method is very flexible in that it can be applied to any hazardous facilities, such as gas valve stations and chemical process plants.ss plants.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.23 no.2
• /
• pp.174-182
• /
• 1991

Effects of human error relevant to the periodic test are incorporated in the evaluations of the unavailability and optimal test interval of a safety system. Two types of possible human error with respect to the test and maintenance are considered. One is the possibility that a good safety system is inadvertently left in a bad state after test（Type A human error) and the other is the possibility that a bad safety system is undetected upon the test（Type B human error). An event tree model is developed for the steady-state unavailability of a safety system in order to determine the effects of human errors on the system unavailability and the optimal test interval. A reliability analysis of the Safety Injection System (SIS) was peformed to evaluate the effects of human error on the SIS unavailability. Results of various sensitivity analyses show that ; (1) the steady-state unavailability of the safety system increases as the probabilities of both types of human error increase and it is far more sensitive to Type A human error, (2) the optimal test interval increases slightly as the probability of Type A human error increases but it decreases as the probability of Type B human error increases, and (3) provided that the test interval of the safety injction pump is kept unchanged, the unavailability of SIS increases significantly as the probability of Type A human error increases but slightly as the probability of Type B human error increases. Therefore, to obtain the realistic result of reliability analysis, one should take shorter test interval (not optimal test interval) so that the unavailability of SIS can be maintained at the same level irrespective of human error. Since Type A human error during test & maintenance influeces greatly on the system unavailability, special efforts to reduce the possibility of Type A human error are essential in the course of test & maintenance.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.15 no.4
• /
• pp.229-235
• /
• 1983

Common Mode Failures (CMFs) have been a serious concern in the nuclear power plant. There is a broad category of the failure mechanisms that can cause common mode failures. This paper is a theoretical investigation of the CMFs on the unavailability of the redundant system. It is assumed that the total CMFs consist of the potential CMFs and the dependent human error CMFs. As the human error dependence is higher, the total CMFs are more effected by the dependent human error. If the human error dependence is lower, the system unavailability strongly depends on the potential CMFs, rather than the mechanical failure or the dependent human error. And it is shown that the total CMFs are dominant factor to the unavailability of the redundant system.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.36 no.6
• /
• pp.485-496
• /
• 2004

Typical probabilistic safety assessment (PSA) results were used to estimate the performance indicator (PI) thresholds of unplanned reactor scram (URS) and safety system unavailability (SSU) for Korean nuclear power plants (NPPs). The changes in core damage frequency (${\Delta}$CDFs) of $10^{-6}/yr$, $10^{-5}/yr$, and $10^{-4}/yr$ were adopted as the risk criteria in setting up the PI thresholds. The PI thresholds for the URS were estimated using information pertaining to the initiating event frequencies, the CDF, and the CDF contribution of each initiating event. The PI thresholds of the SSU were estimated using information on the unavailability, the Fussell-Vesely importance, and the CDF.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers A
• /
• v.48 no.5
• /
• pp.517-523
• /
• 1999

The Start-up transformers or on-site stand-by transformers are installed for the start-up and shut-down of generator and emergency status in unclear power plant. The on-site power supply configuration using these transformers must be detemined by considering configuration requirements, site characteristics, reliability and availability severely because it is remarkably important for safety and benefit of plant. The start-up or stand-by power supply configuration has been determined considering only safety requirements and construction cost up to now in Korea. I study various reliability estimating methods for the prediction of availability, and estimate the unavailability for the start-up power supply system of two 1,000㎿ unclear power plants. I also detemine the reliability and unavailability and unavailavility of equipment, system and configuration using FTA method.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.25 no.4
• /
• pp.515-528
• /
• 1993

In a Passive PWR, the successful actuation of Automatic Depressurization System (ADS) is essentially required so that no core damage is occurred following small LOCA. But it has been shown in the previous studies that Core Damage Frequency (CDF) from small LOCA is significantly caused by unavailability of ADS. In this study, the design vulnerabilities impacting the ADS unavailability have been identified and the design improvement items have been proposed through the system reliability assessment using the fault tree methodology The impacts on CDF according to the change of system unavailability have also been analyzed. In addition, small LOCA simulation using RELAP5/MOD3 code has been performed to show the thermal-hydraulic feasibility of the suggested design enhancements.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.56 no.2
• /
• pp.526-535
• /
• 2024

This paper proposes a safety-critical standby component unavailability model that contains aging effects caused by the elapsed time from installation, component degradation due to surveillance tests, and imperfect maintenance actions. An application of the model to a Motor-Operated Valve and a Motor-Driven Pump involved in the HPIS of a VVER/1000-V446 nuclear power plant is demonstrated and compared with other existing models at component and system levels. In addition, the effects of different unavailability models are reflected in the NPP's risk criterion, i.e., core damage frequency, over five maintenance periods. The results show that, compared with other models that do not simultaneously consider the full effects of degradation and maintenance impacts, the proposed model realistically evaluates the unavailabilities of the safety-related components and the involved systems as a plant age function. Therefore, it can effectively reflect the age-dependent CDF impact of a given testing and maintenance policy in a specified time horizon.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.19 no.3
• /
• pp.186-191
• /
• 1987

In this paper, we suggest the simple and practical direct simulation method for the system reliability calculation In the aspect of system unavailability calculation, this method can simplify the calculation process by applying the hard-wired system fault tree. For the calculation purpose, we use the ESCAF which is developed by Mr. Laviron in France. As a consequence, we estimate the unavailability of OP$\Delta$T & OT$\Delta$T channel in W PWR plants as a value of 8.17576$\times$10$^{-9}$ from IEEE std. 500-1977's reference data. In our calculation, the processing time is no more than 25 sec.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.16 no.2
• /
• pp.97-105
• /
• 1984

A method and computer code for the uncertainty analysis in the top event unavailability are developed and tested by combining Monte Carlo Method and Moments method with fault tree reduction technique. Using system fault trees and unavailability data selected in WASH-1400, the efficiency of the proposed method is tested and these results are compared with those obtained by Monte Carlo method. It is shown that the results are sufficiently good in accuracy and computation time is considerably reduced compared with those by Monte Carlo method.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers A
• /
• v.48 no.4
• /
• pp.358-364
• /
• 1999

The auxiliary transformers or start-up/stand-by transformer(s) are installed against the start-up and shut-down of generator and emergency status in fossil power plant. The on-site power supply configuration using these transformers must be determined, considering configuration requirements, site characteristics, reliability and availability severely because it is remarkably important for safety and ecfonomy of plant. The auxiliary or start-up/stand-by power supply configuration has been determined considering only safety requirements and construction cost until now in Korea. This paper presents general theorems for the reliability estimation and proposes 2-unit based 4 alternatives for the start-up power supply stystem of 500㎿ standardized fossil power plant. The reliability and unavailability of equipment, system and configuration are determined using minimal cut-set methodology. The optimized plan of 4 alternatives is determined based on this ultimate reliability and unavailability.