OPERATIONAL SAFETY EVOLUTION IN SPANISH NUCLEAR UNITS

摘要

Within the European Union, Spain is the fourth largest producer of nuclear power and the third in terms of reliance on this kind of electricity generation. At present, the total nuclear capacity installed is 7400 MW(e), of which 6780 came into commercial operation between 1981 and 1988. During the past decade Spain has mainly been involved with construction activity. However, Spain has more than 100 reactor-years of operating experience and new regulations, regulatory guides and requirements have been introduced. The nuclear experience acquired and the degree of maturity achieved during the past 20 years have made it evident since the beginning of the 1980s that additional measures would be needed in order to reach the intended level of safety, reliability and economic operation of Spanish nuclear units. New safety criteria and methodologies developed through the 1980s and safety and quality culture concepts were considered as well. A systematic evaluation programme for two units (Santa Maria de Garona and Jos6 Cabrera NPPs) built to earlier standards was developed and significant post-Three Mile Island requirements were implemented for the remaining Spanish units. The paper summarizes the organization structures established by the Spanish nuclear sector to follow and covers significant safety and operational issues and the important areas in which safety improvements were made to upgrade operational safety in our nuclear power plants. Areas such as probabilistic safety analysis and its applications, technology innovation incorporated in some safety systems, accident management procedures and guidance, operational experience feedback, safety and quality culture programmes, etc., are described in the paper, with the lessons learned from each process and the benefits obtained.