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    Management of Ageing and Obsolescence of Instrumentation and Control Systems and Equipment in Nuclear Power Plants and Related Facilities Through Modernization
    Management of Ageing and Obsolescence of Instrumentation and Control Systems and Equipment in Nuclear Power Plants and Related Facilities Through Modernization
    Management of Ageing and Obsolescence of Instrumentation and Control Systems and Equipment in Nuclear Power Plants and Related Facilities Through Modernization
    Ebook358 pages2 hoursIAEA Nuclear Energy Series

    Management of Ageing and Obsolescence of Instrumentation and Control Systems and Equipment in Nuclear Power Plants and Related Facilities Through Modernization

    By IAEA

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    Ageing of instrumentation and control (I&C) equipment at nuclear facilities has the potential to degrade mechanisms, which can in turn reduce safety margins and increase operating and maintenance costs. Obsolescence of I&C equipment can compound matters as suitable replacements become difficult to source. In 2019, the IAEA Technical Working Group on Nuclear Power Plant Instrumentation and Control acknowledged that relevant system and strategy guidance was required to implement modern technology at nuclear facilities. The purpose of this publication is to assist Member States in developing strategies to address ageing and obsolescence issues for I&C systems and it provides detail on modernization considerations and information from relevant recent operator experience. An appendix summarizes cable ageing management through condition monitoring, and several annexes describe Member States’ practices and experience with l&C ageing management and modernization.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherInternational Atomic Energy Agency
    Release dateDec 14, 2022
    ISBN9789201377227
    Management of Ageing and Obsolescence of Instrumentation and Control Systems and Equipment in Nuclear Power Plants and Related Facilities Through Modernization

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      Management of Ageing and Obsolescence of Instrumentation and Control Systems and Equipment in Nuclear Power Plants and Related Facilities Through Modernization - IAEA

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      MANAGEMENT OF

      AGEING AND OBSOLESCENCE OF

      INSTRUMENTATION AND CONTROL

      SYSTEMS AND EQUIPMENT IN NUCLEAR

      POWER PLANTS AND RELATED

      FACILITIES THROUGH MODERNIZATION

      IAEA NUCLEAR ENERGY SERIES No. NR-T-3.34

      MANAGEMENT OF

      AGEING AND OBSOLESCENCE OF

      INSTRUMENTATION AND CONTROL

      SYSTEMS AND EQUIPMENT IN NUCLEAR

      POWER PLANTS AND RELATED

      FACILITIES THROUGH MODERNIZATION

      INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY

      VIENNA, 2022

      COPYRIGHT NOTICE

      All IAEA scientific and technical publications are protected by the terms of the Universal Copyright Convention as adopted in 1952 (Berne) and as revised in 1972 (Paris). The copyright has since been extended by the World Intellectual Property Organization (Geneva) to include electronic and virtual intellectual property. Permission to use whole or parts of texts contained in IAEA publications in printed or electronic form must be obtained and is usually subject to royalty agreements. Proposals for non-commercial reproductions and translations are welcomed and considered on a case-by-case basis. Enquiries should be addressed to the IAEA Publishing Section at:

      Marketing and Sales Unit, Publishing Section

      International Atomic Energy Agency

      Vienna International Centre

      PO Box 100

      1400 Vienna, Austria

      fax: +43 1 26007 22529

      tel.: +43 1 2600 22417

      email: [email protected]

      www.iaea.org/publications

      © IAEA, 2022

      Printed by the IAEA in Austria

      December 2022

      STI/PUB/2030

      IAEA Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

      Names: International Atomic Energy Agency.

      Title: Management of ageing and obsolescence of nuclear instrumentation and control systems and equipment in nuclear power plants and related facilities through modernization / International Atomic Energy Agency.

      Description: Vienna : International Atomic Energy Agency, 2022. | Series: IAEA nuclear energy series, ISSN 1995–7807 ; no. NR-T-3.34 | Includes bibliographical references.

      Identifiers: IAEAL 22-01532 | ISBN 978–92–0–137522–3 (paperback : alk. paper) | ISBN 978–92–0–137622–0 (pdf) | ISBN 978–92–0–137722–7 (epub)

      Subjects: LCSH: Nuclear industry — Equipment and supplies. | Nuclear power plants — Management. | Nuclear power plants — Maintenance and repair. | Nuclear power plants —Maintainability. | Nuclear power plants — Safety measures.

      Classification: UDC 621.039.56 | STI/PUB/2030

      FOREWORD

      The IAEA’s statutory role is to seek to accelerate and enlarge the contribution of atomic energy to peace, health and prosperity throughout the world. Among other functions, the IAEA is authorized to foster the exchange of scientific and technical information on peaceful uses of atomic energy. One way this is achieved is through a range of technical publications including the IAEA Nuclear Energy Series.

      The IAEA Nuclear Energy Series comprises publications designed to further the use of nuclear technologies in support of sustainable development, to advance nuclear science and technology, catalyse innovation and build capacity to support the existing and expanded use of nuclear power and nuclear science applications. The publications include information covering all policy, technological and management aspects of the definition and implementation of activities involving the peaceful use of nuclear technology. While the guidance provided in IAEA Nuclear Energy Series publications does not constitute Member States’ consensus, it has undergone internal peer review and been made available to Member States for comment prior to publication.

      The IAEA safety standards establish fundamental principles, requirements and recommendations to ensure nuclear safety and serve as a global reference for protecting people and the environment from harmful effects of ionizing radiation.

      When IAEA Nuclear Energy Series publications address safety, it is ensured that the IAEA safety standards are referred to as the current boundary conditions for the application of nuclear technology.

      A significant number of nuclear power plants around the world employ instrumentation and control systems and equipment (including cabling) that have been in service for many years. As a result, equipment ageing and obsolescence issues are becoming increasingly prevalent.

      The ageing of instrumentation and control equipment has the potential to degrade the performance and reliability of such systems, which in turn can lead to a reduction in safety margins and an increase in operating and maintenance costs. The obsolescence of instrumentation and control equipment (hardware and software) can compound matters by making it difficult to source suitable replacements and to maintain adequate levels of replacement parts. Therefore, robust ageing and obsolescence management of this equipment is vital.

      In 2019 the IAEA Technical Working Group on Nuclear Power Plant Instrumentation and Control recognized that information was needed to develop a strategy for managing instrumentation and control system and equipment ageing and obsolescence when it comes to replacing old technology with modern smart technology. This publication provides such information, which is based on recent operator experience.

      The information in this publication builds on other IAEA publications on the topic of ageing management issued in the IAEA Safety Standards Series, the Safety Reports Series and the IAEA Nuclear Energy Series and in IAEA Technical Documents (TECDOCs).

      The IAEA wishes to acknowledge the valuable assistance provided by the contributors and reviewers listed at the end of the publication, in particular the contribution of R.C. Green (United Kingdom) as the Chair of the authoring group. The IAEA officer responsible for this publication was J. Eiler of the Division of Nuclear Power.

      EDITORIAL NOTE

      This publication has been edited by the editorial staff of the IAEA to the extent considered necessary for the reader’s assistance. It does not address questions of responsibility, legal or otherwise, for acts or omissions on the part of any person.

      Although great care has been taken to maintain the accuracy of information contained in this publication, neither the IAEA nor its Member States assume any responsibility for consequences which may arise from its use.

      Guidance and recommendations provided here in relation to identified good practices represent experts’ opinions but are not made on the basis of a consensus of all Member States.

      The use of particular designations of countries or territories does not imply any judgement by the publisher, the IAEA, as to the legal status of such countries or territories, of their authorities and institutions or of the delimitation of their boundaries.

      The mention of names of specific companies or products (whether or not indicated as registered) does not imply any intention to infringe proprietary rights, nor should it be construed as an endorsement or recommendation on the part of the IAEA.

      The IAEA has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third party Internet web sites referred to in this book and does not guarantee that any content on such web sites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

      The authoritative version of this publication is the hard copy issued at the same time and available as pdf on www.iaea.org/publications. To create this version for e-readers, certain changes have been made, including a the movement of some figures and tables.

      CONTENTS

      1. Introduction

      1.1. Background

      1.2. Objective

      1.3. Scope

      1.4. Structure

      2. Relevant IAEA safety requirements, RECOMMENDATIONS and guidance

      2.1. Relevant IAEA safety requirements for managing ageing and obsolescence

      2.2. IAEA recommendations and guidance for managing ageing and obsolescence

      3. ageing management OF I&C equipment

      3.1. Introduction: definition of ageing equipment

      3.2. Ageing related degradation mechanisms and effects

      3.3. Methods and techniques to identify ageing I&C equipment

      3.4. Ageing equipment simulation and modelling

      3.5. Degradation acceptance criteria

      3.6. Ageing management of spare parts

      3.7. Data capture and trending

      3.8. General specification, design, manufacture and in-service life cycle phase considerations

      3.9. Maintenance arrangements and strategies

      4. I&C equipment obsolescence management

      4.1. Introduction

      4.2. Definition and scope

      4.3. I&C equipment obsolescence management process

      4.4. Configuration management

      4.5. Software

      4.6. Knowledge management of I&C equipment

      4.7. Other I&C equipment obsolescence considerations

      5. strategies FOR I&C system/equipment modernization

      5.1. Introduction

      5.2. Strategies/options

      5.3. Decision making process

      5.4. Solution justification

      5.5. Developments in obsolescence management

      6. I&C system/equipment modernization strategies and issues

      6.1. Strategies for modernization

      6.2. Choice of technology

      6.3. Interfaces with existing systems/plant

      6.4. Replacement with similar equipment strategy

      6.5. Reverse engineering strategy

      6.6. Partial or full replacement strategy

      6.7. Modernization implementation scheduling

      6.8. Modernization project delivery and techniques

      Appendix: CABLE AGEING MANAGEMENT THROUGH CONDITION MONITORING

      REFERENCES

      Annex I: UNITED KINGDOM SIZEWELL B WISCO-2 DATA PROCESSING AND CONTROL SYSTEM REPLACEMENT PROJECT

      Annex II: LOVIISA ELSA PROJECT IN FINLAND

      Annex III: UKRAINIAN NPP I&C MODERNIZATION PROJECTS

      Annex IV: USE OF 3-D PRINTER TECHNOLOGY TO ADDRESS AN AGEING AND OBSOLESCENCE ISSUE AT THE DARLINGTON NPP

      Annex V: USE OF ACCELERATED AGEING ON EQUIPEMENT IN A MILD ENVIRONMENT

      Annex VI: DARLINGTON NPP LIQUID ZONE CONTROL POSITIONER REPLACEMENT

      ABBREVIATIONS

      CONTRIBUTORS TO DRAFTING AND REVIEW

      STRUCTURE OF THE IAEA NUCLEAR ENERGY SERIES

      1. Introduction

      1.1. Background

      A significant number of nuclear power plants (NPPs) around the world employ instrumentation and control (I&C) systems and equipment (including cabling) which have been in service for many years. As a result, equipment ageing and obsolescence issues are becoming increasingly prevalent.

      The ageing of I&C equipment has the potential to degrade the performance and reliability of I&C systems, which in turn can lead to a reduction in safety margins and an increase in operating and maintenance (O&M) costs. Obsolescence of I&C equipment (hardware and software) can also compound matters by making it difficult to source suitable replacements and to sustain adequate levels of spares. Therefore, robust ageing and obsolescence management of I&C equipment is vitally important.

      There are three main top level ageing and obsolescence management strategies that can be employed to increase the operating lives of systems (see Fig. 1):

      (1) Retain and sustain equipment;

      (2) Wholesale equipment replacement;

      (3) A combination of (1) and (2).

      Figure 1 is a simplified graphical representation of the ‘reliability bathtub curve’ and does not therefore take into account the potential for strategies (2) and (3) to introduce ‘infant mortality’ failures.

      In relation to strategies (2) and (3), replacing old technology with modern technology (especially with smart technology) can permit system performance improvements to be made. Examples of such improvements include the addition of improved accuracy and configurability, integrated controls and fault monitoring/logging/reporting as well as diagnostic capabilities. Furthermore, an appropriate, fault tolerant, design can have benefits such as increasing system reliability and reducing O&M costs.

      However, the modernization of I&C systems/equipment can bring with it a number of challenges, such as the need to:

      — Identify suitable replacement equipment technology.

      — Determine how to replace systems/equipment while maintaining required operating capabilities and adequate safety margins.

      — Establish how to integrate replacement systems with older systems that are based on different technologies.

      — Ensure that all reasonably foreseeable ageing equipment degradation mechanisms and effects have been identified, understood and accounted for in the design of the equipment.

      — Obtain sufficient and suitable evidence to support software integrity claims.

      — Ensure that personnel are trained and qualified to use and maintain the replacement systems/equipment.

      — Ensure that potential cybersecurity vulnerabilities associated with modern smart technologies are appropriately managed.

      This publication provides information on strategies for managing I&C system and equipment ageing and obsolescence based on the experience of NPP operators in overcoming these challenges.

      1.2. Objective

      The objectives of this publication are to highlight:

      — Pertinent IAEA recommendations and guidance on I&C system/equipment ageing and obsolescence management and relevant good practice.

      —Key ageing and obsolescence related issues that need to be taken into consideration when modernizing I&C systems/equipment.

      — Strategies that could be employed to address such issues.

      Guidance provided here, describing good practices, represents expert opinion but does not constitute recommendations made on the basis of a consensus of Member States.

      1.3. Scope

      This publication provides ageing and obsolescence management information in relation to I&C systems and equipment, and is applicable to:

      — I&C systems/equipment used by, and intended for use, in:

      ● All types of NPPs;

      ● Spent fuel storage and radioactive waste management facilities that are related to NPPs.

      — All phases in the life cycle of NPPs/facilities;

      — All phases in the life cycle of I&C systems/equipment.

      This publication does not provide guidance regarding the structure and implementation of an ageing management programme, nor does it provide guidance in relation to the qualification of I&C equipment, as these topics are covered in detail in other IAEA publications. Although this publication takes the NPP operator’s viewpoint and is aimed at existing NPPs and related facilities, the information provided is also considered relevant to I&C systems/equipment vendors and new-build programmes.

      Regulatory bodies can use this publication when preparing regulatory requirements, codes, standards and guidance, and when verifying that effective ageing and obsolescence management arrangements have been implemented at NPPs and related facilities. Note that the term ‘equipment’ in the context of this publication also includes components and cables.

      This publication builds on information already published by the IAEA, such as IAEA Safety Standards Series No. SSG-48, Ageing Management and Development of a Programme for Long Term Operation of Nuclear Power Plants; Safety Reports Series No. 82 (Rev. 1), Ageing Management for Nuclear Power Plants: International Generic Ageing Lessons Learned (IGALL); IAEA-TECDOC-1147, Management of Ageing of I&C Equipment in Nuclear Power Plants; IAEA-TECDOC-1389, Managing Modernization of Nuclear Power Plant Instrumentation and Control Systems; IAEA-TECDOC-1402, Management of Life Cycle and Ageing at Nuclear Power Plants: Improved I&C Maintenance; and IAEA Nuclear Energy Series No. NP-T-3.6, Assessing and Managing Cable Ageing in Nuclear Power Plants.

      1.4. Structure

      This publication is organized into six major sections (including the introduction in Section 1), one Appendix and six annexes. Section 2 lists relevant IAEA safety requirements and guidance applicable to the subjects covered in the publication. Section 3 discusses I&C equipment ageing management, including ageing related degradation mechanisms and effects, ageing identification techniques, data capture and trending, life cycle considerations and maintenance strategies that can be employed to prevent/mitigate equipment ageing.

      Section 4 outlines I&C equipment obsolescence management, including the relevant phases of the related processes. Section 5 introduces assessment methodology for the choice of modernization strategies, including the decision making process and the justification of the selected solutions. Section 6 covers I&C modernization issues and strategies to cope with equipment obsolescence.

      The Appendix describes a specific case of cable ageing management using condition monitoring (CM) techniques. The six annexes provide case studies of Member State practices related to I&C system/equipment modernization.

      2. Relevant IAEA safety requirements, RECOMMENDATIONS and guidance

      2.1. Relevant IAEA safety requirements for managing ageing and obsolescence

      Specific safety requirements for the design, commissioning and operation of NPPs have been established in the following IAEA safety standards publications:

      — IAEA Safety Standards Series No. SSR-2/1 (Rev. 1), Safety of Nuclear Power Plants: Design [ 1 ].

      — IAEA Safety Standards Series No. SSR-2/2 (Rev. 1), Safety of Nuclear Power Plants: Commissioning and Operation [ 2 ].

      The importance of systematically managing the ageing and obsolescence of structures, systems and components (SSCs) is recognized in the IAEA safety standards publications cited above, which contain the following relevant

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