Development of a hybrid method to assess grid-related LOOP scenarios for an NPP

Abstract Loss of Offsite Power (LOOP) is the most dominant initiating event in the Core Damage Frequency (CDF) of Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs). Since the frequency of occurrence of LOOP depends on the grid configuration, outage schedule, load flow, etc., even a relevant generic frequency may result in significant uncertainty. In this study, an analytical hybrid methodology, which combines the probabilistic and deterministic modules, is introduced to systematically estimate the frequency of Grid-related LOOP. The proposed probabilistic module develops the relevant event-trees and fault-trees in SAPHIRE7 to identify the LOOP sequences upon the response of the distance protection system to a fault on the transmission lines. Meanwhile, the identified scenarios are confirmed based on the simulation results from the deterministic module in DIgSILENT-PowerFactory15.1. 15-out-of-48 scenarios (100-out-of-300 sequences) are identified as grid-related LOOP upon faults on the four transmission lines of the test grid, and result in 1.76E-06/yr for the grid-related LOOP frequency. The developed methodology enables us to trace a LOOP chain, from a primitive presumed fault through the progress of the cascade. The grid-related LOOP scenarios in a certain network can be ranked probabilistically, with the desired level of details in both deterministic and probabilistic modules.