Case studies of risk-informed inservice inspection of nuclear piping systems

In the present paper, a probabilistic failure analysis is used to find failure probabilities of piping segments, and a probabilistic risk assessment model is employed to obtain risks to a nuclear power plant should these failures occur. The multiplication of the piping failure probability and the consequence for that particular failure results in the risk contribution of the pipe. The degrees of risk for different piping segments can then be ranked, and their results can be used as the basis for planning a risk-informed inservice inspection program. Numerical studies are offered with special emphases on: (1) the status and experience with RI-ISI applications in Taiwan; (2) the comparison of risk-rankings performed with three different methods developed in the US; (3) aspects of the probabilistic fracture mechanics calculation including the flaw size distributions and stress corrosion cracking model. The results indicate the proposed method can indeed be adopted for planning a cost effective inservice inspection program.