Safety assessment of nuclear power plants

Safety in nuclear engineering to protect men and the environment

There is practically no other industry worldwide in which safety plays a more crucial role than in nuclear engineering.

Risk and safety assessment
In the field of nuclear engineering, the last few years have witnessed an increasing influence of mathematical-statistical risk assessment methods and tools (probabilistic methods) next to deterministic approaches on investigations into the safety of nuclear facilities.

TÜV SÜD's safety assessment
Deterministic and probabilistic safety analyses form the two pillars of TÜV SÜD's safety assessments. As a supplement to technical safety assessments based on deterministic principles, probabilistic safety assessments (PSAs) are being increasingly implemented worldwide to reach decisions relating to safety. The aim of safety analyses is to evaluate the safety level of a given nuclear power plant and to uncover any weak spots.

Key information on system and component design, operating procedures and experiences, component and system reliability, and human behavior in a plant are compiled and an overall assessment of the current state and performance of the plant is produced. PSA results enable the comprehensive assessment of the safety concept of a nuclear power plant and allow quantitative information on its safety level to be gathered. Weak spots in terms of safety are recognized and the balance of the safety design is evaluated.

Decision-makers thus increasingly use the results of deterministic and probabilistic safety analyses when it comes to safety issues.

Probabilistic analyses in the form of reliability analyses for selected safety equipment of nuclear power plants have been performed by manufacturers and assessors as part of the nuclear licensing procedure in Germany for over 20 years. Methodical development, increased practical experience, and extensive experience in operating components and systems have permitted reliability analyses to be expanded, resulting in comprehensive PSAs. The systematic use of PSAs has resulted in a significant improvement in the safety of existing plants.