Ageing PSA incorporating effectiveness of maintenance and testing

This paper proposes a new approach to Ageing Probabilistic Safety Assessment (APSA) modelling, which is intended to be used to support risk-informed decisions on the effectiveness of maintenance management programs and technical specification requirements of critical equipment of Nuclear Power Plants (NPP) within the framework of the Risk Informed Decision Making according to R.G. 1.174 principles. This approach focuses on the incorporation of not only equipment ageing but also effectiveness of maintenance and efficiency of surveillance testing explicitly into APSA models and data. An example of application is presented, which centres on a critical safety-related equipment of a NPP in order to evaluate the risk impact of considering different approaches to APSA and the combined effect of equipment ageing and maintenance and testing alternatives along NPP design life. The risk impact of the several alternatives is quantified and the results shows that such risk depends largely on the model parameters, such as ageing factor, maintenance effectiveness, test efficiency.Authors are grateful to the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation for the financial support of this work (Research Project ENE2013-45540-R) and the Doctoral Fellow (BES-2011-043906).Martón Lluch, I.; Sánchez Galdón, AI.; Martorell Alsina, SS. (2015). Ageing PSA incorporating effectiveness of maintenance and testing. Reliability Engineering and System Safety. 139:131-140. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ress.2015.03.022S13114013

Optimization of test and maintenance of ageing components consisting of multiple items and addressing effectiveness

[EN] There are many models in the literature that have been proposed in the last decades aimed at assessing the reliability, availability and maintainability (RAM) of safety equipment, many of them with a focus on their use to assess the risk level of a technological system or to search for appropriate design and/or surveillance and maintenance policies in order to assure that an optimum level of RAM of safety systems is kept during all the plant operational life. This paper proposes a new approach for RAM modelling that accounts for equipment ageing and maintenance and testing effectiveness of equipment consisting of multiple items in an integrated manner. This model is then used to perform the simultaneous optimization of testing and maintenance for ageing equipment consisting of multiple items. An example of application is provided, which considers a simplified High Pressure Injection System (HPIS) of a typical Power Water Reactor (PWR). Basically, this system consists of motor driven pumps (MDP) and motor operated valves (MOV), where both types of components consists of two items each. These components present different failure and cause modes and behaviours, and they also undertake complex test and maintenance activities depending on the item involved. The results of the example of application demonstrate that the optimization algorithm provide the best solutions when the optimization problem is formulated and solved considering full flexibility in the implementation of testing and maintenance activities taking part of such an integrated RAM model.Authors are grateful to the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation for the financial support of this work (research project ENE2013-45540-R) and the Doctoral fellow (BES-2011-043906 and BES-2014-067602).Martón Lluch, I.; Martorell Aigües, P.; Mullor, R.; Sánchez Galdón, AI.; Martorell Alsina, SS. (2016). Optimization of test and maintenance of ageing components consisting of multiple items and addressing effectiveness. Reliability Engineering and System Safety. 153:151-158. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ress.2016.04.015S15115815

Unavailability model for demand-caused failures of safety components addressing degradation by demand-induced stress, maintenance effectiveness and test efficiency

[EN] The reliability, availability and maintainability (RAM) modelling of safety equipment has long been a topic of major concern. Some RAM models have focused on explicitly addressing the effect of component degradation and surveillance and maintenance policies, searching for an optimum level of the safety component RAM by adjusting surveillance and maintenance related parameters. As regards the reliability contribution, these components normally have two main types of failure mode that contribute to the probability of failure on demand (PFD): (1) by demand-caused and (2) standby-related failures. The former is normally associated with a demand failure probability, which is affected by the degradation caused by demand-related stress. Surveillance testing therefore not only introduces a positive effect, but also an adverse one, which it compensates by performing maintenance activities to eliminate or reduce the accumulated degradation. This paper proposes a new model for the demand failure probability that explicitly addresses all aspects of the effect of demand-induced stress (mostly test-induced stress), maintenance effectiveness (PAS or PAR model) and test efficiency. A case study is included on an application to a typical motor-operated valve in a nuclear power plant.The authors are grateful to the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation for the financial support received (Research Projects ENE2013-45540-R and ENE2016-80401-R) and the doctoral scholarship awarded (BES-2014-067602). The study also received financial support from the Spanish Research Agency and the European Regional Development Fund.Martorell-Aygues, P.; Martón Lluch, I.; Sánchez Galdón, AI.; Martorell Alsina, SS. (2017). Unavailability model for demand-caused failures of safety components addressing degradation by demand-induced stress, maintenance effectiveness and test efficiency. Reliability Engineering & System Safety. 168:18-27. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ress.2017.05.044S182716

Prognosis of wear-out effect on of safety equipment reliability for nuclear power plants long-term safe operation

To reach a Net Zero Emission scenario, on 1st January 2022 the European Union (EU) declared nuclear and gas as transitional activities under strict safety conditions. A central challenge is that many nuclear reactors in operation are close to or have reached their design life, so that, it is required to demonstrate the influence of equipment ageing on plant reliability will be kept under control in the plan extended lifetime. In this work a three-step methodology is proposed to obtain the time instants at which the failure rate behaviour changes (break points) and the most appropriate age-dependant reliability model to explicitly include the effects of ageing and maintenance. The methodology requires the reliability parameters estimation at each phase of the plant equipment lifetime, what is carried out by using the available Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) historical data, which is quite scarce. The methodology is applied to a motor operated valve of a NPP safety system. The results demonstrate the capability of the approach proposed to estimate and predict the component reliability in the plant extended lifetime depending on the maintenance policy implemented, being necessary to estimate an accurate age-dependant reliability model to support the decision-making process on equipment ageing management.Grant PID2019-110590RB-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 “ERDF A way of making Europe”

Qualitative Approach for Selection of Systems Structures and Components to Be Considered in Ageing PSA

This report presents a qualitative approach for selection of Systems, Structures and Components (SSC) sensitive to ageing. The purpose of selection is to model and evaluate SSC ageing effects on the overall NPP safety by applying Probabilistic Safety Assessment tool. The report was prepared by Institute for Nuclear Research, Pitesti, Romania in cooperation with Institute for Energy, EC Joint Research Center, Petten, Netherlands in the frame of EC JRC Ageing PSA Network Task 3 activities. The goal of the work is to demonstrate the feasibility of qualitative assessment in selection of components sensitive for ageing and to develop a viable guideline for selection of components susceptible to ageing. An overview of the available approaches for selection of ageing components was performed, and the methods are briefly presented. Their advantages and disadvantages, as their limitation are also specified. Applicability of the approach for qualitative selection of SSCs susceptible to ageing was demonstrated by a case study which use as an example SSCs of NRI TRIGA research reactor. A list of ageing mechanisms, as their favourable factors for occurrence is provided in appendices of the report.JRC.F.4-Safety of future nuclear reactor

The Role of "Non-Traditional" Physical Activities in Improving Balance in Older Adults: A Review

Recent research indicates that the number of people aged over 60 years is rising faster than any other age group which will put increased financial and social strains on all countries. One major focus of various health and social care agencies is not only to keep these older individuals healthy but also physically active and independent. Many older people lead inactive lives which together with the ageing process lead to physiological changes which have potentially damaging effects on balance control and are risk factors for falls. Research shows that physical activity improves mental health, often stimulates social contacts and can help older people remain as independent as possible. This paper has attempted to review existing research on physical activities and exercise intervention used to improve balance in older adults. Using relevant databases and keywords, 68 studies that met the inclusion criteria were reviewed. Results indicate that many traditional activities can help to improve balance in older adults. However, further investigations need to be conducted into activities that are not generally considered appropriate for older people but may be enjoyable and have health benefits and may help to improve balance in this population

Integral waterproof concrete : a comprehensive review

The ingress of water and aggressive substances is the primary reason for the chemical and physical degradation of concrete infrastructure, leading to a reduction in durability and a shortening of life span. In practice, different integral waterproofing admixtures and surface coatings have been widely used to prevent or mitigate this problem. Compared with surface protection, the incorporation of integral waterproofing admixtures (such as densifiers, water repellents, and crystalline admixtures) in concrete has several benefits, such as ease of application, elimination of regular maintenance, and little or no deterioration over time. So far, there is no comprehensive review on integral waterproofing admixtures and their effects on various properties of concrete. This review examines existing literature on integral waterproof concrete containing various commercial and laboratory-made waterproofing admixtures. This comprehensive review highlights that the use of integral waterproofing admixtures has the potential to increase the service life and improve the durability of concrete structures and infrastructure. However, the admixtures may have a negative impact on some concrete properties, such as workability and strength. Whilst many hydrophobic and crystalline admixtures can reduce the water absorption rate of concrete by up to 80%, they often have a negative impact on the concrete compressive strength, causing a strength reduction of about 10% or more. Their influence on some durability properties (e.g., reinforcement corrosion, microbial-induced concrete corrosion) is inconclusive, indicating the need for further research. There is also a need to develop proper guidelines to determine the efficacy of integral waterproofing admixtures. More research is also required to assess the long-term performance of integral waterproof concrete and its benefits based on life cycle assessment

A framework for developing a prognostic model using partial discharge data from electrical trees

Insulation breakdown is a key failure mode of high voltage (HV) equipment, with progressive faults such as electrical treeing leading to potentially catastrophic failure. Electrical treeing proceeds from defects in solid insulation, and cables are particularly affected. Research has shown that diagnosis of the fault can be achieved based on partial discharge (PD) analysis. Nonetheless, after diagnosis of a defect, engineers need to know how long they have to take action. This requires prognosis of remaining insulation life. The progression of a defect is far less well understood than diagnosis, making prognosis a key challenge requiring new approaches to defect modelling. The practical deployment of prognostics for cable monitoring is not currently feasible, due to the lack of understanding of degradation mechanisms and limited data relating defect inception to plant failure. However, this thesis advances the academic state of the art, with an eye towards practical deployment in the future. The expected beneficiaries of this work are therefore researchers in the field of HV condition monitoring in general, and electrical treeing within cables in particular. This research work develops a prognostic model of insulation failure due to the electrical treeing phenomenon by utilising the associated PD data from previous experiment. Both phase-resolved and pulse sequence approaches were employed for PD features extraction. The performance of the PD features as prognostic parameters were evaluated using three metrics, monotonicity, prognosability and trendability. The analysis revealed that features from pulse sequence approach are better than phase-resolved approach in terms of monotonicity and prognosability. The key contributions to knowledge of this work are three-fold: the selection of the most appropriate prognostic parameter for PD in electrical trees, through thorough analysis of the behaviour of a number of candidate parameters; a prognostic modelling approach for this parameter based on curve-fitting; and a generalised framework for prognostic modelling using data-driven techniques.Insulation breakdown is a key failure mode of high voltage (HV) equipment, with progressive faults such as electrical treeing leading to potentially catastrophic failure. Electrical treeing proceeds from defects in solid insulation, and cables are particularly affected. Research has shown that diagnosis of the fault can be achieved based on partial discharge (PD) analysis. Nonetheless, after diagnosis of a defect, engineers need to know how long they have to take action. This requires prognosis of remaining insulation life. The progression of a defect is far less well understood than diagnosis, making prognosis a key challenge requiring new approaches to defect modelling. The practical deployment of prognostics for cable monitoring is not currently feasible, due to the lack of understanding of degradation mechanisms and limited data relating defect inception to plant failure. However, this thesis advances the academic state of the art, with an eye towards practical deployment in the future. The expected beneficiaries of this work are therefore researchers in the field of HV condition monitoring in general, and electrical treeing within cables in particular. This research work develops a prognostic model of insulation failure due to the electrical treeing phenomenon by utilising the associated PD data from previous experiment. Both phase-resolved and pulse sequence approaches were employed for PD features extraction. The performance of the PD features as prognostic parameters were evaluated using three metrics, monotonicity, prognosability and trendability. The analysis revealed that features from pulse sequence approach are better than phase-resolved approach in terms of monotonicity and prognosability. The key contributions to knowledge of this work are three-fold: the selection of the most appropriate prognostic parameter for PD in electrical trees, through thorough analysis of the behaviour of a number of candidate parameters; a prognostic modelling approach for this parameter based on curve-fitting; and a generalised framework for prognostic modelling using data-driven techniques

Institute for Energy Annual Report 2006

Report on Activities, accomplishment and resources related to the JRC's Institute for Energy work carried out in 2006. An overview is given of the organisational changes, the mission and its implementation, the scientific activities and relations with customers and partners.JRC.C.7-Knowledge for the Energy Unio

Smoking and use of primary care services : findings from a population-based cohort study linked with administrative claims data

Background: Available evidence suggests that smokers have a lower propensity than others to use primary care services. But previous studies have incorporated only limited adjustment for confounding and mediating factors such as income, access to services and health status. We used data from a large prospective cohort study (the 45 and Up Study), linked to administrative claims data, to quantify the relationship between smoking status and use of primary care services, including specific preventive services, in a contemporary Australian population. Methods: Baseline questionnaire data from the 45 and Up Study were linked to administrative claims (Medicare) data for the 12-month period following study entry. The main outcome measures were Medicare benefit claimed for unreferred services, out-of-pocket costs (OOPC) paid, and claims for specific preventive services (immunisations, health assessments, chronic disease management services, PSA tests and Pap smears). Rate ratios with 95% confidence intervals were estimated using a hierarchical series of models, adjusted for predisposing, access-and health-related factors. Separate hurdle (two part) regression models were constructed for Medicare benefit and OOPC. Poisson models with robust error variance were used to model use of each specific preventive service. Results: Participants included 254,382 people aged 45 years and over of whom 7.3% were current smokers. After adjustment for predisposing, access-and health-related factors, current smokers were very slightly less likely to have claimed Medicare benefit than never smokers. Among those who claimed benefit, current smokers claimed similar total benefit, but recent quitters claimed significantly greater benefit, compared to never-smokers. Current smokers were around 10% less likely than never smokers to have paid any OOPC. Current smokers were 15-20% less likely than never smokers to use immunisations, Pap smears and prostate specific antigen tests. Conclusions: Current smokers were less likely than others to use primary care services that incurred out of pocket costs, and specific preventive services. This was independent of a wide range of predisposing, access-and health-related factors, suggesting that smokers have a lower propensity to seek health care. Smokers may be missing out on preventive services from which they would differentially benefit