Design of items important to safety of nuclear power plants in Vietnam must ensure condition of calibration and testing

Design of items important to safety of nuclear power plants in Vietnam must ensure condition of calibration and testing (Internet image)

Article 20 of Circular 30/2012/TT-BKHCN stipulates that the design of items important to safety must:

- Facilitate their calibration, testing, maintenance, repair, replacement, inspection, and monitor of the capability of performing their functions and the maintenance of their integrity in all conditions specified in their design basis;

- Ensure that their calibration, testing, maintenance, repair, replacement, inspection, and monitor do not cause radiation overdose to the performers;

- Ensure that their calibration, testing, maintenance, repair, replacement, inspection, and monitor do not reduce the reliability of safety functions;

- If the items important to safety cannot be designed to satisfy the requirements of testing, inspections or monitor to the extent desirable, a reliable technical justification must be provided that incorporates the following approaches: There are methods for testing, inspecting, and supervising indirectly through reference items, or using verified calculation methods; predictions shall be made for their replacements; There is sufficient safety margin to compensate for possible failures.

In addition, Article 21 of Circular 30/2012/TT-BKHCN stipulates that a qualification program for items important to safety shall be implemented to verify that items important to safety are capable of performing their intended functions in current environmental conditions and in the changes in environmental conditions considered in the design basis throughout their intended lifetime.

The qualification program for items important to safety must include the consideration of ageing effects caused by environmental factors, including vibration, irradiation, humidity or temperature. When the items important to safety are subject to natural external events, the qualification program for such items in similar conditions that happened before shall be considered.

Note: The qualification program for items important to safety shall take due account of all unfavorable environmental conditions that could arise during the operation of the nuclear power plant.

More details can be found in Circular 30/2012/TT-BKHCN, which comes into force from February 11, 2013.  

Le Vy

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