Development of ageing management programme for MARIA research reactor

Abstract

The European Union Council adopted in 2014 new directive 2014/87/EURATOM to establish a mechanism to incorporate lessons learned following the major accident (classified at the level 7 in the INES rating) in Fukusihma Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. The continuous improvement to the nuclear safety introduced by a new directive will consist inter alia of system of Topical Peer Reviews (TPR) which first commenced in 2017 and the next ones will take place every six years thereafter. In respect to average age of nuclear power plants and research reactors in Europe, the topic of the first TPR was the ageing management of nuclear power plants and research reactors. In 2015, National Centre for Nuclear Research received conditioned licence for operation of MARIA research reactor for next 10 years. One of the requirements was focused on performing the analysis of systems, structures and components (SSCs), in particular SSCs that might be susceptible to long-term degradation processes occurring at the effect of operation and environmental conditions. According to the condition, an output of the analysis shall be the basis for the elaboration of the ageing management programme (AMP). The paper sums up the preparation for the above mentioned analysis and development of AMP for MARIA research reactor