Use of reliability block diagram and fault tree techniques in reliability analysis of emergency diesel generators of nuclear power plants

Abstract

Nuclear power plants (NPPs) are subjected to events such as equipment failures, human errors and common-cause failures, in an environment of complex maintenance, inspection and testing managements. These events will affect the reliability of safety-related systems, as well as the risk level of the plant. Reliability block diagram (RBD) is often used to analyze the effect of item failures on system availability, taking into account their physical arrangement in the system. Fault tree (FT) is a commonly used technique for analyzing risk and reliability in nuclear, aeronautical and chemical industries. It represents graphically the basic events that will cause an undesired top event. Loss of electrical power is one of the main events that influences safe operation of NPPs, as well as accident prevention and mitigation. In case of unavailability of offsite power, emergency diesel generators (EDGs) supply onsite electrical power. This paper carries out reliability analyses of EDGs of NPPs using both RBD and FT techniques. Each technique has its own advantages and disadvantages, allowing a variety of qualitative and quantitative analyses. Outcomes using these two techniques are compared for a typical NPP EDG system.