Plant Life Extension programs - useful resources for preservation and amplification of Nuclear Power Plants efficiency

Abstract

"Plant Life Management (PLIM) is now usually taken to mean those many activities which are to do with the normal operational management of a nuclear power plant to maintain its 'good condition' and to enable operators or Owner(s) to meet the plant's intended amortisation period, operational life or design operational life. That is, it is to do with existing planned Plant Operational or Service Life assurance and not necessarily to do ith meeting an additional period or extended operation time in excess of that intended at the design or evaluation stage, which is usually known as Plant Life Extension (PLEX). The paper presents considerations regarding the ageing management of the NPP’s key components, Plant Life Management (PLIM), refurbishment as activity strictly necessary for Plant Life Extension, and the Romanian refurbishment program as part of PLIM from Cernavoda CANDU NPP. "