Abstract
Cernavoda NPP, the first CANDU in Europe, is one of the original CANDU 6 plants and the first CANDU 6 producing over 706 MWe. While the first series of CANDU 6 plants (which entered service in the early 1980's) have now reached the 2/3 of their 30 years design life, the Cernavoda NPP was put into service on the 2^<nd> December 1996. After 10 years of operation the Plant Life Management (PLiM) Program for Cernavoda should be an increasingly important program to Utility ("CNE - Prod") in order to protect the investment and the continued success of plant operation. The goal of the paper is to present some considerations related to Cernavoda NPP lifetime management. The Plant Life Management Program, known as PLiM Program is concerned with the analysis of technical limits of the safe operation - from the point of view of nuclear safety - in NPP units, aiming at attaining the planned 30 years life duration and its extension to 40 or even 50 years of safe and economical operation. For the CANDU[○!R] reactors the so-called PLiM and PLEX Programs are just applied. These are applied research programs that approach with priority the current practices for assessing the capability of safe operation within the limits of nuclear safety (fitness-for-service assessment). These programs also approach inspection, monitoring and prevention of degrading due to the ageing of critical systems, structures and components (CSSCs). As each nuclear plant is somewhat different in its components and systems, materials composition, procurement, construction, and operational history, directed research and development programs into materials behavior, monitoring techniques, and methods to mitigate ageing are required to support the lifetime management. Over the past 6 years, INR Pitesti (Institute for Nuclear Research - Romania) has been working on R&D Programs to support a comprehensive and integrated Cernavoda NPP Life Management Program (PLiM) that will see the Cernavoda NPP successfully and reliably through the design life and beyond. A comprehensive and integrated Plant Life Management (PLiM) program applicable to Cernavoda NPP has been proposed. A time scheduling of the multiphase Cernavoda PLiM program has been suggested.
