Evaluation of “Safety Related” and “Important to Safety” terminology for safety classification of nuclear installation items in Brazil

Abstract

In general terms, safety demonstration of nuclear installations is carried out through an assessment of compliance with design criteria and safety requirements established in national and international codes and standards applicable to each type of installation. In addition, a safety analysis consisting of installation behavior study during its useful lifetime, shall be developed considering normal operating conditions, transients, and postulated accidents, to determine safety margins and verify the adequacy of items designed to prevent accidents or mitigate their consequences. Also, design requirements applicable to each installation item depend on its classification with respect to safety. Thus, safety classification of structures, systems, and components (SSCs) must be performed based on adequate methods and clear and consistent criteria to ensure that an overall safety level expected for the installation is achieved. It is worth emphasizing the importance of the terminology adopted and the understanding of concepts definitions used in a safety classification process. The objective of this paper is to present a review of the application of “safety related item” and “item important to safety” terminology, evaluating definitions and interpretations given by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (U.S.NRC) and the National Nuclear Energy Commission (CNEN) of Brazil. In this work, this subject is raised to demonstrate that divergent definitions and misinterpretations of concepts may result in inconsistencies in SSCs safety classification.

Keywords

• Safety Related
• Important to Safety
• Nuclear Safety Classification