New engineering safety factors for Loviisa NPP core calculations

Abstract

In Loviisa NPP, there are two limiting thermal margins called the enthalpy rise margin and the linear heat rate margin that are monitored during normal operation. Engineering safety factors are applied in determination of both of these factors. The factors take into account the effect of various manufacturing tolerances, impact of the irradiation and simulation uncertainties on the local heat rate and on the enthalpy of the coolant. The engineering factors were re-evaluated during 2015 and the factors were approved by the Finnish radiation and nuclear safety authority in 2016. The re-evaluation was performed by considering all of the identified phenomena that affect the local heat rate or the enthalpy of the coolant. This paper summarizes the work that was performed during the re-evaluation of the engineering safety factors and presents the results for each uncertainty component. The new engineering safety factors are 1.115 for the linear heat rate and 1.100 for the enthalpy rise margin when the old factors were 1.12 and 1.16, respectively. The new factors improve the fuel economy by about 1%.