Determination of performance criteria of safety systems in a nuclear power plant via simulated annealing optimization method

Abstract

This study presents and efficient methodology that derives design alternatives and performance criteria of safety functions/systems in commercial nuclear power plants. Determination of design alternatives and intermediate-level performance criteria is posed as a reliability allocation problem. The reliability allocation is performed for determination of reliabilities of safety functions/systems from top-level performance criteria. The reliability allocation is a very difficult multiobjective optimization problem (MOP) as well as a global optimization problem with many local minima. The weighted Chebyshev norm (WCN) approach in combination with an improved Metropolis algorithm of simulated annealing is developed and applied to the reliability allocation problem. The hierarchy of probabilistic safety criteria (PSC) may consist of three levels, which ranges from the overall top level (e.g., core damage frequency, acute fatality and latent cancer fatality) through the interlnediate level (e.g., unavailiability of safety system/function) to the low level (e.g., unavailability of components, component specifications or human error). In order to determine design alternatives of safety functions/systems and the intermediate-level PSC, the reliability allocation is performed from the top-level PSC. The intermediated level corresponds to an objective space and the top level is related to a risk space. The reliability allocation is performed by means of a concept of two-tier noninferior solutions in the objective and risk spaces within the top-level PSC. In this study, two kinds of towtier noninferior solutions are defined: intolerable intermediate-level PSC and desirable design alternatives of safety functions/systems that are determined from Sets 1 and 2, respectively. Set 1 is obtained by maximizing simultaneously not only safety function/system unavailabilities but also risks. Set 1 reflects safety function/system unavailabilities in the worst case. Hence, the intoler...