As part of its program to help improve electrical power plant productivity, the Department of Energy (DOE) has developed a methodology for evaluating productivity improvement projects. This handbook presents a simplified version of this methodology called the Availability Improvement Methodology (AIM), which provides a systematic approach for prioritizing plant improvement projects. Also included in this handbook is a description of data taking requirements necessary to support the AIM methodology, benefit/cost analysis, and root cause analysis for tracing persistent power plant problems. In applying the AIM methodology, utility engineers should be mindful that replacement power costs are frequently greater for forced outages than for planned outages. Equivalent availability includes both. A cost-effective ranking of alternative plant improvement projects must discern between those projects which will reduce forced outages and those which might reduce planned outages. As is the case with any analytical procedure, engineering judgement must be exercised with respect to results of purely mathematical calculations.

Objective is to assess the reliability of steam generators of pressurized water reactor (PWR) power plants in the United States and abroad. The assessment is based on operation experience of both domestic and foreign PWR plants. The approach taken is to collect and review papers and reports available from the literature as well as information obtained by contacting research institutes both here and abroad. This report presents the results of the assessment. It contains a general background of PWR plant operations, plant types, and materials used in PWR plants. A review of the worldwide distribution of PWR plants is also given. The report describes in detail the degradation problems discovered in PWR steam generators: their causes, their impacts on the performance of steam generators, and the actions to mitigate and avoid them. One chapter is devoted to operating experience of PWR steam generators in foreign countries. Another discusses the improvements in future steam generator design.

TMX Upgrade is a large, tandem, magnetic-mirror fusion experiment with stringent requirements on base pressure (10/sup -8/ torr), low H reflux from the first walls, and peak gas pressure (5 x 10/sup -7/ torr) due to neutral beam gas during plasma operation. The 225 m/sup 3/ vacuum vessel is initially evacuated by turbopumps. Cryopumps provide a continuous sink for gases other than helium, deuterium, and hydrogen. The neutral beam system introduces up to 480 l/s of H or D. The hydrogen isotopes are pumped at very high speed by titanium sublimed onto two cylindrical radially separated stainless steel quilted liners with a total surface area of 540 m/sup 2/. These surfaces (when cooled to about 80/sup 0/K) provide a pumping speed of 6 x 10/sup 7/ l/s for hydrogen. The titanium getter system is programmable and is used for heating as well as gettering. The inner plasma liner can be operated at elevated temperatures to enhance migration of gases away from the surfaces close to the plasma. Glow discharge cleaning is part of the pumpdown procedure. The design features are discussed in conjunction with the operating procedures developed to manage the dynamic vacuum conditions.

This document is an interim report under ACDA BOA AC9NX707, Task Order 80-03, which covers the evaluation of certain potential improvements in pressurized water reactor designs intended to enhance uranium fuel utilization. The objective of these evaluations is to seek advanced, non-retrofittable improvements that could possibly be commercialized by the end of the century, and, on the basis of a preliminary evaluation, to select compatible improvements for incorporation into a composite advanced pressurized water reactor concept. The principal areas of investigation include reduced parasitic absorption of neutrons (Task 1), reduced neutron leakage (Task 2), and alternative fuel design concepts (Task 3). To the extent possible, the advanced concept developed in an earlier study (Retrofittable Modifications to Pressurized Water Reactors for Improved Resource Utilization, SSA-128, October 1980) is used as a basis in developing the advanced composite concept. The reference design considered typical of present PWR commercial practice is the system described in RESAR-414, Reference Safety Analysis Report, Westinghouse Nuclear Energy Systems, October 1976.

This report evaluates the enhanced resource utilization in an advanced pressurized water reactor (PWR) concept using a composite of selected improvements identified in a companion study. The selected improvements were in the areas of reduced loss of neutrons to control poisons, reduced loss of neutrons in leakage from the core, and improved blanket/reflector concepts. These improvements were incorporated into a single composite advanced PWR. A preliminary assessment of resource requirements and costs and impact on safety are presented.