Good Morning 早 安. Recent Achievements in Regulating Nuclear Activities in Taiwan. By Huan-Tong Chen, Ph.D. Director of AEC’s Fuel Cycle and Materials Administration For Dr. Min-Shen Ouyang Minister of the Atomic Energy Council, ROC Sydney, 17 October 2006. Outline. Introduction - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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1in Taiwan
For
Sydney, 17 October 2006
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Good morning, everyone.
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a brief introduction,
nuclear power overview and safety performance of our nuclear power
plants,
regulation of reactor safety,
2006: Bill awaits review by legislators
Meanwhile…
Taiwan began a nuclear-free society initiative in 2000.
The Environmental Basic Law, passed in 2002, stipulates phased
approach to phasing out nuclear power, while nuclear safety remains
to be utmost important.
Then in 2003, the Executive Yuan drafted a bill to enforce
implementation of the nuclear-free society policy, such as fixed
life-time power generation and early closure of the existing
plants.
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“Kyoto Protocol” took effect Feb 2005
Creeping oil price; gas pipeline dispute
More leading environmentalists and policy makers realized value of
nuclear power
Especially important for countries with scarce energy sources
Since the “Kyoto Protocol” took effect in February last year,
compounded with creeping oil price, and the gas pipeline dispute
between Russia and the Ukraine,
more and more policy makers, energy experts and leading
environmentalists around the world realized that nuclear power is
not only economic but cleaner and greener than other forms of
power.
Furthermore, for countries with scarce energy sources, such as
Taiwan, nuclear power provides a secure option for diversity of
energy mix.
While the bill on realization of nuclear-free society remains to be
reviewed by our legislators, high government officials and opinion
leaders in Taiwan have begun to re-assess the role of nuclear power
in nation’s energy policy.
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Reactor safety
Radiation protection
Waste management
Emergency preparedness
Environmental Monitoring
Research support by INER
The question of whether we should use nuclear power or how much
nuclear power we need is a socio-economic one and should be decided
based on a consensus by the society.
As the country’s nuclear safety regulator, AEC’s responsibility is
to make nuclear power plants safer.
In the following sections, I will summarize some of AEC’s recent
and ongoing efforts in regulating nuclear power activities in
Taiwan.
I will touch upon reactor safety, radiation protection, and
radwaste management;
but skip emergency preparedness and environmental monitoring.
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NPP Safety Performance
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Chinshan 1st NPP: GE BWR4x2
Kuosheng 2nd NPP: GE BWR6x2
Maanshan 3rd NPP: WH PWRX2
Electricity from nuclear in 2005: 17.6%
Lungmen NPS is under construction: GE ABWRX2
Operation expected in 2009
In Taiwan, over 98% of energy sources were imported for year
2005.
We have three operating nuclear power plants run by the state-owned
utility Taiwan Power Company (TPC or Taipower).
Two GE BWR4 reactors at Chinshan, two BWR6 untis at Kuosheng, and
two Westinghouse PWR units at Maanshan.
In 2005, these three plants contributed a share of 17.6% to the
total electricity production, and a share of 11.9% to the total
installed capacity.
(Note: Nuclear share of the installed capacity is 21.4% in
1995.)
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Average C/F: 88.7%
The overall safety performance of nuclear power plants is
continuously maintained at a high level of standards.
The average capacity factor for all six units over the past decade
has increased steadily from 76.2% in 1993 to 88.7% in 2005.
Kuosheng unit 1 and Maanshan unit 1 are also on the list of top 50
units by capacity factor in the world.
The annual average number of abnormal events per unit was
1.5,
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Kousheng-1 & 2:
Maanshan-2:
shortest refueling outage of 33.5 days in TPC’s history
Among these remarkable achievements, Chinshan unit 1 (with an
18-month refueling cycle) has set a record of 538 days continuous
operation.
Both Kousheng Units 1 and 2 have not encountered any automatic
scram for three consecutive years.
And at Maanshan unit 2, Taipower has conducted a shortest refueling
outage of 33.5 days in its overhaul maintenance history.
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Lungmen-1 RPV installed on 21 Mar 2005.
Lungmen-2 RPV installed on 5 Oct 2006.
Commercial Operation:
July 2009 for Lungmen-1
July 2010 for Lungmen-2
As for the construction of Lungmen plant, despite numerous
difficulties resulting in significant delays, the project is
standing tough and moving firmly forwards.
Construction of the two ABWR units are now at 58% completion by end
of August.
(reflecting a major adjustment of investment due to the 5-year
delay – in the paper, we reported 63.75% completion by end of
2005)
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Reactor Safety
For regulatory activities on reactor safety, I would briefly
mention a couple of AEC’s proactive measures for enhancing reactor
safety.
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Performance indicators (PI’s) by TPC
Inspection findings by AEC
Initiating events ( 3 PI’s )
Mitigating systems ( 5 PI’s )
Barrier integrity ( 2 PI’s )
Inspection findings are color-designated
similarly
The performance of nuclear power plants is typical evaluated by
analyzing two parameters:
Performance indicators or PI’s by the operator, and inspection
findings by the regulator.
In order the make our regulatory activities more transparent to the
public, AEC’s Nuclear Regulation Department has devised a so-called
”Color-designated Reactor Safety Indicator” system based on the
idea borrowed from the reactor oversight process (ROP) of
USNRC.
Three reactor safety cornerstones:
initiating event, mitigating system, and barrier integrity
have been counted quarterly and posted on AEC's website since
2005.
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Performance Indicators
Inspection Findings
Depending upon the performance indicators of various systems and
equipment associated with each cornerstone, a safety assessment of
nuclear power plants can be presented by color designation from no
safety concern in green, to greater degree of safety significance,
all the way to red.
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Recent and Ongoing Activities
to Enhance Nuclear Safety
Enhanced investigation and inspection on EMI of safety related
systems etc.
Other regulatory activities:
Adopt RIFA
Request TPC to evaluate grid stability
Set a forum for discussion BWR fuel channel bow and fuel failure
issues.
To ensure safe operation and public health, AEC continuously takes
regulatory measures to closely monitor nuclear plant performance.
Last year, three unplanned reactor trips of Maanshan plant
triggered AEC to enhance investigation and inspection on the area
of electro-magnetic interference (EMI) of safety related systems,
digital-control device installation, and the reliability of
electric transmission buses.
Other recent and ongoing regulatory activities include:
urging TPC to recruit and train younger licensed operators for its
nuclear plants,
adopting risk-informed fire analysis (RIFA),
enforcing underground cable monitoring program,
requesting TPC to evaluate grid stability,
inspecting BWR control rod crack, and
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implementation of maintenance rules
World experiences in operation and regulatory practices are
instrumental.
In addition to the ongoing regulatory activities, AEC anticipates
review of foreseeing applications, including:
measurement uncertainty recapture (MUR) power uprate,
final safety analysis report (FSAR) of Lungmen plant,
license renewal (beyond 40 years) of Chinshan plant, and
implementation of maintenance rules.
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Radiation Protection
Let’s now move on to the subject of radiation protection.
The Ionizing Radiation Protection Act of 2002 was the first of a
series of laws passed in Taiwan as a result of a vigorous
“rule-overhaul” process for regulating atomic energy related
matters. So far, as many as 20 daughter regulations were
promulgated, many of which have even gone through further revisions
to incorporate feedbacks from both the regulatory staff and the
regulated, as well as to conform to new international standards or
guidelines.
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TPC launched a voluntary program of improving performance,
enhancing reactor safety, and reducing workers’ exposure.
Detailed plans with target values for each NPP (ref. WANO
indicators).
Each plant adopted administrative actions and technical measures to
ensure radiation safety and optimize dose (ALARA).
“removal of radioactive sources” played a key role in dose
reduction.
Efforts began to pay off after 3 years.
The first one is dose optimization at nuclear power plants.
In 2003, after extensive communication and consultation, a mutual
understanding was reached between AEC and TPC with a common goal of
achieving overall performance in radiation protection significantly
higher than world average through Taipower’s voluntary program of
improving performance, enhancing reactor safety and reducing
workers’ exposure, all at the same time.
Detailed implementation plans with target values were developed for
each plant with reference to the performance indicators of WANO,
and progress was monitored at AEC’s periodic regulatory
meetings.
Starting in 2004, each plant adopted various administrative actions
and technical measures to ensure radiation safety and to optimize
dose by following the ALARA principle.
Administrative actions include “adopt-a-task” initiative, radiation
safety check-up before high radiation operations, and personal
radiation dose tracking and control. Technical measures include
removal of radiation sources, installation of radiation shielding,
shifting and control of operational schedule, and consideration for
environmental occupancy factors, etc.
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In 2004:
Avg. 1.13mSv
In 2005:
“Adopt-a-task” awarded by TPC as best practice
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Maintenance
This histogram shows outage collective doses at Chinshan
plant.
In 2004, the average worker’s annual dose at Chinshan was 1.13 mSv
(with one unit in outage), and no worker received a total dose
exceeding 20 mSv. The collective dose was 1.03 man-Sv per unit,
which was listed among the first quarter of WANO’s single year
collective dose index.
In 2005, the outage collective dose hit a record low of 1.24 man-Sv
and 1.03 man-Sv, for Units 1 and 2, respectively, a significant
improvement compared to an average of 3 man-Sv per unit in its
operating life of 28 years, or to an average of 2 man-Sv in the
past 5 years.
Chinshan plant’s implementation of the “adopt-a-task” initiative
was also awarded by TPC as best practice of radiation safety in
2005, and regarded as a role model among all nuclear plants.
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Mar. 2004: For tighter control of sealed sources, AEC established
online reporting via Internet, encouraging owners to conduct
monthly reporting voluntarily.
Over 90% owners reported regularly.
Since 2005: This initiative has been successfully incorporated into
existing practice.
The second example is on sealed source control.
In Taiwan, specific law and corresponding regulations has been in
place for effective control of import and export of radioactive
sources since 2003.
To increase control of sealed radioactive sources, AEC established
in March 2004 an online reporting system through the Internet,
assisting source owners in reporting their sources every
month.
After having over 90 percents of owners reported through the system
regularly, we have successfully incorporated this initiative into
the existing practice in regulating sealed sources.
( “or regulations” regulationregulation)
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Enhancing control of
sealed radioactive sources
To further conform to IAEA’s Code of Conduct and guidance document
(25 Dec 2005) for Categories I&II radioactive sources:
Informed IAEA of commitment
Revised regulations on import and export (29 Dec 2005)
Conducting Inspection and establishing management plan to expedite
handling
To further conform to IAEA’s Code of Conduct on the Safety and
Security of Radioactive Sources, published in September 2003, and
its corresponding guidance document, which became effective in
December 2005, AEC has taken the following actions:
First, informed IAEA of our commitment to conforming to the
Agency’s Code and Guidance;
Then, established an inventory of Categories I&II radioactive
sources, which is suitable for use in our country;
We also revised relevant regulations on import and export of
radioactive sources, which became effective on December 29, 2005;
and
Currently we are conducting special inspection on Categories
I&II radioactive sources and establishing a management plan to
expedite handling (recycling, storage or disposal) of radioactive
sources.
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Management
Before I conclude my presentation, let me give you a status of our
radioactive waste management.
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Dry Storage
TPC’s Milestones for Chinshan NPP:
2006 submit construction license application
2009 begin fuel loading
Environmental impact statement reviewed by EPA
Our current spent fuel management strategy is “storage in the pool
for near term, onsite dry storage for medium term, and deep
geological disposal for long term”.
For the near-term pool storage, re-racking projects have been
undertaken at each plant to extend the storage capacity of the
spent fuel pools. Chinshan and Kuosheng plants will still lose
their full core reserves by 2010 and 2015, respectively. Taipower
has therefore decided to go for interim dry storage projects at
these two plants.
In the case of Chinshan plant, Taipower has chosen a concrete cask
system design by means of technology transfer from a qualified
vendor, and is expected to submit an application for a construction
license later this year; in the hope to have pre-operational test
performed in 2008 and the storage in operation by the end of 2009,
which is quite ambitious.
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Feasibility study report: 2009
For final disposal of spent fuel,
As required by enforcement rules of our radwaste management law,
Taipower submitted the spent fuel final disposal plan to AEC for
review.
The plan calls for a deep geological disposal repository to be
constructed during 2045-2055, or 40-50 years from now, and a
feasibility study report to be submitted in 2009.
For the feasibility study, Taipower was asked to carry out geologic
investigations, engineering barrier research, performance
assessment research and a public acceptance program.
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The “waste” law of 2002 requires reduction of LLRW.
HEST by INER
As for low-level radioactive waste (LLRW)….
In 1989, AEC commenced a volume reduction strategy program, setting
annual targets for each nuclear power plant. Taipower has since
drastically reduced its annual solidified LLRW amount from nearly
5000 200-liter drums in 1990 to only 601 drums in 2005. This bar
chart shows annual solidified waste generation from 3 power plants,
as indicated in different colors: blue, green and yellow.
This waste reduction requirement was further incorporated into our
law-making process. The Nuclear Materials and Radioactive Waste
Management Act of 2002 stipulates that it’s the waste producer’s
responsibility to reduce the waste volume.
The waste reduction achievement would not have been so dramatic in
recent years without successful implementation of the High
Efficiency Solidification Technology (HEST) developed by
INER.
The system was installed at Maanshan, the 3rd NPP in 1999. From
2001 to 2005, the two PWR 950MW units only produced 99 drums of
solidified LLRW, averaged at 10 drums/unit/year. You can see the
“yellow” bar began to diminish in 1999 and barely exists now.
Similar technology has been applied at NPP2 since June this year,
so we are expecting to see diminishing of “green” here in this bar
chart in the coming years.
INER has also been active in developing thermal plasma technology
to treat LLWR for the purpose of volume reduction and safe storage
prior to final disposal.
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Final disposal of LLRW
As required by the “Nuclear Materials and Radioactive Waste
Management Act”, TPC submitted a final disposal plan; AEC reviews
semi-annually.
“The Establishment of LLRW Disposal Facility Act” passed in April
2006.
Now, for final disposal of the low-level waste,
As required by the "Nuclear Materials and Radioactive Waste
Management Act", Taipower submitted the Final Disposal Plan for
LLRW in December 2003, which has been approved by AEC and progress
reviewed every 6 months.
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The disposal plan shall be implemented by TPC;
Siting committee organized by MOEA; will suggest at least two
recommended sites, local government may propose volunteer
sites;
Referendum of local residents mandatory before MOEA decides on a
candidate site;
Incentive package of NT$5 billion to be drawn from the Nuclear
Backend Fund to the hosting county/township;
Investigations and selection of potential sites now under way,
disposal facility is expected to be operational around 2016.
According to these two laws,
the disposal plan submitted by Taipower shall be implemented by
Taipower, of course;
the siting committee was organized by the Ministry of Economic
Affairs in August. The committee will suggest several potential
sites and come up with at least two recommended sites. Local
governments may also propose volunteer sites.
Residents of these recommended sites will decide by referendum
whether they want such a facility in their hometown before MOEA
decides on a candidate site.
A contribution fee of up to 5 billion NT dollars (or about 150
million US dollars) will be drawn from the Nuclear Backend Fund to
the hosting county and township as a way to give back to the
people.
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Concluding Remarks
With this, I would like to make a few concluding remarks:
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Communication tests with IAEA and USNRC on nuclear emergency
conventions.
National reports for IAEA’s nuclear safety and waste management
conventions peer-reviewed.
Safeguards inspection following NPT; Additional Protocol
established since 1998.
As we all agree, nuclear safety has no national borders, and there
has been growing international cooperation in nuclear
infrastructure, safety regulation and R&D to enhance the safety
of nuclear activities.
Although not a contracting party to UN conventions on nuclear
activities, Taiwan has always committed itself to bindings of
international standards in nuclear safety.
Communication tests are conducted regularly between AEC and IAEA in
lieu of the “Twin Conventions” on nuclear emergency.
A national report, prepared in accordance with the Nuclear Safety
Convention has been peer-reviewed between AEC and the USNRC. For
the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel and Radioactive
Waste Management, a similar review is anticipated with AEC’s
bilateral cooperative states.
In the area of nuclear safeguards, IAEA conducts inspections in
Taiwan following the spirit of UN’s Nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty and an Additional Protocol established between Taiwan and
the Agency in 1998.
Keeping people safe from nuclear harm is meant to be a guarantee --
a guarantee that our sustained growth and development can be
achieved. We at AEC take pride in being the agency that ensures
people's safety, and we will continue to do our best.
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Thank you for your attention.
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