Aging assessment of surge protective devices in nuclear power plants

An assessment was performed to determine the effects of aging on the performance and availability of surge protective devices (SPDs), used in electrical power and control systems in nuclear power plants. Although SPDs have not been classified as safety-related, they are risk-important because they can minimize the initiating event frequencies associated with loss of offsite power and reactor trips. Conversely, their failure due to age might cause some of those initiating events, e.g., through short circuit failure modes, or by allowing deterioration of the safety-related component(s) they are protecting from overvoltages, perhaps preventing a reactor trip, from an open circuit failure mode. From the data evaluated during 1980--1994, it was found that failures of surge arresters and suppressers by short circuits were neither a significant risk nor safety concern, and there were no failures of surge suppressers preventing a reactor trip. Simulations, using the ElectroMagnetic Transients Program (EMTP) were performed to determine the adequacy of high voltage surge arresters.