Modeling interconnections of safety and financial performance of nuclear power plants, Part 2: Methodological developments and case study

This research study theorizes and quantifies the interconnections of safety and financial performance of nuclear power plants (NPPs). NPP safety refers to occupational safety and system safety, while financial performance refers to the monetary values associated with operation and maintenance (O&M) strategies. The results of this research study are summarized in three journal manuscripts including Parts 1, 2, and 3. This paper covers Part 2 of this study. Part 1 journal manuscript has included a thorough review and analysis of related studies with respect to their theoretical bases and methodological quantification techniques for the estimation of safety and financial performance metrics of NPPs. The review in Part 1 indicated that a model-based approach is necessary to explicitly analyze the interconnections of safety and financial performance considering their underlying factors. Such a model-based approach is offered in this paper (i.e., Part 2 of this study) by developing an Integrated Enterprise Risk Management (I-ERM) methodological framework. The I-ERM framework quantifies NPP safety and financial performances in a unified platform where their underlying physical degradation mechanisms, coupled with maintenance performance (considering human and organizational factors), are explicitly included in constituting modules. Because maintenance performance and physics of degradation are common influencing factors on both safety and financial performances, the explicit modeling of maintenance-physics coupling helps quantitively consider dependencies between safety and financial performance; thus, advances the assessment and management of safety and financial performances in NPPs. This paper implements the I-ERM framework for an NPP case study, generating safety and financial performance metrics for two O&M strategies to demonstrate the practical value of the I-ERM framework to decision-makers. Part 3 of this study presents a detailed development of one of the I-ERM modules, i.e., Probabilistic Physics-of-Failure (PPoF) analysis, and its connection with the other I-ERM modules. The outcome of this research aids NPP decision-makers to identify O&M strategies that reduce O&M costs, mitigate plant shut-downs and loss of power, and maintain (or improve) safety.