A Probabilistic Cost-Based Method For Evaluation of Operational Improvements of Nuclear Reactors

A method for determining the worth of modifications and improvements in engineering systems and their operation is presented. This method applies to evaluation of nuclear power-plant system modifications. It takes into account all costs and economic losses associated with a particular modification along with the anticipated economic benefits of such a modification. The net benefit of any modification can be obtained from calculations of the anticipated loss and anticipated benefit. An example demonstrates the proposed method. The method is simple to use and applies to all aspects of power plant operational improvements. Since the probabilistic data and results are used comparatively, highly-accurate failure data are not needed.