Abstract
This paper presents a new approach for assessing accident management strategies using containment event trees (CETs) developed during an individual plant examination (IPE) for a reference plant (CE type, 950 MWe PWR). Various accident management strategies to reduce risk have been proposed through IPE. Three strategies for the station blackout sequence are used as an example : 1) reactor cavity flooding only, 2) primary system depressurization only, and 3) doing both. These strategies are assumed to be initiated at about the time of core uncovery. The station blackout (SBO) sequence is selected in this paper since it is identified as one of the most threatening sequences to safety of the reference plant. The effectiveness and adverse effects of each accident management strategy are considered synthetically in the CETs. A best estimate assessment for the developed CETs using data obtained from NUREG-1150, other PRA results, and the MAAP code calculations is performed. The strategies are ranked with respect to minimizing the frequencies of Various containment failure modes. The proposed approach is demonstrated to be very flexible in that it can be applied to any kind of accident management strategy for any sequence.