Abstract
The process of nuclear fuel manufacturing is complicated. The process conditions are strict, and some materials required for the production process are flammable, explosive, chemically toxic and corrosive. As the scale of production increases, the automation of production equipment increases, it is necessary to assess risk of nuclear fuel manufacturing facilities, identify the risk factors of equipment or production processes, analyse hazards, and improve measures, with the objective of protecting staff, the public and environment.
Risk assessment methods mainly include safety checklist analysis, what-if analysis, Hazard and Operability Analysis (HAZOP), Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA), Fault Tree Analysis (FTA), Event Tree Analysis (ETA), etc. Various analytical methods are applicable to different stages of the engineering development process.[1]
At present, nuclear fuel manufacturing facilities in China do not use risk assessment methods to identify hazards in the design, construction and operation stages. It is only Experience-based engineering judgment and lack of systematicity. In this paper, the gasification chest UF6 leakage is the top event, and the fault tree model is established for the gasification process. Qualitative and preliminary quantitative analysis is carried out to identify the key links that need to strengthen the design. It provides suggestions for improving the reliability of the system and equipment.
