An update of preliminary perspectives gained from individual plant examination of external events (IPEEE) submittal reviews Original Research Article

As a result of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (USNRC) initiated Individual Plant Examination of External Events (IPEEE) program, virtually every operating commercial nuclear power reactor in the United States has performed an assessment of severe accident risk due to external events. The USNRC staff has received all 70 IPEEE submittals. This paper is based on the information available for those 41 plants for which at least preliminary Technical Evaluation Reports have been prepared by the review teams. The goal of the review is to ascertain whether the licensee’s IPEEE process is capable of identifying external events-induced severe accident vulnerabilities and cost-effective safety improvements to either eliminate or reduce the impact of these vulnerabilities. The review does not, however, attempt to validate or verify the results of the licensee’s IPEEE. The primary objective of this paper is to provide an update on the preliminary perspectives and insights gained from the IPEEE process. For most licensees the principal objectives of the IPEEE program have been met, and the program has had some impact on improving plant safety.