Safety Analysis of a Uranium Conversion Facility Based on FTA Technique

The release of toxic materials from chemical industries is one of the most important issues which, has been a big concern for experts in the field of safety and reliability. In a uranium conversion facility (UCF), large amounts of hazardous chemicals, which can be toxic, corrosive, combustible and explosive, exist. As far as UCF is concerned, UF6 and HF are the main hazards. In this paper, the probability of UF6 release from a UCF complex has been analyzed by utilization of fault tree analysis (FTA). FTA is a top-down approach to failure analysis, starting with a potential undesirable event, and then determining all the ways it can happen. The results of the study showed the probability of 7.635E-4 for UF6 gas release. To identify the weak points of the facility, sensitivity and importance analyses have also been conducted. Through the study, it has been specified that a lack of automatic shutdown system and operator failure to trip the whole process manually, are the two top important factors which contribute most to the UF6 gas release.