This report is based on information presented at two IAEA Technical Committee meetings held within the framework of the IAEA Project on Operational Safety Guidance in 1993 and 1994. The document was prepared to provide guidance to Member States in assessing the status of equipment qualification (EQ) in operational nuclear power plants and in preserving this status. It offers methods and practices for activities which are necessary for a successful implementation of periodical safety reviews. The report should be of value for all countries that are parties to the Convention on Nuclear Safety, which entered into force on 24 October 1996 and stipulates the review and, where necessary, the upgrading of the safety of existing nuclear installations.

Proceedings of a symposium organized in co-operation with OECD/NEA, Vienna, 8-11 October 1996. The symposium was a follow-up to the 1991 International Conference on The Safety of Nuclear Power: Strategy for the Future and will be remembered as the initiating force behind the Convention on Nuclear Safety, which entered into force on 24 October 1996. The goal was to review the progress made in implementing the recommendations of the 1991 Conference relating to the safety of existing nuclear power plants, and to make available to all those involved in maintaining the safety of nuclear power plants information on effective methods, practices and criteria for safety review and operating experience feedback systems.

Provides recommendations and guidance on conducting periodic safety review (PSR) of an existing nuclear power plant. PSR is a comprehensive safety review of all important aspects of safety, carried out at regular intervals, typically every ten years.

This Safety Report complements Safety Guide No. 50-SG-O12, Periodic Safety Review of Operational Nuclear Power Plants (1994). It provides practical information for the safety assessment and judgement process for operating nuclear power plants built to earlier standards, on the basis of a comparison with current safety standards and operational practices.

Experience shows that an assessment of the seismic capacity of an existing operating facility can be required for a number of reasons, for example identification of potential seismic vulnerabilities based on operating experience events or the periodic safety review programme. This publication covers the seismic safety evaluation programmes to be performed on existing nuclear installations in order to ensure that the required fundamental safety functions are available, with particular attention to the safe shutdown of reactors. It includes lessons learned based on the IAEA Action Plan on Nuclear Safety following the Fukushima Daiichi accident, and updated methodologies for seismic safety evaluation of nuclear installations.