Publications
Sodium valve performance in the NaSCoRD database
Sodium Fast Reactors (SFRs) have an extensive operational history that can be leveraged to accelerate the licensing process for modern designs. Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) has recently reconstituted the United States SFR data from the Centralized Reliability Database Organization (CREDO) into a new modern database called the Sodium (Na) System Component Reliability Database (NaSCoRD). This new database is currently undergoing validation and usability testing to better understand the strengths and limitations of this historical data. The most common class of equipment found in the NaSCoRD database are valves. NaSCoRD contains a record of over 4,000 valves that have operated in EBR-II, FFTF, and test loops including those operated by Westinghouse and the Energy Technology Engineering Center. Valve failure events in NaSCoRD can be categorized by working fluid (e.g., sodium, water, gas), valve type (e.g., butterfly, check, throttle, block), failure mode (e.g., failure to open, failure to close, rupture), operating facility, operating temperature, or other user defined categories. Sodium valve reliability estimates will be presented in comparison to estimates provided in historical studies. The impacts of EG&G Idaho’s suggested corrections and various prior distributions on these reliability estimates will also be presented.