COMMON CAUSE FAILURE ANALYSIS (CCFA) IS AN IMPORTANT ELEMENTOF A COMPLETE PROBABILISTIC RISK ASSESSMENT (PRA) SINCE COMMON CAUSE FAILURE IS OFTEN A DOMINANT FACTOR IN THE RISK POSED TO PUBLIC HEALTH AND SAFETY FROM NUCLEAR POWER PLANT ACCIDENTS.

COMMON CAUSE FAILURE ANALYSIS (CCFA) IS AN IMPORTANT ELEMENTOF A COMPLETE PROBABILISTIC RISK ASSESSMENT (PRA) SINCE COMMON CAUSE FAILURE IS OFTEN A DOMINANT FACTOR IN THE RISK POSED TO PUBLIC HEALTH AND SAFETY FROM NUCLEAR POWER PLANT ACCIDENTS. A MAJOR PROBLEM ASSOCIATED WITH PERFORMING A CFFA IS THE ABSENCE OF SUPPORTING QUALITATIVE OR QUANTITATIVE COMPONENT FAILURE DATA. EXTENSIVE AMOUNTS OF COMPONENT ENVIRONMENTAL QUALIFICATION TEST DATA AND FAILURE DATA NEEDED FOR A COMPREHENSIVE COMPONENT FAILURE DATA BASE ARE CURRENTLY SCATTERED THROUGHOUT BASIC OPEN AND PROPRIETARY LITERATURE. THE PURPOSE OF THIS RESEARCH PROJECT, PROPOSED BY JBF ASSOCIATES, INC., IS TO ASSESS THE THE ADEQUACY OF EXISTING DATA TO DETERMINE WHETHER THE COLLECTION ANALYSIS, AND COMPILATION OF THE DATA INTO A COHERENT DATA BASE ARE WARRANTED. THE TECHNICAL APPROACH FOR PHASE I OF THIS PROJECT INVOLVES: (1) IDENTIFYING COMPONENT TYPES ON WHICH TO COLLECT DATA, (2) IDENTIFYING POTENTIAL COMPONENT DATA SOURCES, (3) DEVELOPING DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURES, (4) COLLECTING AND ANALYZING DATA ON A SINGLE COMPONENT TYPE, (5) DEMONSTRATING THE APPLICABILITYOF THIS DATA IN PRA'S, AND (6) DOCUMENTING THE FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS OF THIS WORK. THESE TASKS SUPPORT A PHASE II EXTENSION OF THIS WORK WHICH WILL FOCUS ON COLLECTING, ANALYZING, AND DOCUMENTING COMPONENT FAILURE DATA FOR CCFA.