By: Jared Monroe

As the nuclear industry continues to adopt risk-informed processes through 10 CFR 50.69, sites are implementing alternate treatments as a means to save money. One area of interest throughout the industry is the implementation of Alternate Treatments (AT) for equipment in the scope of the Environmental Qualification (EQ) program.  EQ equipment classified as Risk-Informed Safety Categorization 3 (RISC-3), i.e., safety-related components that are low safety-significant, are potentially eligible to receive the AT. The AT for EQ equipment includes a demonstration of performance during accident conditions, plus an EQ-like analysis to evaluate any needed replacement requirements.  These analyses, while they use EQ-like techniques, can stretch well beyond the typical EQ restrictions and requirements.  This can provide an opportunity to extend or remove replacement requirements altogether, which can provide large savings to the site.