NPPs are subject of particular safety requirements due to the increased risk potential. The utmost aim from the point of view of safety in the design as well as the plant operation is the prevention of unforeseen events or accidents.

Ageing effects may also induce unexpected events during operation. A comprehensive ageing management is required in order to avoid these a priori. Particularly regarding the aspects of new lifetime periods of nuclear power generation works (60 years of operation for

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new NPPs such as AREVA’s EPR™) or due to lifetime extension projects (e. g. in the USA, Sweden or Switzerland) there is an increasing need of knowing the current state of the plant exactly in order to enable a qualified respective assessment. Of course, the knowledge of the occurred and expected loading of the power plant components is an essential prerequisite for such an assessment. The operation of a new NPP will extend to three generations of operational staff. Conceptual long term solutions are required in this context. I. e., all relevant load data should be recorded in a way that future staff still have access to these data and can consider them in the evaluation of the plants.

Fig. 1. Modules of the AFC