7.1 Fastening types

In nuclear power plants and other nuclear installations, a basic distinction is made between safety-related and non-safety-related fastenings. Safety-related fastenings are those used to attach safety-related structural and system components. In nuclear power plants, safety-related structural and system components are those required to meet safety goals (controlling reactivity, cooling fuel elements and containing the radio­active materials) and to limit radiation exposure as part of incident management.

Important safety-related fastenings performed using anchors also include those to which structural and system components are attached which are not safety-related in themselves, but which could cause unacceptable effects on safety-related structural and system components in case of their failure.

Today, that means that the fastenings used in nuclear power plants and other nuclear installations are overwhelmingly safety-related ones. These fastenings can be divided into cast-in fastenings and subsequently mounted (or post-mounted) fastenings.