4. Equipment deemed replaceable

4.1 Anticipation to avoid accumulation

With the exception of the reactor vessel and containment, all the equipment in a unit can be replaced. Nevertheless, they could have an impact on its operating life in two ways:

• Repeated damage and failure of this equipment could lead to high levels of unavailability and spiralling maintenance costs, making the cost of the nuclear kilowatt-hour so unattractive that it would be economically unfeasible;

• on a large, standardized plant like France's, a generic hazard could force the replacement of equipment on a large number of units at the same time, raising major problems of industrial feasibility if this were not anticipated.

To...