Defense in depth consists of recognizing
technical, human or organizational failures and to guard against
them by successive lines of defense.
The Three
lines of defense that are normally provided for each failure
envisaged are the following:
Prevention
Monitoring
Means of actions
However, all three lines of defense are not always
possible. For instance, there are no means available for mitigating
the consequences of rupturing the reactor or pressure vessel. In
this case, other lines of defense must then be reinforced.
Consequently, there are multiple lines of defense
to provide for "prevention" such as the following:
Choice of materials
Safety margins in the design basis
Extremely stringent manufacturing verifications
There are also multiple lines of defense for "monitoring"
such as:
Non-destructive testing during full and
partial inspections
Expert appraisal of irradiated specimens
to monitor the ageing of the pressure vessel material
Defense in depth is a concept which
applies to all stages, from the design to the dismantling stages,
in the life of the facilities.
The lines of defense must be as reliable and
as independent as possible.