The PVRC Technical Committee on Piping Systems has recognized that the piping system design process has become quite complex. In addition, design, fabrication, installation and inspection of pipe supports have evolved into a significant portion of the total plant design and construction process. The combination of increased design process complexity, increased reliance on analytical tools, and the development of assembly line approaches to piping system analysis and design has led to a final design product that is potentially inferior to that produced 10 to 15 years ago. Modern piping systems tend to be stiffer than their predecessors and the Committee believes that some current practices may reduce plant reliability, increased personnel exposure, increased costs and reduce safety margins.
In response to these issues the Committee has developed a “Position Paper on Nuclear Plant Pipe Supports.” This position paper recommends design methods which represent the collective “best methods’’ of the industry. These enhanced design methods were developed by reviewing the issues that have added to the complexity of design and fabrication of piping systems, by reviewing current technical issues and problems, and by stressing the ultimate goal of piping system design: to produce a reliable system of adequate flexibility to accommodate known, postulated, and reasonably anticipated loadings and deflections, and provide adequate restraint against the response to these real and postulated events. These recommendations could help reduce design complexity, simplify the design process, reduce the number of personnel required to perform piping system design and enhance the overall quality of piping systems.