As an example of a safety system with'passively safe'components, let us consider the containment of a nuclear reactor .'Passively safe'components are the concrete walls and the steel liner, but in order to fulfil its mission active systems have to operate, e . g . valves to ensure the closure of the piping leading outside the containment, feedback of reactor status to external instrumentation and I & C ) both of which may require external power to function.