July-August 2018 NPJ

Nuclear Plant Journal, July-August 2018 NuclearPlantJournal.com 39 3. Severe accident management Severe accident management focuses on the management of onsite actions, as well as contact with offsite organisations, to mitigate the consequences of a severe accident. It ensures that appropriate resources, facilities, equipment and documentation at plants are in place in the event of a severe accident, and ensures that trained and knowledgeable personnel manage severe accidents efficiently. WANO published a self-assessment guide for members and self-assessment is now a routine procedure at member sites. An addendum will soon be added to WANO’s Performance Objectives and Criteria (PO&Cs) incorporating these severe accident management guidelines. The PO&Cs set out the global standards of excellence in nuclear safety and form the guiding document for peer reviews. 4. Early event notification When a newsworthy event at a nuclear power plant is identified, WANO gathers the information and shares a concise ‘early notification’ report with member CEOs. The report provides an overview of the event, its cause, consequence and importance, providing CEOs with timely and factual information. In this way, the organisation supports its members by amplifying the affected member’s existing public message to a wider audience, allowing them to assess relevance to their country and organisation, and to more effectively interface with their own stakeholders. 5. Onsite fuel storage The Fukushima event highlighted the sensitivity to event response for spent fuel storage, including dry fuel storage. The project has improved WANO’s oversight to ensure that a station can respond quickly to events that challenge spent fuel pool cooling or coolant inventory control. These recommendations are also now formally included in WANO peer review evaluations. 6. Design safety fundamentals Another post-Fukushima enhance- ment relates to design safety. The as- sociation has extended its peer review activities to assess whether design fea- tures deemed necessary to ensure reac- tor safety are appropriately managed. It’s important to emphasise that WANO does not make design-change recommenda- tions or evaluate the design of the plant itself. However, it does review high-level design information to inform the reviews and analyses. 7. Peer review frequency Peer reviews are a cornerstone of the service WANO delivers to its members. They help nuclear power plants compare themselves against standardsof excellence through an in-depth, objective review of their operations by an independent team from outside their organisation. After the events in Japan, a key recommendation was that the organisation should increase the frequency of its peer reviews. Peer reviews are now delivered to eachmember once every four years, with a follow-up at the two-year point. By receiving a more regular evaluation of performance and obtaining more frequent insights into where they can improve, members are more likely to achieve a more sustainable uplift in safety levels. 8. Peer review equivalency WANO has implemented a process that assesses the equivalency of activities conducted by other external organisations’ reviews to those of a WANO peer review. This means that peer reviews conducted by other like-minded safety organisations could potentially be equivalent to having a scheduled WANO peer review – provided they successfully go through a stringent process that demonstrates they can match the quality and robustness of WANO’s peer reviews. Members are obliged to host a WANO peer review every four years, but peer review equivalency means that peer reviews by other qualified organisations could be included in the cycle to help members meet this obligation. 9. Corporate peer reviews Corporate peer reviews are similar to station peer reviews, but instead focus on the role of the corporate organisation in supporting safe and reliable operation of its plants. These reviews are now required at corporate organizations once every six years and look at governance, oversight and monitoring, human resources and communications. Every member has now had at least one corporate peer review, and these provide a benchmark from which to drive improvements in the future. 10. WANO assessment A WANO assessment is now incorporated into the peer review process for each power plant. Following a peer review, WANO assigns a numerical assessment rating that captures the plant’s overall standard of safety relative to the rest of the worldwide nuclear industry. This confidential assessment rating provides CEOs with quantitative feedback and is a valuable guide to help them understand their utility/plant’s performance. 11. Visibility and transparency Another key requirement from members has been to improve both the external visibility and internal transparency of WANO. Visibility is about externally communicating that WANO’s mission is to work with every nuclear power plant operator to maximise the safety and reliability of nuclear plants worldwide. Transparency is about effectively sharing information and best practices within the membership. This ongoing effort includes the delivery of tailored communication products to members, communication in various media to the public. A revitalised award- winning public website at www.wano. info was launched in June 2018. 12. WANO internal assessment One of WANO’s Post-Fukushima projects was to ensure that its own operations were more effective and efficient across its global offices, thereby providing greater value for members. A process of internal assessments has been established to provide a thorough review of WANO business practices every four years. Internal assessments identify organizational strengths, as well as corrective actions. Follow up assessments are conducted after two years. The internal assessment process reflects WANO’s culture of continuous learning and improvement. Contact: Tim Jeffery, WANO, WANO London, Level 35, 25 Canada Square, London E14 5LQ, United Kingdom; telephone: 44 (0)20 7478 9207, email: tim.jeffery@wano.org.