Icone-9 (Abstract)

Full text of publication follows: in today's global energy environment, nuclear power plant managers need to consider many dimensions of risk in addition to nuclear safety risk. In order to stay competitive in modern energy markets, NPP managers must integrate management of production, safety, and economic risks in an effective way. This integrated risk management approach generates benefits that include the following: -) Clearer criteria for decision making; -) Levering investments made in probabilistic safety analysis (PSA) programs by applying these analyses to other areas and contexts; -) Cost consciousness and innovation in achieving nuclear safety and production goals; -) Communication improvement - more effective internal communication among all levels of the NPP operating organization, and clearer communication between the organization and its stakeholders; -) Focus on safety - ensuring an integrated focus on safety, production, and economics during times of change in the energy environment. The IAEA is now preparing a technical document that provides a comprehensive framework for Risk Management (RM) as a tool to enhance the performance of NPPs. It aims to explore the wider context of risk (safety, operations, financial/commercial, strategic), with a goal of providing a source document for use by managers of NPPs and operating organizations. This report describes the steps of the risk management process and provides examples of implementation. Because of its generic nature, this framework can be used for large-scale proposals as well as smaller ventures. The intended audience for this document encompasses all levels of operating organization management including managers responsible for setting policy on safety, operational, and commercial/financial aspects of NPP operation and the hands-on managers directly implementing the organization's policies. This report sets out a framework for application of integrated risk management to improve NPP performance. The framework is, by intent, non prescriptive. It is intended to be incorporated into the NPP operator's management system. (author)