Changing environments: Coping with diversity and globalization

Significant recurring events continue to occur. Strong efforts should be made to share operating experience more effectively, comprehensively and in a timely manner. International organizations, such as the IAEA, WANO, the OECD/NEA and the various owners groups, should coordinate their efforts in this direction, to improve or revise their actual programmes. Artificial barriers imposed for security reasons should be minimized, while ensuring that the proprietary rights of the organizations involved continue to be protected. The conclusion is not to create a new system to collect and disseminate international experience, but instead to maintain and enhance the effectiveness of existing systems. The process of identifying minor and low level events, together with near misses, is valuable in identifying lessons to be learned, and their use should be encouraged by the IAEA. However, care should be taken to avoid creating an extensive databank of information that may be difficult to use. Regulators should encourage licensees to develop and implement programmes to capture and analyse information about those low level events. Self-assessments are excellent tools for managers and senior executives to verify the actual operational safety performance of their facilities. The international organizations should effectively promote the use of the self-assessment process by utilities and regulators. International peer reviews, such as OSART, IRRT, PROSPER and the WANO peer review programme, could help the industry in this direction. The IAEA is also encouraged to promote workshops, seminars and information exchanges on the results of safety reviews and operating experience, especially when significant recurring events have occurred, in a timely manner and with the open participation of all organizations involved. In order to address the actual situation of chief executive officers of many nuclear utilities lacking acumen in nuclear safety matters, the IAEA together with the other nuclear industry representatives such as WANO and the OECD/NEA should develop a strategic plan to correct this issue. How regulatory authorities should be informed and/or responsible for approving significant organizational change in utilities should be considered by the IAEA and other nuclear organizations to provide consensus guidance in this area