A business focus for technical support staff

It has become the norm for nuclear power plants to be operated with a focus on achieving performance goals for safety and reliability of production. However, the business goal has to include the control of costs to ensure success in a competitive power market. While business managers accept that the three elements of production, safety and cost control are compatible, technical staff are often skeptical. The purpose of this paper is to examine the skepticisms and to give the technical basis for nuclear professionals' support in controlling the costs of production and safety. The management of financial risk and safety risk is related to selected performance areas to emphasize the importance of a professional approach to technical support work. (author)