Relevance of TSOs in providing technical and scientific services to operators/industry

The role of a TSO is to provide operators and the industry with the technical and scientific expertise to enable them to obtain a good understanding of and to achieve safe operation, to attain the highest possible operating and maintenance performance, and to provide the highest quality of electric supply services to the public. The technical know-how and knowledge provided by the TSO to the operators/industry should be comprehensive and encompass all the operator's activities, such as feasibility studies; site preparation; preparation of bid invitations; obtaining governmental licences for construction and operation of the plants, including preparation of the PSAR (preliminary safety analysis report), ER and FSAR (final safety analysis report); preparation of purchase specifications for main equipment and BOP (balance of plant) equipment; preparation of construction specifications; and preparation of installation, startup and operation guidelines/procedures. The TSOs supporting operators should provide overall technological value and experience for managing radioactive waste and decommissioning plants with the highest safety and confidence levels. They should also perform the basic role of organizing all activities beneficial to stakeholders in an optimized way during the construction and operation phases of nuclear power plants. In this context, TSOs providing support to operators are technical doctors, messengers and developers for upgrading nuclear safety and for efficient adoption of new and advanced technologies. The experiences of TSOs supporting operators in the Republic of Korea are discussed and related topical issues are touched upon in the paper. (author)