British Energy Operating Experience Programme

British Energy is the major nuclear generator in the U.K. It has a market share varying between 22% and 25% of the total U.K. generation. The fleet of power stations operated by British Energy consists of one 1250 MWe Pressurised Water Reactor, six Advanced Gas Cooled reactor sites, each with two reactor units of 660 MWe, and one coal fired site with four units of 500 Mwe. In early 1999 British Energy set a strategic goal, for all its reactor units, to achieve 'World Class Performance through Cost leadership' by the end of year 2004. This would be measured against the applicable Upper Quartile performance indicators of the World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO). Against this strategic goal six fundamental objectives were identified, one of which was to define, deploy and measure the effectiveness of a world class Operating Experience programme. British Energy has clearly re-defined its Operating Experience programme and, recognised the value of learning from Operating Experience. Commitment to the programme, and communicating the value of an effective OE programme is being clearly demonstrated by all managers throughout the organisation. Making the information easily accessible at the workplace has been achieved via the British Energy intranet, the harder step is to ensure OE is consulted before commencing an assigned task or plant evolution. Early signs of this are encouraging, but a continuous sustained effort will be required for probably the next two years. The full deployment of the OE programme is scheduled to be complete by 2004. There will however be a redefined programme identified by then to incorporate the lessons learnt and to ensure the programme is aligned with the business as it evolves. An analysis of event root causes and precursors since May 2001 will be undertaken in June 2002. These will be compared with data from previous years to ascertain the effect on the number of recurring events. The critical question, 'has this prevented recurring events' is not possible to answer at this stage. Early signs are that it will, and certainly the programme design has the 'tools' to change the culture of British Energy into a Learning Organisation. This inevitably will lead to a reduction in the number of recurring events over a period of time