Technical conscience principles for nuclear supplier organizations

The importance of technical conscience was established by INPO to help commercial power plants and facilities achieve safety goals by cultivating the desired technical and ethical behavior of its staff. Recently, and based on industry OPEX, INPO extended the definition of technical conscience beyond the engineering community to include all nuclear professionals. Many suppliers are qualified to deliver products and services based upon a range of management system, quality and technical standards. In recent years, such standards have also emphasized safety culture and continuous improvement through an integration of requirements: quality, ethics, training, conventional safety, radiological protection, security, and environmental protection. What is implicit, but may not be clearly stated within this integration, is the need for the implementation of a technical conscience framework by nuclear suppliers. This paper provides a context for maintaining an effective technical conscience in supplier organizations. Additionally, it proposes a set of supplier technical conscience principles to help improve supplier performance. (author)