OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA): A Forum for sharing experience

1. OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA):A Forum for sharing experience Mr. Luis E. Echávarri Director General NEA/IAEA/WANO, Cologne, May 2006

2. NEA Strategic Plan Strategic Arenas of Work • Nuclear Safety and Regulation • Radioactive Waste Management • Radiation Protection and Public Health • Nuclear Science • Economics, Resources and Technology • Legal Affairs NEA/IAEA/WANO, Cologne, May 2006

3. Safety and Regulation The goal To assist member countries in ensuring high standards of safety in the use of nuclear energy, by supporting the development of effective and efficient regulation and oversight of nuclear installations, and by helping to maintain and advance the scientific and technological knowledge base. How to achieve the goal • ensure an effective exchange of safety-relevant information among member countries and develop common understandings and approaches on current safety issues • identify generic issues and trends that may affect the safety of nuclear installations and anticipate problems of potential safety significance • assist member countries in the resolution of safety issues and strengthen confidence in the solutions and their implementation • help obtain better understanding of national regulatory requirements, encourage harmonisation of regulatory standards, where appropriate, and enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the regulatory process

4. Sharing Operating Experience in NEA Committees • Sharing of operating experience has become a permanent item on the Agenda for NEA committees involved with safety in the broad sense, not only for CNRA and CSNI, but also for CRPPH and RWMC. • NEA safety committees have taken many initiatives to promote and systematize the exchange of operating experience, from general networks to specific data bases, and have sponsored many specialists workshops on the lessons learned from significant events. • Feedback from operating experience is a key input to establish priorities within the NEA programme of work. • CNRA is promoting close interaction between operating experience and regulatory inspection priorities • Operating experience constitutes a very valuable input in the development of new technologies and new designs

5. OECD/NEA Data BasesJointly operated with IAEA • Incident Reporting System (IRS) Established by CSNI in 1978. Includes over 3250 events. • International Nuclear Event Scale (INES) Established by IAEA/NEA in 1989. Tool for public communication. • Fuel Incident Notification and Analysis System (FINAS) Established by CSNI in 1990. Includes over 115 events • Information System on Occupational Exposure (ISOE) Established by CRPPH in 1992. Includes data from over 400 reactors • Nuclear Event Web-based System (NEWS) Established in 2002. Communication tool. Jointly operated by NEA, IAEA and WANO

6. OECD/NEA Data Bases • International Common-cause failure Data Exchange (ICDE) Established in 1998. Eleven countries share operating data which have the potential to affect several safety systems • OECD Piping failure Data Exchange (OPDE) Established in 2001. Twelve countries share information to support piping reliability assessment. • Fire events data exchange (FIRE) Established in 2002. Eleven countries share information to support fire risk analysis. • Computer-based safety systems data base (COMPSIS) Established in 2005. Nine countries share hardware and software failures. • Stress-corrosion-cracking and Cable Ageing Project (SCAP) Established in 2006. Fourteen countries share information to identify commendable practices for ageing management.

7. Some suggestions for Conference Debate • There are several international data collection systems from plant level events (e.g. IRS) to component data (e.g. OPDE), and with different goals, technical assessment vs. public communication. Efforts are needed to simplify the international network and better link the different elements • In view of the high level of safety achieved, we should expect fewer events to occur in the specific countries, so national information should be complemented with foreign events to assess the safety significance of the experienced problems. Need to ensure international systems include all relevant information • Recurring events continue to happen in spite of sharing operating experience internationally and mature regulator/operator. Improvements are still needed to ensure timely implementation of lessons learned and adequate regulatory oversight NEA safety committees are working in these improvements and the Conference findings will help in focusing the task.