Managing Nuclear Safety Knowledge: National Approaches and Experience

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• Publisher: International Atomic Energy Agency
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9789201044211
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Mechanical Engineering
• Index: Technology & Engineering

This publication provides practical guidance and information to Member States on how to manage nuclear safety knowledge at the national level, beyond the boundaries of individual organizations. It describes the underlying concepts, challenges and available approaches and tools, as well as summarizing the experience gained by Member States to date. The publication is in line with the ultimate objective of all nuclear safety knowledge management activities, which is to sustain and improve the competence of individuals and the capacity of organizations or countries to use such knowledge effectively and responsibly.

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1. Background

Nuclear knowledge management is a well established professional discipline in nuclear organizations and Member States, as has been reported in different international conferences dealing with human resource development and knowledge management. The IAEA has issued several publications that provide general and technical guidance on the subject to support its implementation. It has been identified as one of the key factors that can contribute to safe, secure and efficient use of nuclear sciences and technology in Member States, and its importance has been highlighted in several IAEA General Conference resolutions, most recently in 2017 in resolutions GC(61)/RES/11 [1] and GC(61)/RES/8 [2].

For nuclear safety in particular, nuclear knowledge management is of high importance, as reflected in several IAEA publications and conferences, including, among others, IAEA Safety Standards Series No. SF-1, Fundamental Safety Principles [3], the General Safety Requirements publications [4–10], the IAEA Action Plan on Nuclear Safety [11], the IAEA Report on Capacity Building for Nuclear Safety [12], the proceedings of the IAEA International Conference on Human Resource Development for Nuclear Power Programmes: Building and Sustaining Capacity [13] and the proceedings of the IAEA Third International Conference on Nuclear Knowledge Management: Challenges and Approaches [14].

In the context of this publication, the term ‘nuclear safety knowledge management’ is defined as the management of knowledge relevant to or required for nuclear safety. Nuclear safety knowledge management entails using knowledge management approaches, tools and techniques for the purpose of nuclear safety. However, nuclear safety knowledge management is specific and unique in the following ways:

— Securing an adequate nuclear safety knowledge base is essential for both operators and regulatory bodies.

— A lack of nuclear safety knowledge can have significant implications (i.e. well beyond an undesirable lack of efficient use of knowledge as a commercial resource).

— Various types of knowledge need to be dealt with (e.g. legal, technical and operational knowledge).

— Different types of nuclear safety knowledge may have different owners (e.g. regulatory bodies, technical and scientific support organizations (TSOs), vendors and operators).

— Long timescales need to be considered (e.g. the decision basis for regulatory decisions needs to be kept available beyond the lifetime of a particular facility or duration of an activity).

The regulatory body has a dual role with regard to nuclear safety knowledge management: as an individual organization, the regulatory body uses knowledge management to support its own functions as a regulatory body; as a regulator of facilities and activities, the regulatory body performs functions relating to knowledge management activities by others (e.g. authorized parties) in line with national regulations.

This publication provides the conceptual basis for managing nuclear safety knowledge at the organizational, national, regional and global level, but with a focus on the national level. The IAEA provides additional guidance on nuclear knowledge management at the organizational level, for example, IAEA Nuclear Energy Series No. NG-T-6.10, Knowledge Management and Its Implementation in Nuclear Organizations [15].

The information provided in this publication is in line with and supports the IAEA General Safety Requirements publications [4–10], based on the Fundamental Safety Principles [3], and various IAEA Specific Safety Requirements and Safety Guide publications [16–21]. These include requirements on human resources, education and training, information, knowledge and competences, establishing procedures, retention of records and reports, as well as the exchange of information, related to nuclear, radiation, transport and waste safety. These requirements can be addressed through, among other things, national level knowledge management.

This publication also supports the objectives and approaches featured in the IAEA Strategic Approach to Education and Training in Nuclear Safety 2013–2020 [22] and the IAEA Strategic Approach to Education and Training in Radiation, Transport and Waste Safety 2011–2020 [23].

Unless otherwise noted, safety related terms used in this Safety Report are to be understood as defined in the IAEA Safety Glossary [24].

1.2. Objective

The objective of this publication is to provide practical guidance to support Member States in implementing IAEA safety standards relating to managing nuclear safety knowledge at the national level (i.e. beyond individual organizations’ boundaries).

This publication is in line with the ultimate objective of all nuclear safety knowledge management activities, which is to sustain and improve the competence of individuals and the capacity of organizations or countries to use knowledge effectively and responsibly for safety, that is to say, for achieving the fundamental safety objective to protect people and the environment against harmful effects of ionizing radiation [3].

1.3. Scope

This Safety Report articulates the underlying concepts, drivers and benefits of managing nuclear safety knowledge, with a focus on specific considerations in the Member States that have provided national reports and papers (see Annex II) describing their current national approaches and experience.

This publication is intended for use by governmental decision makers, managers, and technical and legal experts responsible for or concerned with national level safety knowledge management activities, ranging from higher level strategy development to concrete national activities and technical solutions.

This information and practical guidance will also be of interest to organizations that are part of the national nuclear safety framework and manage knowledge related to safety, including nuclear, radiation, waste and transport safety, as it applies to all nuclear facilities and activities. This includes operator...

Table of contents

• 1. INTRODUCTION
• CONTRIBUTORS TO DRAFTING AND REVIEW