REVIEWING THE OPERATIONAL SAFETY OF NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS.

Although the rate of new orders for nuclear power plants is down dramatically and fewer plants are under construction, the number connected to the grid has steadily increased. This has prompted a shift of emphasis in nuclear safety from the design and construction of plants to their operation. At the same time, there is growing recognition that mere compliance with regulatory requirements is not enough, but excellence in operational safety must be achieved for the public to support renewed expansion of nuclear power. For its part, the IAEA is continuing to develop programmes that can help its Member States and operating organizations achieve this goal. Four of these - operational safety reviews teams; operational safety indicator program; assessment of significant safety events team; and incident reporting systems - are the subject of the article.