Protecting people and the environment
The objective of safety management is to guarantee and optimize the safety of a plant in order to protect people and the environment by identifying and assessing factors that may potentially affect the safety performance. These factors include the organizational structure and the operational processes or process organization.
For this purpose, the past operating behaviour (experience feedback) is assessed and the future operating behaviour is forecasted to ensure a reasonably balanced continuation of safe operation. Safety management systems are generally implemented to secure this process using PDCA cycles (Plan – Do – Check – Act) and indicators throughout the entire organization as well as their processes.
An important source for errors in operational procedures is the interface between man, technology, and organisation (MTO). An analysis of the processes applied by the licensee, the existing organisation, and the actions executed provides information on the potential for optimization and improvement.
TÜV NORD Nuclear has extensive experience in evaluating management systems and in considering the relevant conditions for designing and operating nuclear facilities, taking into account their impact on safety-related parameters.
- Assessment of the licensee's regulations and the safety management system,
- Assessment of incidents and events,
- Assessment of operating conditions and operation performance,
- Participation in reviews, inspections and audits, e.g. for process qualification
- Evaluation if and to what extent MTO, i.e. the interplay of man, technology, and organisation, impacts safety,
- Assessment of probabilistic and deterministic safety analyses, safety concepts, and their implementation,
- Assessment of procedures for implementing specifications and to certify the reliability, availability, maintenance, and safety (RAMS),
- Assessment of risk-based or risk-informed inspection concepts.
Based on our long-term experience as consultants, TÜV NORD Nuclear can also provide consultancy for the above issues and assist in preparing the relevant documents.