Leaders of the world’s nuclear electric utilities met together at the World Association of Nuclear Operators’ eighth Biennial General Meeting, held in Berlin, on 13-14 October 2003 to discuss safety in the nuclear industry.  The meeting was attended by some 380 chief executive officers and senior executives who represent nuclear plant operators in 34 countries around the world.  Speakers reviewed progress and assessed WANO’s future role in a changing environment.

The theme of the meeting was Nuclear Safety: Our Global Challenge. Chairman Hajimu Maeda reported on WANO’s activities and gave his vision for the future.  “In order to pursue safety even further, we must avoid the pitfalls of self-satisfaction which threaten us.  Our safety culture, which has been jeopardised by pressures to reduce generating costs due to the deregulation of the power market, must be re-emphasised.  We must also improve safety in newly emerging areas as nuclear power generation continues.  As we succeed in these tasks, it will become obvious that improving safety is the most direct way to truly economical nuclear power generation.”

            WANO’s Managing Director, Sigval M. Berg emphasised that the role of WANO is to help its members improve performance. A key activity focussed on improvement is the conduct of peer reviews. At the end of 2002, a total of 183 peer reviews had been conducted at power plants in 30 countries, and the 200th peer review, representing a landmark in WANO history, was conducted in July 2003 at South Ukraine nuclear power plant.  The long-term goal is for every nuclear power station to host a peer review by 2005, then at least every six years. A number of nuclear power stations have already hosted their second peer review and some stations have had three peer reviews.

A new president was elected at the meeting.  Oleg Saraev, President, Director General of concern “Rosenergoatom”, Minatom of Russia, Moscow, succeeds Pierre Carlier, former executive vice president of industry, Electricité de France, as president of WANO.  Hajimu Maeda, senior advisor at The Kansai Electric Power Company, Inc. in Japan, continues as chairman of WANO.

Notes:

WANO’s mission is to maximise the safety and reliability of nuclear power plant operations by exchanging information and encouraging communication, comparison and emulation among its members.  It pursues its mission through peer pressure within the industry and by fostering a culture of openness.  Its non-partisan voluntary approach allows each operator to learn from another’s mistakes and benefit from others’ experience and best practice.

            A peer review focuses on nuclear power plant operations and is carried out by a team of experienced operators from other plants.  The team identifies the plant’s strengths and areas for improvement compared to practices at the best plants in the world.  Peer review results are reported to utility management.

            WANO is an independent, non-profit and non-political organisation.  It has no commercial ties and does not advise on design issues, nor is it a funding organisation.  Membership is voluntary.  Every single commercial nuclear utility in the world is a member of WANO.

            All WANO members sign the WANO Charter, which binds them to support WANO’s mission.

For more information, contact Ruby Chaudhri at the WANO Coordinating Centre,

Tel: + 44 (0) 20 7478 9200