Nuclear Safety Policy 2013-2016
Nuclear Safety Policy 2013-2016 T he organisational principles and actions defined in the Nuclear Safety Charter and applied within the group have achieved significant improvements in terms of nuclear safety. In accordance with the Charter, this Policy sets out the group s priorities in the area of nuclear safety for the period 2013 to 2016; this aligns with the timetable within the Strategic Action Plan. The Policy covers all of the activities undertaken by entities of the group in its responsibilities as a nuclear operator, an industrial operator and as a provider of nuclear services in France and worldwide. It applies to all phases of the facility life cycle from design to decommissioning. It applies to both operational activities and to all functions which support these activities. The Policy incorporates recent regulatory developments in France and internationally. It also takes account of the initial recommendations following the post Fukushima accident evaluation studies and review and the recommendations of the Permanent Group of Experts to the French nuclear safety regulatory body (ASN) in relation to the group s management of safety and radiological protection. The objectives envisaged are to provide assurance of a high level of nuclear safety across all our facilities, products and services and to promote a strong safety culture which is shared by all our subcontractors so that nuclear safety is integrated in all processes. These objectives are founded on the principles of transparency and high quality dialogue with internal and external stakeholders together with a commitment to continuous improvement where ongoing review and the sharing of experiences and lessons learnt are key drivers. The current Policy is incorporated within the Objectives Charter of all operational units and is subject to regular monitoring at group level. It aims at ensuring that the actions taken to achieve the objectives are both appropriate and effective and that they comply with the regulations applicable to all licensed nuclear installations in France, referred to as INBs. The Policy is applicable to external contractors and is included in all contracts covering AREVA activities defined in this Policy. The group Nuclear Safety Policy and the group HSE Policies cover all the interests protected by the Law. Luc Oursel, AREVA Chief Executive Officer
The objectives of this Nuclear Safety Policy cover three areas: 01 SAFETY OF FACILITIES 02 OPERATIONAL SAFETY 03 SAFETY MANAGEMENT EPR construction site, Olkiluoto, Finland. August 2012.
IN THE FRAMEWORK OF THIS 01 SAFETY OF FACILITIES Establish a group wide process to maintain the regulatory compliance of facilities and to ensure the execution of improvements required by periodic reviews of safety. Put in place proactive measures to reduce source terms present in facilities, and in particular with regard to fire, operational waste and legacy waste on AREVA sites. Ensure the performance of arrangements and activities central to risk prevention, in particular in the areas of containment, criticality safety and radiological protection through compliance with the associated safety requirements. Strengthen the emergency planning arrangements to be implemented in case of accidents and test these through regular exercises.
POLICY, AREVA IS COMMITTED 02 OPERATIONAL SAFETY Develop and verify the level of safety culture of our staff and subcontractors and increase the presence of operational managers on the ground. Improve the requirements and responsibilities within documentation associated with operations and interventions on the basis of a significant involvement of our staff and subcontractors. Implement robust and formal risk prevention processes to manage temporary or transitional situations, uncommon situations, or specific risks, including but not limited to parallel activities, administrative lockout/tag-out, working with naked flames, gamma radiation, work in a radioactive environment. Integrate human and organizational factors (HOF) in the analysis of safety-related modifications of facilities; undertake detailed reviews of the causes of all significant events inside the group and improve the communication and implementation of operating experience within all group entities.
TO: 03 SAFETY MANAGEMENT Maintain an organization based on clear principles of shared responsibility and delegation of authority, and have in place a robust process to assess the impact on safety of any organizational change. Strengthen the quality of internal audits and inspections and the traceability of the corresponding follow up actions. Develop the safety competencies within operational positions and recognize the safety, health, occupational safety, and sustainable development positions through the promotion of pathways leading to qualifications and through the reinforcement of specific training. Define the commercial policy of the group, and ensure that considerations of safety requirements are fully integrated with the procurement process including but not limited to specifications, choice of external provider, monitoring and evaluation of the service provided.
GROUP KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS To assess the achievement of these objectives, AREVA has defined 7 group key performance indicators covering each of the 3 areas of the Policy, against which performance will be reviewed twice yearly for the General Directorate: 1 Number of significant events involving the safety function of criticality; 2 Number of significant events involving loss of containment 1 ; 3 Number of people who have received an effective whole body dose higher than 14 msv per year; 4 No significant events of Level 2 on the INES scale; 5 Ratio of the number of reclassifications 2 by ASN to the number of significant events involving safety and protection systems (France perimeter); 6 Ratio of the number of significant events at Level 1 to the number of significant events at Level 0 (incident prevention rate); 7 Proportion of new managers of facilities (with nuclear safety, health, occupational safety and environment risks) who have undergone a course of formal qualification. Three additional indicators will be monitored by the operational units and reported once a year: 8 Rate of implementation of programs of compliance of engineered safety and protection systems (SSCs); 8 Rate of implementation of programs of internal reviews and audits; 10 Rate of implementation of processes to monitor the activities of external contractors according to the group s directive. 1 Including events leading to a stress/demand on a secondary confinement system. 2 Including ASN requests following an inspection. GLOSSARY Criticality safety: This is the study and control of conditions to protect in normal, incident or accident conditions against the occurrence of an accident of criticality due to an uncontrolled nuclear fissions reaction. Effective dose: This is the sum of internal and external exposure of an individual to radiation (the energy received and the effects related to the type of radiation). It sums the effects on the whole body of an individual by taking into account differences of sensivity between different organs. It is expressed in millisieverts (msv), a subunit of the sievert (1 Sv = 1,000 msv). Equipment important for the protection (EIP) of the people and environment under the legal framework: Concept introduced by the INB Order (France) or the national licensing regulation, which followed the concept of Safety-related Equipment. The EIP and the associated defined requirements must be identified and their list must be updated by the operator; the latter must put in place an adequate organization to ensure the qualification of the EIP and the compliance with the defined requirements. External contractor: Physical or legal entity, other than the operator and its employees, implementing operations or supplying goods or services which contribute to an activity or an EIP or a planned action required by the INB Order in connection with such an activity. The contractors and subcontractors, the research staffs and the users are concerned in particular according to the INB Order (France). Facility with Safety Health Occupational Safety Environmental aspects: these are in particular nuclear sites, sites with facilities representing major manmade risk per Seveso regulations, operating mine sites, plant sites with facilities subject to public inquiry. Nuclear safety: Encompasses all of the technical provisions and organizational measures pertinent to the design, construction, operation, shut-down and decommissioning of regulated nuclear facilities, as well as the transportation of radioactive materials, in order to prevent accidents and limit their consequences. Significant event: Event having a real or potential impact on nuclear safety or occupational safety of the facility or on the environment (natural or human), being subject to a declaration to the competent regulatory Authorities.
AREVA supplies solutions for power generation with less carbon. Its expertise and unwavering insistence on safety, security, transparency and ethics are setting the standard, and its responsible development is anchored in a process of continuous improvement. Ranked first in the global nuclear power industry, AREVA s unique integrated offering to utilities covers every stage of the fuel cycle, nuclear reactor design and construction, and related services. The group is also expanding its operations to renewable energies wind, solar, bioenergy, energy storage to be one of the leaders in this sector worldwide. With these two major offers, AREVA s 47,000 employees are helping to supply ever safer, cleaner and more economical energy to the greatest number of people. www.areva.com AREVA Address: 33 rue La Fayette - 75009 Paris - France - Tel.: +33 (0)1 34 96 00 00 - Fax: +33 (0)1 34 96 00 01 Energy is our future, don t waste it! Safety, Health, Security, Sustainable Development Department - March 2013 - Design & Production: BLEU CERISE - Photo credits: AREVA, AREVA, HOUNSFIELD PIERRE - LARRAYADIEU ERIC - PETITOT NICOLAS Printing: Groupe LECAUX - Chlorine-free, ISO 14001-certified paper