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An international team of nuclear installation safety experts led by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) today completed an assessment of how the Mühleberg Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) in Switzerland has followed up on an Operational Safety Review Team (OSART) mission undertaken in October 2012.

Follow-up missions are standard components of the OSART programme, and are typically conducted within two years of the initial OSART mission. At the request of the Government of Switzerland, the IAEA assembled a team of experts to conduct the follow-up OSART mission at Mühleberg NPP from 16-20 June 2014.

The initial OSART mission made a number of recommendations and suggestions for consideration by the operator at Mühleberg, which developed corrective action plans. The follow-up mission found that in the past 20 months, the operator has resolved or made satisfactory progress in all of the 2012 OSART recommendations and suggestions.

Among the issues resolved, it has:

Strengthened the utility’s monitoring function over the nuclear power plant;
Further minimized radiation doses to workers and improved measures to prevent contamination;
Confirmed that safety cables are able to resist environmental conditions as required for long-term operation.
The team identified some issues which have achieved satisfactory progress toward resolution, but need further work. For example, the team proposes that the plant should:

Continue to improve its industrial safety programme;
Clarify management expectations to ensure that shift operators fulfill all expectations correctly;
Reinforce a timely and thorough analysis of operational experience.
The team handed a draft of its findings to Mühleberg NPP management officials in the form of Technical Notes for factual comments. These Technical Notes and comments from Mühleberg NPP and the Swiss Federal Nuclear Safety Inspectorate will be reviewed by the IAEA. The final report will be submitted to the Government of Switzerland within three months.

The team comprised experts from Germany and the IAEA.

The review was based on the IAEA's Safety Standards and covered the areas of management, organization and administration; operations; maintenance; technical support; operating experience; radiation protection; chemistry; emergency planning and preparedness; long term operation; and severe accident management.

Source: International Atomic Energy Agency