Initiatives of the NEA in Response to the TEPCO Fukushima Daiichi NPP Accident

Alejandro Huerta OECD Nuclear Energy Agency

International Experts Meeting on Protection against Extreme Earthquakes and Tsunamis on the Light of the Accident at the Fukushima Daiichi NPP IAEA, 4-7 September 2012

NEA Mission
The mission of the NEA is to assist its Member countries in maintaining and further developing, through international co-operation, the scientific, technological and legal bases required for the safe, environmentally friendly and economical use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.
To achieve this, the NEA works as:
A forum for sharing information and experience and promoting international co-operation; A centre of excellence which helps Member countries to pool and maintain their technical expertise; A vehicle for facilitating policy analyses and developing consensus based on its technical work.

NEA Initiatives following Fukushima Daiichi NPP Accident

OECD/NEA Membership

Australia Austria Belgium Canada Chile Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Germany Greece Hungary

Iceland Ireland Israel Italy Japan Korea Luxembourg Mexico Netherlands New Zealand Norway Poland Portugal Slovak Republic

Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey United Kingdom United States Not member of NEA

NEA Initiatives following Fukushima Daiichi NPP Accident

NEA Strengths

Small size and budget (80 staff members; budget of 14 million euros, + voluntary contributions and projects) Large representation (85% of the worlds nuclear power capacity) Non-political forum; climate of mutual trust Tries to pool worlds best nuclear expertise among developed countries Narrow focus: in-depth scientific, technical, legal work
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NEA Initiatives following Fukushima Daiichi NPP Accident

NEA Strategic Plan 2011-2016

1. Nuclear safety and regulation : CNRA (Committee on Nuclear Regulatory Activities) CSNI (Committee on the Safety of Nuclear Installations) OECD/NEA Joint International Research Projects (on Safety Research) 2. Radioactive waste management 3. Radiation protection and public health 4. Nuclear science 5. Economics, resources and technology 6. Legal affairs

NEA Initiatives following Fukushima Daiichi NPP Accident

NEA Response to the Accident

The NEA: Responded quickly to assist Japan after the accident and will continue to do so. Responded to a huge number of media requests to explain the public the accident. Sought immediately to encourage co-ordination among its member countries of how to respond to the accident. Has altered, in large measure, its programme of work to implement activities that will identify the impacts of the accident on nuclear safety. Will continue to support countries in introducing measures to improve safety. Continues to monitor the impact on energy policies and responses. Recognises that learning lessons from the accident will continue for many years.

NEA Initiatives following Fukushima Daiichi NPP Accident

NEA support to Japan

Transfer of NEA Member experience in post-accident management to the Japanese government
October 2011 and February 2012 conferences on decontamination and rehabilitation November 2011 and February 2012 seminars on dialogue with the stakeholders

National safety reviews and stress tests

November 2011 experts meeting, public seminar, and advisory body meeting

Enhancements to the Regulatory Infrastructure

January 2012 experts meeting on regulatory infrastructure changes in Japan

Other specific areas under discussion

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G8 - NEA Ministerial Seminar & Regulators Forum

7-8 June 2011 Regulators Forum in conjunction with G8/G20 Ministerial Meeting Reinforcement of Key elements for nuclear safety: The primary responsibility for nuclear safety is with the operator. The regulatory body must provide assurance that nuclear power stations

are operated in a safe manner and in accordance with regulation. A strong regulatory body possesses technical ability and independence in decision making; works transparently; strives for continuous learning and improvement; and utilises international networks.

Key improvement areas:

High standards and continuous improvement for nuclear safety. Safety culture in both operator and regulator. Implementation of specific lessons learned, i.e. emergency power supply, accident management, emergency response, etc. Stakeholder involvement, especially during crisis communication. Reinforce international cooperation.
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Background to NEA Activities

CSNI, CNRA and CRPPH discussed appropriate strategies and priorities in response to Fukushima Daiichi beginning in late spring 2011 December 2011 Tri-bureau meeting of the CNRA, CRPPH, and CSNI to discuss coordination and integration of NEA response Enhanced cooperation and coordination among involved committees for efficiency Cross-Committee activities identified and prioritized Strategic alignment on new work scope of NEA Agreement on approach to coordinate cross committee activities Cross-committee process defined

NEA Initiatives following Fukushima Daiichi NPP Accident

NEA Integrated Response

Short Duration/High Priority Activities Timeframe within one year Medium Duration/Medium Priority Activities Timeframe within two years Long Duration/Low Priority Activities Timeframe beyond two years

Identification of Fukushima Issues

STG-FUKU & PRG STCs Working Groups and Parties STG-FUKU & EPRG - recommendations STCs - decisions

Prioritization

Task allocation

STCs

STCs: oversight of groups activities

Existing Group

New Group

New MultiCommittee Group

STG-FUKU: Crosscutting issue coordination and information exchange

Group Outputs: Reports Analyses Etc.

Group Outputs: Reports Analyses Etc.

Group Outputs: Reports Analyses Etc.

EPRG: Crosscutting issues Output reviews and recommendations

Continue Longterm?

Continue Longterm?

STCs

NEA Initiatives following Fukushima Daiichi NPP Accident

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Cross-committee Follow-up

Integrated list of 3 Committees ideas and proposals for new Fukushimarelated work shared with all 3 STCs CNRA STG-FUKU coordinates new cross-committee Fukushima related work

Supports information exchange between NEA Members and between Working Groups, Parties, and Task Groups of the 3 STCs Coordinates activities between STC subgroups as needed

CSNI PRG (expanded) reviews and makes recommendations on crosscommittee Fukushima related work products Joint and Tri-Bureau Meetings
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NEA Initiatives following Fukushima Daiichi NPP Accident

NEA Main Lines of Post-Fukushima Activities

Building on an integrated approach (CNRA, CSNI and CRPPH tri-bureau meeting, December 2011), activities are being conducted or planned in at least the following areas:

Accident management including human factors and organisational issues related to the response to the accident. Reassessment of Defence-in-Depth. Evaluating the methodologies for defining and assessing initiating internal and external events, including coupled events, as well as methodologies defining the design basis criteria. Evaluation of operating experience for events that may be precursors to events that could challenge the safety of nuclear power plants given the insights from the Fukushima Daiichi NPP accident. Communication with the public, media and other stakeholders. (See www.oecd-nea.org/nsd/fukushima)
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NEA Initiatives following Fukushima Daiichi NPP Accident

Cross-committee Topical Areas

CNRA CRPPH CSNI

1. Accident Management and Progression

a. TRANSITION: Review of on-site accident management programmes and procedures to address the transitional conduct of operations from normal to accident conditions to severe accident conditions, and to the implementation of protective measures under the emergency preparedness plans. This includes onsite and offsite decision-making processes. b. ACCIDENT PROGRESSION: Enhanced understanding of accident progression analyses methods and techniques. c. HUMAN PERFORMANCE: Human and organisational performance issues under accident response conditions. d. OFFSITE: Improvement of off-site emergency preparedness by sharing knowledge on core melt accident progression and source term quantification to improve off-site emergency procedures and technical tools. L S S

S S S

S S L

L L S

2. Crisis or Emergency Communications (primary information exchange between CNRA and CRPPH)
a. PUBLIC: Communication with the public, media and other stakeholders including Japanese organisations. b. REGULATORS: Communication with the regulators in other countries and with international organisations, such as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Inter-Agency Committee on Radiological and Nuclear Emergencies (IACRNE). L L L S S S L L L L

c. ONSITE OFFSITE: Crisis communications between onsite and offsite emergency response organisations.

3. Reassessment of Defence-in-Depth 4. Evaluating the methodologies for defining and assessing initiating internal and external events, including

coupled, as well as methodologies defining the design basis criteria

5.

Reassessment of Operating Experience and prior opportunities to identify or address conditions that could challenge nuclear safety.
a. OP E: Evaluation of operating experience for events that may be precursors to future events that could challenge the safety of nuclear power plants given the insights from Fukushima. b. RESEARCH: Review and gap analysis of safety research relevant to the analysis of the accident. L S L L L L S L S

6.

Balancing deterministic and probabilistic approaches to regulatory decision making Infrastructure

7. Regulatory 8. 9.

Radiological Protection and Health Physics Decontamination and recovery (onsite and offsite)

NEA Initiatives following Fukushima Daiichi NPP Accident

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Ongoing Activities within NEA

CSNI
Working Group on Accident Management and Analysis (WGAMA)
F-CAPS (2012)1 Position paper on filtered containment venting F-CAPS (2012)2 - International benchmarking project on fast-running software tools used to model fission product releases during accidents at nuclear power plants

Working Group on Human and Organisational Factors (WGHOF)

F-CAPS (2012)3 Human performance and intervention under extreme conditions

NEA Initiatives following Fukushima Daiichi NPP Accident

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Ongoing Activities within NEA

CSNI Contd
Working Group on Integrity of Components and Structures (WGIAGE)
F-CAPS (2012)4 Metallic component margins under high seismic loads (MECOS) Task group to develop a proposal for a task to study the impacts of extreme natural hazards

Working Group on Risk Assessment (WGRISK)

F-CAPS (2012)5 Workshop on PSA of natural external events including earthquakes
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Ongoing Activities within NEA

CSNI Contd
Other ongoing work within CSNI includes:
Development of a discussion paper on Defence-in-Depth for the purposes of identifying future technical topics (joint effort with CNRA) Re-constitution of DiDELSYS TG to investigate the issue of electrical system robustness in light of the Fukushima Daiichi accident Joint international research project being established: Benchmark Study of the Accident at the Fukushima Daiichi NPS

NEA Initiatives following Fukushima Daiichi NPP Accident

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Ongoing Activities within NEA

Safety Research/Joint Projects

The importance of future safety research has been highlighted New safety research will be identified using a phased approach within NEA: Comprehensive review of past safety research - done Gap analysis based on research issues from Fukushima - ongoing
Discuss possible expansion of existing projects and/or New R&D project proposals

CSNI review of research direction ongoing

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Safety Research/Joint Projects

PRISME PRISME-2
SETH -SETH-2

HEAF

SETH/PKL PKL - PKL-2 ROSA - ROSA-2

H2

THAI THAI2 BIP BIP-2 STEM

TMI-VIP OLHF RASPLAV MASCA

HYMERES

PKL-3
LOFC

LOFT

Halden SCIP - SCIP2 CIP SFP

NEA Initiatives following Fukushima Daiichi NPP Accident

SERENA
MCCI MCCI-2

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Ongoing Activities within NEA

CNRA

CNRA Senior Task Group on Impacts of Fukushima Daiichi Accident (STG-FUKU) established to coordinate CNRA and ultimately cross-committee response to Fukushima Daiichi accident New Task Group on Accident Management established Enhancements of on-site accident management procedures Decision-making and guiding principles in emergency situations Guidance for instrumentation, equipment and supplies for addressing long-term aspects of accident management Guidance when taking extreme measures for AM
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NEA Initiatives following Fukushima Daiichi NPP Accident

Ongoing Activities within NEA

CNRA Contd
Working Group on Operating

Experience (WGOE) Task on pre-cursor events evaluation of various initiators and situations for new lessons in light of the Fukushima Daiichi accident and improvements in implementing lessons learnt. WGRISK to cooperate in a risk analysis of precursor events exercise

NEA Initiatives following Fukushima Daiichi NPP Accident

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Ongoing Activities within NEA

CNRA Contd
Working Group on Regulation of

New Reactors completed a report of site selection and preparation (NEA/CNRA/R(2010)3)

Supplemental report is underway to:

Multi- unit sites Site layout considerations Consideration of external events or combinations of hazards a the siting stage Land use/population density Emergency preparedness arrangements/feasibility Social acceptability NPP design parameters are enveloped or suitable for a given site
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NEA Initiatives following Fukushima Daiichi NPP Accident

Ongoing Activities within NEA

CNRA Contd
Working Group on Public

Communication (WGPC) completed workshop on Crisis Communication (Madrid, May 2012)

Safety of Research Reactors Task Group (SORRTG) Task on peer review workshop of country comprehensive safety assessments (stress tests) of high risk RR facilities.
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NEA Initiatives following Fukushima Daiichi NPP Accident

Ongoing Activities within NEA

CRPPH

Established Expert Group on Radiological Protection Aspects of the Fukushima NPP Accident (EG-RPF) Working Party on Nuclear Emergency Matters (WPNEM) INEX 4 evaluation report and workshop planning EGIRES report on optimization in emergency preparedness and response with special focus on reference levels Update of report on Short-term Countermeasures in Case of a Nuclear or Radiological Emergency (2003) Survey on emergency management lessons learned

NEA Initiatives following Fukushima Daiichi NPP Accident

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Ongoing Activities within NEA

CRPPH Contd

Information System on Occupational Exposure (ISOE) Expert Group on Severe Accident Management (EGSAM)

Lesson learned in management of occupational exposure in high radiation areas

Other CRPPH Activities

Support to Japanese government workshops on decontamination and recovery and other

NEA Initiatives following Fukushima Daiichi NPP Accident

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Conclusions

The Fukushima Daiichi accident is very important and it is going to influence the future of nuclear power. It was caused by highly unexpected external natural events, and not as TMI or Chernobyl by failure of equipment or maloperation. The accident caused the evacuation of more than 80,000 people and contaminated a large area; there has been no radiation-related fatalities, while the earthquake and the tsunami caused 20,000 deaths. All plants in operation are being reviewed by independent safety regulators.

NPPs are safe to operate according to the very demanding standards in place today Enhancements to further improve safety continue to be identified and implemented
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NEA Initiatives following Fukushima Daiichi NPP Accident

Conclusions (contd)

For many countries, the Fukushima Daiichi NPP accident does not question nuclear power as such, but it does question the choice of specific locations and designs at these locations.

Better understanding of external hazards and their consequences Broader application of defence-in-depth A more balanced use of deterministic and probabilistic approaches

Policies may evolve in radiological protection, emergency and post-accident management in areas such as:

Societal impacts beyond radiation hazards Enhancements to crisis (emergency) communications Enhanced offsite capabilities to respond to severe accidents

Continued emphasis on strong international coordination and cooperation to enhance safety

NEA Initiatives following Fukushima Daiichi NPP Accident

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Thank you for your attention

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