While 30 Member States are considering, planning, or starting nuclear power programmes and 55 nuclear power reactors are under construction across the world, in recent years, a number of nuclear power plants have been shut down, even though many still have adequate time remaining in their licensed lifetime. In many of these cases, economic factors have been cited as the primary reason for premature shutdowns.
Providing a platform for industry executives to address these challenges, the IAEA’s new Technical Working Group on Nuclear Power Plant Operations, met for the first time on 13-14 September to share management challenges and leadership perspectives in the nuclear industry. Senior executives of operating organizations will suggest strategies and mechanisms for resolving challenges faced by power plants.
The establishment of the technical working group responds to several requests from Member States. In the last two years, General Conference resolutions and recommendations from advisory bodies have recommended strengthening IAEA assistance to operating power plants. In its 2016 report to IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano, the IAEA’s Standing Advisory Group for Nuclear Energy (SAGNE) recommended to provide a platform to foster peer-to-peer networking and collaboration among top managers in operating organizations.
The technical working group will be collecting and evaluating legislative, economic and technical issues, while synchronizing global strategies to ensure best practices for the safe and efficient operation of power plants. For timely and effective IAEA assistance to operating power plants, as well as using IAEA resources efficiently, it is necessary to provide a common platform for leaders of utilities to reflect their needs and challenges to the IAEA, which can provide unbiased, reliable, objective and authoritative support, said Mikhail Chudakov, IAEA Deputy Director General and Head of the Department of Nuclear Energy.
