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An international comparison of commercial nuclear power plant staffing regulations and practice, 1980--1990

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:10135000
; ; ;  [1];  [2]
  1. Battelle Human Affairs Research Center, Seattle, WA (United States)
  2. Pacific Northwest Lab., Richland, WA (United States)
In this report an international review of regulatory and industry practices is provided in the area of nuclear power plant staffing during the 1980s in Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. The objective of this review is to highlight trends in staffing regulatory approaches, industry practices, and issues of concern in other countries that have potential relevance to nuclear power plant staffing issues in the United States. The decade of the 1980s was marked by a great deal of growth in nuclear power operations internationally; however, growth of nuclear power is not expected to continue in the 1990s except in France and Japan. A continuum of regulatory approaches to staffing was identified, ranging from prescribed regulations that are applied to all licensees (Germany is most similar to the United States in this regard), to indirect staffing regulations where the regulatory authority oversees plant operating practices that are agreed to in the plant operating license (most notably, France and the United Kingdom). Most of the changes observed in staffing regulations and practices in the early 1980s were made in response to the accident at the Three Mile Island Unit 2 nuclear power plant (TMI) in 1979. These changes included the widespread issuance of new operator and licensing requirements and the establishment of national training centers. After the post-TMI changes were implemented, a period of relative stability followed. Changes in the latter half of the 1980s have focused on continuing improvements and additions to training curricula and methods, most notably increased reliance on simulator training.
Research Organization:
Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC (United States). Div. of Systems Research; Pacific Northwest Lab., Richland, WA (United States); Battelle Human Affairs Research Center, Seattle, WA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
AC06-76RL01830
OSTI ID:
10135000
Report Number(s):
NUREG/CR--6123; PNL--8564; BHARC--700/93/042; ON: TI94008691
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English