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News from ICTP 99 - Commentary
With ICTP's help, IAEA's Department of Nuclear Safety hopes to continue its efforts to improve the operation and safety of nuclear power plants in the developing world.
Safety First
Earthquakes mean trouble--big
trouble--wherever and whenever they may strike. But if a nuclear
power plant is located near an earthquake zone, a regional or
national catastrophe could possibly turn into a global catastrophe.
That's why the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), headquartered
in Vienna, Austria, has been involved in safety and risk issues
related to earthquakes and other potential natural disasters since
the agency's inception in 1957.
Pierre B. Labbe
Pierre B. Labbé, head of the Design Unit within
the IAEA's Department of Nuclear Safety, notes that the agency
devotes much of its attention and resources to nuclear nonproliferation
issues, seeking to ensure that nuclear materials do not find their
way into the wrong hands. But IAEA's mandate also calls on the
agency to promote the "peaceful uses of atomic energy,"
which include the generation of nuclear power. Labbé recently
visited ICTP to lecture at the Sixth Workshop on Nonlinear Dynamics
and Earthquake Prediction, held from 15 to 27 October 2001.
Worldwide the number of nuclear power units now stands at 438.
Together, these plants generate nearly 2500 terawatthours (TWe)
of electricity, some 16 percent of the world's total power output.
As Labbé notes, "responsibility for the operation
of these plants is divided among 32 nations. Eight of these nations
are developing nations and another 8 are nations in economic transition
from socialist to capitalist frameworks."
"Our focus has been on such developing countries as Argentina,
Armenia, Brazil and Mexico, and such countries in economic transition
as Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, and Ukraine, all of which have
built and operate nuclear power plants, usually just one or two."
Basic scientific knowledge among staff working in these power
plants often is equal--if not superior--to the basic scientific
knowledge among staff working in nuclear power plants in the developed
world. "The problem," Labbé says, "is that
staff working in nuclear plants in the developing world don't
have the engineering and managerial skills to operate the plants
at the same level of efficiency and safety as you find in the
developed world. That's where the IAEA can help."
The major shortcomings found in the operation of nuclear power
plants in the developing world have evolved around two issues.
First, organisations responsible for the oversight of the plants
in many of these nations have never devised clear lines of management
accountability. That has made it difficult to identify whether
the operator, designer or regulator is responsible for a particular
aspect of the power plant's performance. "It is easy to see,"
says Labbé, "why sorting out operating and safety
issues would be difficult under such circumstances."
Second, developing nations have failed to devise adequate strategies
for quality assurance. That has made it difficult to determine
whether a plant's design and construction specifications meet
international standards. "As a result," Labbé
observes, "we often have difficulty determining with certainty
whether the work was done according to plan."
IAEA's involvement in these issues, Labbé says, "has
helped spur a great deal of progress in the management and operation
of nuclear plants in the developing world." The agency now
plans to lend a helping hand in improving the management of some
600 nuclear research facilities, housed in universities, research
institutes and hospitals around the world.
Labbé is pleased to see that ties between IAEA and ICTP
have been strengthened over the past several years. "The
training provided by activities like the Workshop on Nonlinear
Dynamics and Earthquake Prediction undoubtedly helps enhance the
skills of developing world scientists and technologists,"
he notes. "At the same time, research conducted by ICTP's
SAND (Structure and Non-Linear Dynamics of the Earth) group has
enhanced our knowledge of the mechanisms that drive earthquakes.
That, in turn, has helped us attain a better fix on earthquake
probability and also on the potential impact that an earthquake
may have on structures located within range of the epicentre."
For additional information about IAEA's Department of Nuclear
Safety, contact p.b.labbe@iaea.org
or see www.iaea.org/ns.