Culture Shock: A Comparison of the Use of Risk Assessment in Commercial Nuclear Power Plants and Department of Energy Facilities. William D. Salyer, Gloria J. Dyer, and Robert B. Cumming, Oak Ridge Risk Management, Inc., 1345 Oak Ridge Turnpike, Suite 285, Oak Ridge, TN 37830
The use of risk assessment techniques had one of its earliest and broadest applications in the commercial nuclear power industry. This development has become a necessity for an industry that is highly regulated at a multitude of levels (i.e., federal, state, local), is under constant public and private scrutiny, and is subject to continual second guessing yet is still expected to make a profit. The nuclear power industry and its primary regulator, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, have come to the conclusion that competitiveness in the commercial area and long term survival as a viable, environmentally sound energy alternative depends on maintaining an unblemished safety record while managing costs. The solution to this dilemma includes the reflected in the risk assessment initiatives currently under development and use in the industry including cost benefit licensing increased use of risk assessment techniques to provide qualitative guidance in the allocation of resources. This fact is clearly assessments, risk based regulation, and reliability centered maintenance programs. The Department of Energy facilities, on the other hand, have developed in a closed atmosphere where the regulator is the facility owner and national defense concerns have been paramount. Costs and safety have for the most part been considered secondary to production and secrecy. This has led to a culture where cost-efficient and effective management and allocation of resources to accomplish the critical missions of the facilities and at the same time maintain an adequate level of protection of the health and safety of the general population and environment is not ingrained in the mind set of management and employees. However, the realities of the DOE facilities are changing. The veil of secrecy is being raised, requiring facility operators and managers to face increasing oversight and scrutiny. The cost of continued operations is being more and more closely examined and questioned as the expenditure of all federal funds becomes more closely controlled and competitive. These new realities require a dramatic change in the culture of the DOE facilities. The experiences and expertise of the commercial nuclear power industry provide a resource of vast potential that should be utilized fully by the DOE family.