While there are several major causes for the Chernobyl Accident in the former Soviet Union (now Ukraine) in 1986, one contributing factor was the lack of experience sharing among the nuclear utilities in the world, so that poor practices could not be avoided in time. As a follow-up improvement, the nuclear utilities established the World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO) in 1989 to promote the sharing of operating experience, to facilitate a nuclear power plant to operate in the safest and most reliable way. The WANO has its headquarters in London with four regional centres in the world to perform its operational activities.

To fulfil its objective, the WANO will perform a review of the operation of a nuclear power plant at the invitation of the plant owner. The review is undertaken by a team of about two dozen people led by a few WANO staff and joined by experienced members from other nuclear utilities. The team will look into plant aspects, including its operations and administration, staff training and qualifications, operations, maintenance, coolant chemistry, engineering support, radiation protection and industrial safety, fire protection and emergency preparedness, by reviewing plant data and documentation and conducting interviews with plant staff, and comparing the plant against the best practices in the world. The review generally takes three weeks to complete and a review report identifying strengths and areas for improvement will be issued to the plant operator.

The review is preceded by a preparatory visit to facilitate review activities. It is followed by a follow-up visit between 18 months and two years afterwards, to assess the effectiveness of the plant operator in taking timely measures to address identified areas for improvement.

The WANO also offers pre-start up visits to consider the readiness of a new nuclear power plant before its operation, and corporate visits to assist a nuclear utility in its safety implementation at the corporate level.

More recently in 2019, the WANO initiated a new initiative to monitor plant performance more closely, by collecting quarterly operational information to be analysed against several key operational criteria to yield observations, and by providing assistance if deemed required, hence offering opportunities for more immediate improvement.

This article is contributed by Ir Richard Fung with the coordination of the Nuclear Division.