• Title/Summary/Keyword: Nuclear safety regulation

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Analytic Hierarchy Process for Prioritizing Radiation Safety Measures in Medical Institutions

  • Hyun Suk Kim;Heejeong Jeong;Hyungbin Moon;Sang Hyun Park
    • Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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    • v.49 no.1
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    • pp.40-49
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    • 2024
  • Background: This study aimed to prioritize policy measures to improve radiation safety management in medical institutions using the analytic hierarchy process. Materials and Methods: It adopted three policy options-engineering, education, and enforcement-to categorize safety management measures, the so-called Harvey's 3Es. Then, the radiation safety management measures obtained from the current system and other studies were organized into action plan categories. Using the derived model, this study surveyed 33 stakeholders of radiation safety management in medical institutions and analyzed the importance of each measure. Results and Discussion: As a result, these stakeholders generally identified enforcement as the most important factor for improving the safety management system. The study also found that radiation safety officers and medical physicists perceived different measures as important, indicating clear differences in opinions among stakeholders, especially in improving quality assurance in radiation therapy. Hence, the process of coordination and consensus is likely to be critical in improving the radiation safety management system. Conclusion: Stakeholders in the medical field consider enforcement as the most critical factor in improving their safety management systems. Specifically, the most crucial among the six specific action plans was the "reinforcement of the organization and workforce for safety management," with a relative importance of 25.7%.

A REVIEW ON DEVELOPING INDUSTRIAL STANDARDS TO INTRODUCE DIGITAL COMPUTER APPLICATION FOR NUCLEAR I&C AND HMIT IN JAPAN

  • Yoshikawa, Hidekazu
    • Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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    • v.45 no.2
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    • pp.165-178
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    • 2013
  • A comprehensive review on the technical standards about human factors (HF) design and software reliability maintenance for digital instrumentation and control (I&C) and human-machine interface technology (HMIT) in Japanese light water reactor nuclear power plants (NPPs) was given in this paper mainly by introducing the relevant activities at the Japan Electric Association to set up many industrial standards within the traditional framework of nuclear safety regulation in Japan. In Japan, the Fukushima Daiichi accident that occurred on March 11, 2011 has great impact on nuclear regulation and nuclear industries where concerns by the general public about safety have heightened significantly. However for the part of HF design and software reliability maintenance of digital I&C and HMIT for NPP, the author believes that the past practice of Japanese activities with the related technical standards can be successfully inherited in the future, by reinforcing the technical preparedness for the prevention and mitigation against any types of severe accident occurrence.

ISSUES IN FORMULATING PERFORMANCE-BASED APPROACHES TO REGULATORY OVERSIGHT OF NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS

  • YOUNGBLOOD R. W.;KIM I. S.
    • Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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    • v.37 no.3
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    • pp.231-244
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    • 2005
  • In recent decades, significant effort has led to risk-informed improvements to regulation. Performance-based approaches also promise significant gains in efficiency (level of safety versus effort). However, significant work remains to be done before performance-based approaches realize their full potential in regulation of nuclear power plants. This paper reviews key concepts related to performance-based regulation, discusses some applications of performance-based approaches, and identifies issues that still need to be addressed. Realistic, experience-based models of licensee performance are still lacking; this makes it difficult to assess the prospective effectiveness of any given regulatory approach, in light of the performance issues that it will actually face. Also, while 'compliance' is an intuitively straightforward concept to apply within a prescriptive implementation, its analog in a performance-based approach remains unclear. An overarching theme of the paper is that formal methods of decision analysis are very helpful in developing appropriate regulatory approaches, especially performance-based ones; this theme is illustrated at several points.

A Study on Maintenance Rule for the Maintenance Effectiveness Monitoring (정비 효율성 감시를 위한 정비규정에 관한 연구)

  • 황미정;김길유
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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    • v.16 no.2
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    • pp.110-116
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    • 2001
  • The objective of the Maintenance Rule (MR) is to require monitoring of the overall continuing effectiveness of licensee maintenance programs to ensure that the safety related and certain nonsafety-related SSCs are capable of performing their intended functions. In Korea, as risk informed applications and regulation become active, the necessity of Performance Based Regulation (PBR) has increased. The objective of this article is to study the effectiveness of MR based on performance and feasibility of MR adoption at Korean Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs) for effective maintenance and regulation.

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Effects of Education Concerning Radiation and Nuclear Safety and Regulation on Elementary, Middle, and High School Students in Korea

  • Choi, Yoon-Seok;Kim, Jung-Min;Han, Eun-Ok
    • Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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    • v.45 no.3
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    • pp.108-116
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    • 2020
  • Background: This foundational study on educational interventions aimed to analyze the changes in awareness, knowledge, and attitudes of young learners after they received objective information on safety management. Materials and Methods: Educational sessions on nuclear power and radiation safety were delivered to 4,934 Korean elementary, middle, and high school students in two separate sessions conducted in 2016 and 2017. The effects of these interventions were subsequently analyzed. Results and Discussion: Learner attitudes toward safety were found to be the predominant variables affecting the post-intervention risk (safety) awareness of nuclear power generation. Conclusion: The safety awareness of future generations will significantly influence policy decisions on nuclear power generation. Hence, the design of educational interventions on this subject must match variables suited to learner levels.

Awareness Patterns Regarding Radiation Safety Management in Fields Related to Radiation Safety Regulations: Focusing on Companies that Must Report Radiation Sources

  • Eunok Han;Yoonseok Choi
    • Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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    • v.49 no.1
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    • pp.19-28
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    • 2024
  • Background: This study aims to analyze radiation safety management and regulatory perceptions, focusing on companies that must report radiation sources. The intent is to reduce the gap between regulation measures and addressing real concerns while improving practical safety management measures and regulations for all stakeholders. Materials and Methods: Radiation safety officers at a total of 244 reporting companies using radiation generators (79.8%) and sealed radioisotopes (15.1%) were surveyed using a questionnaire. Results and Discussion: The perception that regulation is stronger than the actual risk of the radiation source used was 3.47 points (out of 5 points), indicating a score above average. The most important factors and considerations were education and training (48%) as a human factor, safety devices of the radiation source (71.3%) as a hazardous material factor, the use of radiation (50.8%) as an organizational environment, and the radiation effect of nearby facilities (67.2%) as a physical environment. Radiation safety management educational experience (F= 5.030, p< 0.01), the group with high subjective knowledge (t= 6.017, p< 0.001), and the group with high objective knowledge (t= 1.989, p< 0.05) was found to be better at radiation safety management. Conclusion: It is necessary to standardize the educational experience regarding radiation safety management because each staff member has individual differences in educational experience. It is necessary to provide more information on how to solve radiation accidents via educational content. Applying radiation safety regulations based on the factors that significantly affect radiation safety management shown in this survey will help improve safety.