Nuclear power plants and those who run them are under constant pressure from politicians, regulators and public opinion to prove that they operate under safe conditions. Now DNV has become active in enhancing safety for Germany’s nuclear power industry.

An incident in one German power plant which had to be reported to the authorities encouraged Dusseldorf-based E.ON Nuclear Power to contact DNV to learn if British Energys experience of DNVs International Safety Rating System (ISRS) could be used to assess and improve the safety culture in German power plants.

It was that which initiated DNVs role in Germanys nuclear power industry. The E.ON research department contacted British Energy (operator of many of Britains nuclear stations), which related its useful experience of the ISRS.

Addressing the human factor
We realised we had a human-factor issue and that we had to look at more than just technical aspects, says Gerd Reinstrom, E.ONs safety manager. We searched for a tool and found it in DNV. The company gave DNV the opportunity to present its Loss Control Management philosophy and the ISRS to senior executives, who included the technical directors of all the E.ON power stations. As a result, a pilot project was launched; this proved successful, and E.ON then involved the rest of the VGB Association, whose members include all the nuclear-plant operators in Germany. These had already developed guidelines for a safety culture in nuclear power plants, and were seeking a method of assessing them. Following the success of the pilot project in E.ON, a decision was therefore made to develop a comprehensive Safety Culture Assessment System.

Practical cooperation
At first, says Reinstrom, staff were sceptical as to whether we would achieve anything useful. But a practical relationship was soon established. Explaining the project is Dr Dieter Hansen, director of DNV Consulting in Germany: If we are to achieve improvements, we must find out how a company is organised and how it carries out its daily operations. The employees in this case have cooperated in exemplary fashion even offering information we had not asked for. Our relationship with the workers unions has also been important. They soon became convinced that this was something positive for the employees.

Measuring a safety culture
Before DNV commenced work with E.ON, its safety culture group had defined just what was meant by that expression. But how to implement and measure it? asks Dr Hansen. We needed answers which could tell us whether or not our measures were producing results.

We depend on having a continuing system which becomes a positive means of internal benchmarking. This gives everyone in the industry an opportunity to learn the best practices and for us to prove that nuclear power plants can indeed operate safely.

Wolfgang Schwarz emphasises that the German power-generation industry has some of the safest operators in the world. But its still important to have an independent third party such as DNV to conduct such an assessment. It ensures objectivity and credibility both within the power plants and among public opinion.

Five new nuclear stations each year
Nuclear plants today account for more than 30 per cent of the electrical power generated in Germany, and one quarter of that produced worldwide. Though new forms of green energy, such as wind and tidal power, are becoming popular they account for less than 10 per cent of German power generation. And while nuclear power is generated continuously, other energy forms are vulnerable and dependent on wind and weather.

Reinstrom and Schwarz have worked in the nuclear power industry since 1982 and 1974 respectively. In the 1970s and early 1980s the government planned to build five nuclear power stations annually, says Schwarz. But due to public protests about nuclear power, construction work stopped and the last such plant in Germany was completed in 1989.

Today neither man is optimistic as to the nuclear power industrys future in their country. It is a political issue, rather than any factual response to safety, they believe. But after spending their careers making Germanys nuclear plants as safe as possible, with DNVs help they hope now to have gained a new tool to further improve and document the industrys safety culture.