WANO

Operating experience

Experience shows that many events could have been prevented if lessons had been learned from previous incidents.

We call this operating experience and it is a key part of what we do. The basic principle underlying WANO is that it is better to learn from someone else’s mistakes than from your own. It is also better to benefit from someone else’s good ideas rather than work in isolation without perhaps improving the results.

Our Operating Experience Programme alerts members to events that have occurred at other nuclear power plants and enables them to take corrective actions to prevent similar events from happening at their own plants. Its success lies in the willingness of WANO members to openly share their experiences.

Event analysis

An event is defined as any significant deviation from the normal expected functioning of a plant. When an event occurs, the affected plant management and staff analyse it and complete a report, which is then sent to their WANO regional centre and posted on the secure, members’ web site.

But WANO does more than just collect data. We analyse events from around the world, identify trends and provide concrete recommendations for our members to implement. Some of our products, such as Significant Operating Experience and Significant Event Reports, contain in-depth analyses of events and trends and identify lessons learned for the benefit of nuclear operators around the world.

Other products, such as our Just-in-Time reports, give workers in the field practical, timely information for use during pre-job briefings. We also offer our members Hot Topic reports, which contain summaries and highlights of adverse performance trends or specfic events.

Programme Highlights

• In 2011, WANO members provided 1,292 operating experience reports.
• The operating experience team issued seven major analysis reports.
• One new Just-in-Time (JIT) briefing sheet was developed and nine existing briefing sheets were revised. Two Hot Topics were also issued.

For full operating experience highlights in 2011, please read page four of the 2011 Year End Highlights Report. Previous editions are also available on the publications page.