About WANO Membership

WANO members are affiliated with one or more regional centre (Atlanta, Moscow, Paris and Tokyo) based on the centre’s location or particular expertise. In addition to tailored support from the regional centres, all members have access to the following resources:

WANO member website: A comprehensive, member-only archive of reports and information about nuclear plant safety across the world.

Performance Analysis: Through the website, members have access to information about events that have occurred at other plants. Information sharing between members allows plants to learn from each other’s mistakes and ensure they are not repeated elsewhere. For more information, visit the Performance Analysis programme.

Peer Review: Each member receives a peer review every four years. Using an international team made up of both WANO and industry experts, peer review teams identify areas for improvement, which are outlined in a report presented to the member’s senior management. Good practices and strengths are also identified and shared with other members. For more information, visit the Peer Review programme.

Member Support: WANO also offers its members support in targeting specific issues or problems. These tools include Guidelines and Good Practices, and Member Support Missions. For more information, visit the Member Support programme.

Industry Learning & Development: The Industry Learning & Development programme (formerly called Training & Development) provides a forum for WANO members to enhance their leadership skills and professional knowledge. Specific activities include workshops, seminars, training courses and leadership courses.

The prospective member will work with the appropriate WANO director to complete an application form and a confidentiality undertaking. Once completed, a project plan will be drawn up to describe the planned interactions between WANO and the new member. This information, along with any other relevant details (for example, for new entrants with plants under construction, detailed plans should be submitted) will be supplied to WANO London before being presented to the WANO Governing Board.

WANO’s membership is comprised of nuclear plant operators. However, in certain circumstances other organisations that impact nuclear safety may be able to receive certain WANO services or products. Upon reaching an agreement with WANO, such organisations must complete a confidentiality undertaking.
 

Organisations approved for membership pay two fees:

1. To the London Office for general services
2. To their affiliated regional centre for specific services

Fees are based on a formula that considers the total number Category 1 members, the number of units operated and the overall electric production of the member. There is a fixed annual fee for Category 3 and 5 members.

Have you used our decision tree and think your organisation qualifies for WANO membership? If so, please get in touch via our contact form. One of the WANO team will be in contact to answer any further questions and get the process started.

1. Chief Executives of member organisations actively participate in the governance of WANO to ensure the success of WANO, and to improve the operational excellence of their own stations and support nuclear safety among all members.

2. WANO governors are chief executives, senior executives, or director general level, responsible for the member’s nuclear power programme and decision-making.

3. Each member safeguards the information shared among members and only releases information with the approval of the originating member and in accordance with WANO approved confidentiality requirements. Additionally, members comply with WANO classifications of information, including assessment ratings, peer review results, and document categories to appropriately maintain the confidentiality of information.

4. Each member pays required membership fees on time and provides high quality, experienced personnel to support the WANO mission and activities in the regional centres and London Office for sufficiently long terms (for example; three to four years), and integrates these personnel back into the industry following WANO assignments.

5. Each member hosts and supports peer reviews of member organisations, including peer reviews for operating stations, pre-startup peer reviews for new units and corporate peer reviews, at a frequency established by the WANO Governing Board.

6. Each member takes timely action to correct performance issues identified during WANO peer reviews and seeks support from WANO Regional Centres and other members to resolve significant issues.

a.    In keeping with the requirements of WANO Policy Document 10, Member Performance Improvement, plants, facilities or corporate organisations recognised as needing increased assistance are accountable to accept assistance offered and improve their performance. Each member plant/or corporate staff develops an improvement plan with assistance of their WANO Regional Centre. This improvement plan is developed within an appropriate timescale and should define clear milestones and effectiveness measures for its implementation.

b.    To support implementation of an enhanced monitoring process for each plant requiring increased assistance, members openly share available plant metrics and event history with Regional Centre staff on an ongoing basis to allow for robust performance monitoring.

7.    Members collect, analyse and share operating experience, and evaluate and implement all applicable WANO Significant Operating Experience Report (SOER) recommendations as soon as possible.

8.    Each member endeavours to participate in seminars, workshops, leadership courses and expert meetings to support improvements in operational safety and reliability, led by WANO.

9.    Each member will appoint a single point of contact (a WANO Interface Officer) responsible for the interface between his/her utility and its plants and WANO (Regional Centre and London Office).

10.    Members participate in member support activities, including Member Support Missions, reporting of performance indicator data and using Guidelines and Good Practices documents to identify further improvements and support other members.