UN atomic agency reviews Czech Republic’s largest national electricity company

An international team led by United Nations nuclear safety experts today completed a review of corporate safety performance at CEZ, the largest national electricity company in the Czech Republic, to address safety operations at the Dukovany and Temelin nuclear power plants.

The Corporate Operational Safety Review Team (OSART) – composed of the UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), as well as experts from Finland, France, Romania and the United States – reviewed the operations at the nuclear facility using IAEA’s safety standards, and proposed recommendations for improvement.

“The OSART team identified good corporate practices,” the UN agency said, which will be shared with the rest of the nuclear industry for consideration of their possible application elsewhere.

The team also identified proposals for improvements of corporate processes and performance important to the operational safety of the plants.

The review also covered aspects related to corporate management, independent oversight, human resources, communication, maintenance, technical support and procurement, according to a news release by the IAEA.

According to the Vienna-based agency, CEZ management committed to addressing all the areas identified for improvement and requested the IAEA to schedule a follow-up mission in approximately 18 months’ time.

“OSART missions are one of the most important tools of the Agency to ensure better and wider implementation of the IAEA Safety Standards,” said Denis Flory, Deputy Director General in the IAEA’s Department of Nuclear Safety and Security.

“Since 1982, we have conducted close to 200 safety review missions around the globe; however, this mission is the first of its kind because we focused on the corporate performance that is a necessity for a safe operation of [nuclear poser plants],” Mr. Flory added. “We wanted to focus on the organizational and human side rather than the technology.”