Description
Book SynopsisThis book discusses the specifics of safety regulations regarding nuclear risk and how experts contribute to the safety of nuclear installations. Drawing on research conducted in collaboration with the French Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN), the ideas that are put forward rely on a review of the practices of specialists in human and organizational factors concerning nuclear safety. The author shows that the French approach depends on maintaining a technical dialogue between the regulatory authority (ASN), IRSN and nuclear operators. This method of risk management is known as French cooking in the Anglo-Saxon world, where a more formal regulatory approach is taken. This technical dialogue does however hold certain benefits, particularly in the field of human and organizational factors, where it allows an advancement of the state of knowledge, which remains incomplete. After the Fukushima accident, in the face of an ongoing European and global re-evalua
Table of Contents
Preface; Introduction; Part one. Technical dialogue and human factors: a historical perspective; 1. The emergence of human factors in institutions of technical dialogue; 2. Incorporation of human factors in assessment processes; Conclusion to part one: historical and institutional influences of human factors assessments? Part two. The assessment factory; 3. Contribution to the Minotaure safety review; 4. The analysis of incidents at Artémis; 5. Management of the skills of operating personnel in nuclear power plants; Conclusion to part two: the singular aspects of the assessment factory; Part three. The effectiveness of assessment; 6. Persuade or convince: the rhetorical and cognitive effectiveness of the assessment; 7. The operating efficiency of expertise: controlling the forces of technical dialogue; Conclusion to part three: rebalancing dimensions of effectiveness; General conclusion
