CNSC nuclear power plant accident handbook

Abstract of the technical paper presented at:
2012 ANS Winter Meeting and Nuclear Technology Expo
San Diego, California, USA
November 11–15, 2012

Prepared by:
Christopher Cole
Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

T. Nitheanandan, M.J. Brown, S.M. Petoukhov, A. Wood
Atomic Energy of Canada Limited
Chalk River, Ontario, Canada

Abstract

The Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) at the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) in Ottawa is activated for all events which are leading or could lead to significant onsite or offsite consequences, and where the consequences of the event will be strongly affected by the operator's actions. During a nuclear emergency the CNSC's regulatory role is to provide assurance that appropriate actions are taken to limit the risk to health, safety, security and the environment.

In response to the Fukushima Nuclear Emergency and the subsequent EOC response, the CNSC Fukushima Task Force recommended that hardcopy and e-version reference packages for all Canadian reactor sites be readily available to the Technical Support Team. The information should be easily accessible and provide pertinent information in a clear and concise manner.

CSNC staff, in a cooperative agreement with Atomic Energy Corporation Limited (AECL), has begun implementing this recommendation through the development of the Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) Accident Handbook. The NPP Accident Handbook will provide readily available reference material for CNSC technical staff involved in EOC operations and enable them to find site-specific and accident-specific details in addition to providing expert advice to the EOC team during accident progression.

The NPP Accident Handbook is being developed under a graphical user interface (GUI) software application, with the necessary drawings, databases and calculations behind the GUI. As the software will not perform detailed calculations, the use of hard engineering code is not needed. The handbook, which will have the feel of an easy to navigate webpage is, in short, a one-stop reference for nuclear accidents.

This paper will present an update on the development of the NPP Handbook with the intent of sharing the lessons learned by the CNSC during the Fukushima nuclear accident.

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