The NEA Incident Reporting System : Description, Experience, First Results

Abstract

The paper presents an overview of the NEA Incident Reporting System (IRS), which was established to collect, assess and disseminate information on safety-related incidents in nuclear power plants. The IRS information exchange is significant for two reasons. First, it enables regulatory authorities and utilities in participating countries to take appropriate action in order to avoid the mishaps reported from occurring again elsewhere. Second, the continuous collection and systematic analysis of such information allows identification of areas of concern where safety research should be strengthened.

The paper gives some details of the IRS mechanism and discusses the reporting criteria used and the information included in the reports. Areas of concern identified from reported incidents, and some examples of lessons learned are also discussed.