Andrej Stritar Slovenian Nuclear Safety Administration

REPUBLIC OF SLOVENIA

MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND THE ENVIRONMENT

SLOVENIAN NUCLEAR SAFETY ADMINISTRATION

IRRS, the driving force for continuous improvements, from a host, team

member and team leader perspectives

Andrej StritarSlovenian Nuclear Safety Administration

IAEA General Conference, Senior Regulators’ Meeting19 September 2013

2REPUBLIC OF SLOVENIA



IRRS – Why do we have it?




IRRS – Why do we have it?

To help improve nuclear safety regulatory system of the host country

To let others know about good practices in the host country

In other words: to facilitate continuous improvements

Any regulatory body has to be a learning organisation,willing to seek and take advice on improvements




Host country gets formal proposals for improvements




Team members can get ideas for their country




The mirror for the host country




Intensity of activities

• In less than two weeks at least one man year of team member’s work is invested!

• ... and correspondingly more resources of the host.• Typically team members are working 12 or more

hours per day.• Communication and exchange of information is

much stronger than during normal activities.

• If properly used, such investment must contribute to improvements!




My IRRS Perspectives

• Two OSART missions more than a decade ago• Host country (Slovenia, 2011)

• Team member (China, 2010)

• Deputy team leader (UAE, 2011)

• Team leader (Slovakia, 2012)

• IRRS and harmonization in EU• IRRS Consultancies (IAEA, 2012/13)




HOST COUNTRY PERSPECTIVE

• My basic instruction to our staff:

“Don’t pretend to be different, do your job as you do it every day!”

“Let us use this opportunity to find ways for improvements!”




Self assessment in Slovenia

• Started before the mission was invited• Based on IRRS Guidelines, that kept changing ...• Took us more than a year to get through and

prepare Action plan• After the preparatory meeting we had to repeat self-

assessment by the new SAT toolSelf-assessment was the most tedious and time

consuming part of the whole IRRS process!• There were too many questions, very unbalanced by

subjects, we were lost in details, while crucial issues were not so obvious

• I called it bottom-up approach




Self assessment – potential improvements

• Self assessment should be performed in a same way as the mission itself:– Should be oriented in preparation of a similar report as the

report of the mission– Doing that crucial issues would be highlighted

• I would call it top down approach• Clear Action plan should follow• Theoretically if Action plan is well formulated, the

mission should have no other findings than those in the Action plan!

• Self assessment is an excellent opportunity for the host, if he sincerely wants to improve!




TEAM MEMBER PERSPECTIVE

• Each IRRS mission is one time project with a bunch of people that have never worked together before!

• The personalities in the team are (as always) of different characters

• Some kind of team building activity before the mission would be beneficial

• Almost always one or two team members are not able to produce results!

• Team Leader and Team Coordinator should early recognize such problem, the contingency plan should be in place




The IRRS Team – before the mission

• It is expected that Team Members prepare intensively before the mission

• In reality:– first time members do study a lot before the mission, but

often with wrong emphasis– experienced members minimize preparation and rely on

quick on-the-site learning and adjustment

• My advice was to minimize the need for preparatory work as much as possible

• The summary report of the ARM should be of the same format and contents as the IRRS final mission report. IAEA should elaborate a template for that




TEAM LEADER PERSPECTIVE

General objective of the management:To achieve defined objectives

with the minimum use of resources!

IRRS Team Leader objective:To produce the Mission Report

with available team and in the allowable time.

Team Leader together with Team Coordinator should direct team work towards that goal from the very beginning




Preparing the Report

• Team members must understand:– At the very beginning that

they have to write their chapters

– How to describe recognized issues in the descriptive part of their chapter

– How to identify issues and elaborate recommendation, suggestions and good practices

From the Mission Report Template:

general instructions to write the chapter

interrelation with other modules

particular emphases

the Recommendation!




Adhere to the timing

• The mission timing should be strictly followed– Everybody must be at the meeting on-time– Deliverables must be produced on-time!

MILESTONE 1:Preliminary Draft Report




Standard Mission Schedule – second week

MILESTONE 2:Draft Report to the Host

MILESTONE 3:Final Draft Report to the Host




Recognizing cultural differences

• Team members from at least dozen of countries• Host country at another continent• Different political systems, religions, educational

systems, food habits etc.• A lot of wisdom and open mind is needed to

recognize and understand the differences

• The IAEA standards can be implemented in different ways!




EUROPEAN PERSPECTIVE

• Since 2009 EU has Nuclear Safety Directive

• ENSREG and European Commission (EC) have agreed that IRRS is the proper mechanism for “international peer review”

• Agreement between EC and IAEA to coordinate the process

• Each EU country must invite IRRS once in 10 years!




CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT OF IRRS

• In 2012 extensive analysis of missions from 2006-2011– references to the various IAEA Safety Standards– statistics of the observations in the missions– contents of the observations to the host countries

• 34 conclusions, among other:– Proposals for improvements of IAEA Standards– Improvements of IRRS process and Guidelines– Standardized prompt evaluation of the missions




IRRS Targeted Consultancies

• Experienced IRRS Team Members were invited to Vienna for brainstorming about the improvements. Input to:– Updated IRRS Guidelines– IRRS Report Template– IRRS Performance Indicators– Improved computerized self-assessment tool– Development of the method for fast evaluation of

the effectiveness and efficiency of the individual missions

– Development of IRRS training material– ...

IAEA 22

Basic IRRS Training

After finishing this training the trainee will:

• Understand the objectives of the IRRS

• Understand the concept of the peer review

• Know what the benefits of the IRRS are

• Understand the structure of the IRRS

• Know how to be Team Member

• Know how to prepare the IRRS Report

Basic IRRS Training - Objectives & Process 22




Basic IRRS Training

• Developed in 2013• Intended for future IRRS Team Members• The first course to be organized in October

2013




CONCLUSIONS

• Envy is a very strong driving force of human beings!

• In IRRS we have an excellent platform for positively using this prime human feeling.

• With clever arrangements we can envy our counterparts and force our selves to get better.

Peer Reviews like IRRS are the best driving forces for

continuous improvements we have on international scene in nuclear field

Documents

Andrej Stritar Slovenian Nuclear Safety Administration