Standards Development

Scope

This document specifies the basic requirements and methods for the implementation and verification of severe accident management guidelines at nuclear power plants.

 This document applies to nuclear power plants which have completed the development of severe accident management guidelines.

Purpose

Nuclear energy has emerged as an affordable, clean, and vital energy source for 21st century sustainable development. Historical evidence underscores that operational safety remains an indispensable prerequisite for nuclear energy deployment, necessitating continuous enhancement of severe accident management (SAM) capabilities.

The nuclear industry has progressively institutionalized SAM frameworks since the 1980s through the development and implementation of Severe Accident Management Guidelines (SAMGs). A important milestone occurred in 2009 with the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) publication of NS-G2.15, "Severe Accident Management Programmes for Nuclear Power Plants." Following the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi accident, SAMG implementation gained renewed global prominence, becoming standard practice across most nuclearized nations. The IAEA subsequently issued SSG-54 in 2019, superseding NS-G-2.15 and providing enhanced technical recommendations. However, IAEA assessments revealed persistent disparities in SAMG implementation maturity among member states in 2020, notwithstanding post-Fukushima safety upgrades. These discrepancies primarily stem from the absence of standardized operational protocols - while SSG-54 establishes essential requirements, it lacks prescriptive implementation methodologies, providing broad operational "requirements" rather than plant-specific actionable "procedures".

Current international SAM frameworks exhibit standardization gaps in practical implementation. To address this deficiency, we propose developing on-site implementation of severe accident management guidelines. Preliminary consultations with global technical experts from Canada, India, the Netherlands, Pakistan, etc., have yielded substantive support of this initiative. Empirical analysis suggests that establishing a harmonized implementation framework could optimize SAM capability development while achieving cost efficiencies through shared best practices and resource rationalization.