Difference between revisions of "Nuclear knowledge management"

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==Definition==
 
==Definition==
Nuclear knowledge management is an integrated systematic approach to help the nuclear industry organizations to enhance [[Nuclear safety|safety]] and achieve objectives. This is accomplished by managing their [[Knowledge asset|knowledge asset]] through embedding [[Knowledge processes|knowledge processes]] into management systems.
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== Summary==
 
== Summary==
One paragraph summary which summarises the main ideas of the article.
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Nuclear knowledge management is an integrated, systemic approach applied to all stages of the nuclear knowledge cycle. It impacts on human resources, information and communication technology, process and document management systems. Thus, corporate and national strategies relating to nuclear safety can be significantly influenced by our ability to manage knowledge both now and in the future. Managing knowledge is an essential enabler of any nuclear power programme.
 
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== Description==
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Nuclear knowledge management is an integrated, systematic approach applied to all stages of the nuclear knowledge cycle. It impacts on human resources, information and communication technology, process and document management systems. Thus, corporate and national strategies relating to radioactive waste management can be significantly influenced by our ability to manage knowledge both now and in the future. Nuclear knowledge management is not just useful — it is essential. Further discussion of the need for nuclear knowledge management can be found in related IAEA publications (for example Ref. [8]).
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'''Source:''' [[Knowledge management for radioactive waste management organisations]]
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==Description==
 
==Description==
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Knowledge is the nuclear energy industry’s most valuable asset and resource, without which the industry cannot operate safely and economically. In addition to being essential, [[Nuclear knowledge|nuclear knowledge]] is also very complex, expensive to acquire and maintain, and easily lost. Member states, suppliers, and operating organizations that wish to obtain the benefits of peaceful applications of nuclear technology must also accept the responsibilities that go with it, and this includes a primary responsibility to ensure that the associated nuclear knowledge is sustainable and is sustained.
  
===[[KM performance model]]===
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The industrial infrastructure required to create and maintain the full scope of nuclear knowledge. It can represent a significant economic and technical burden for many Member States. This infrastructure includes research and development (R&D) and technical support organizations, laboratories to handle a wide variety of nuclear materials, research and power reactors, hot cells, reprocessing plants, demonstration facilities and disposal sites. These have to be supported by skilled operators, health physicists, regulatory and licensing bodies, quality and financial controllers. In recent years, the cost of maintaining such an infrastructure has risen. Willingness to share nuclear knowledge means more Member States, particularly in
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developing regions, are likely to have access to life-changing technology without the crippling burden of infrastructure costs.
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Effective management of nuclear facilities requires suitably qualified personnel. An important element of human resource management is the management of knowledge — the knowledge that individuals need as part of the competence requirements for assigned tasks and the additional knowledge they acquire in carrying out those tasks. This knowledge will be needed by several generations of the workforce during the lifetime of the nuclear energy programme. As the nuclear workforce ages and retires, the number of suitably qualified and experienced staff will decline and the knowledge they possess may be lost. Action is being taken to address this with the development of higher education programmes that focus, specifically, on nuclear technology and its application. However, many of these programmes in many countries are still in their infancy, and rely on concerted government and academic support — and both bodies are under constant pressure to demonstrate that they make best use of public funding. In some case it could take decades of support before the benefits are realised and, in the meantime, nuclear safety and security may be at risk. Furthermore, innovation will be compromised. Specialist knowledge is needed to apply nuclear technology in medicine, agriculture, industry, disease prevention, water management, electricity production and mineral exploration. If the knowledge accumulated to date is lost, applications will stall and many generations could have a less secure and sustainable future. These factors have led to the need for effective [[Knowledge management strategy|strategies and policies for knowledge management]] in [[Nuclear organization|nuclear organizations]] [1].
  
==Description==
 
'''Requirement 12''': Management of knowledge important to safety
 
  
The Licensee shall ensure adequate knowledge and information exists within the organization to properly understand and maintain the integrity of the design bases and the safety of operational and maintenance processes that rely on it. (An adequate scope and depth of technical expertise and experience must be available, facility design basis documentation and records must be correct, and work processes and procedures must embed appropriate consideration of design basis safety to ensure the integrity of safety functions, defence-in-depth and the safe operating envelope can be maintained.)
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Nuclear knowledge management is the management of nuclear [[Knowledge process | knowledge processes]] to achieve NKM goals. It supports the organization's business processes, and involves applying knowledge management practices to address the characteristics and specific needs of [[Nuclear knowledge |  nuclear knowledge]] and nuclear organizations. It can include the application of knowledge management practices at any stage of the nuclear knowledge life cycle: research and development, design and engineering, construction, commissioning, operations, maintenance, refurbishment and life time extension, waste management, and decommissioning. Nuclear knowledge management issues and priorities are often unique to the particular circumstances of individual Member States and their nuclear industry organizations. Nuclear knowledge management may focus on knowledge creation, identification, sharing, transfer, protection, validation, storage, dissemination, preservation or utilization. Nuclear knowledge management practices may involve the application of any of a wide range of knowledge management practices to enhance and support traditional business functions and goals such as human resource management, training, planning, operations, maintenance, projects, innovation, performance and risk management, information management, process management, organizational learning and information technology support.
  
# Senior Management shall ensure that within the management systems adequate knowledge management processes exist to:
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Nuclear organizations need to develop and implement a [[NKM strategy|nuclear knowledge management strategy]] that provides a framework for establishing principles, policy, priorities and plans to apply knowledge management practices in the workplace. Clearly defined [[NKM objectives | objectives]] will help establish the role of knowledge management in the nuclear organization.
## Systematically identify knowledge and information that is essential for safety or that will enhance safety, including the managerial knowledge needed for adequate and effective decision processes;
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## Proactively manage and prevent loss of useful knowledge and gaps in essential knowledge that may lead to errors or incorrect decision making and result in failures or events that impact safety ; (It is important to ensure essential knowledge is not lost, particularly that tacit knowledge and experience from senior or expert staff is transferred to successors, and that knowledge transfer processes and mechanisms are adequately formalized and supported, and that open and effective knowledge-sharing is fostered, and recognized.)
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## Establish, mobilize and maintain sufficient knowledge and competency to properly interpret and apply the design bases in the context of the safe operation and maintenance of systems ; (  This is necessary to ensure safety objectives can be achieved for all systems, structures or components important to safety, or which under failure conditions may threaten the safe operating envelope.  This also applies to the testing and modification of these systems.)
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## Ensure all design bases documentation and information needed to establish the state of the facility are complete and correct and are appropriately available to those who need it, when needed, to ensure safety (This is necessary to ensure that it adequately reflects design changes, lessons learned from operating experience or changing conditions (e.g. ageing or wear-out) in the plant. It is also important to ensure that procedures exist to enable sufficient and accurate capture of technical data, that information and records are effectively captured, stored, and managed so that they are searchable and retrievable and can be made available to those who need it when needed.);
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## Ensure the knowledge embedded in the organization’s processes, procedures, manuals, or other information that is related to safe operation and maintenance is kept consistent with the design basis and adequately reflects design changes, lessons learned from operating experience or changing conditions (It is necessary to ensure knowledge which may be contained in information such as training material that is derived or interpreted from design basis information (such as operating limits and conditions, safety-related design parameters, safety requirements, or fundamental design rationale or assumptions related to systems, structures or components important to safety) is regularly validated over the lifecycle. For example, lessons learned from root-cause analysis of operating incidents or events may create the need for design basis changes, or for corrections in the design basis documentation, or for changes in derived information (e.g. an operating procedure), or all three);
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## Ensure that when knowledge related to the safe operation of the plant resides outside of the organization, measures are taken to ensure knowledge loss risks are identified and managed such that sufficient knowledge and competency is maintained and that adequate knowledge transfer and validation occurs ; (This can be particularly important during new build projects to ensure knowledge is captured during licensing, construction, and commissioning and that it is complete and can be maintained.  Similarly it can be important if reliance for knowledge is on an outside services or design organization, for example for outage maintenance work, design changes, safety analysis or refurbishment) and
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## Ensure that the organizational knowledge and competency requirements are periodically assessed to consider changes due to life-cycle issues, changes in external factors or regulatory requirements, etc. and that they are adequately addressed . (This can be particularly important to accommodate refurbishment projects for life-extension, decommissioning, site expansion with construction of new units etc)
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# Senior Management shall establish clear policy and expectations for the organization regarding the importance of, and shared responsibility for, effective knowledge management and learning processes . (  It is important to safety to integrate and embed knowledge management thinking and culture into the organization. Management leadership is needed to achieve this at that all levels so that: decisions are risk-informed; knowledge is utilized effectively; known problems and mistakes are not repeated; best practices are shared; operational experience is captured; and lessons learned are incorporated)
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'''Source:''' DRAFT GENERAL SAFETY REQUIREMENTS, GSR Part 2, DS456
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Knowledge Management Systems support nuclear organizations to focus on strengthening and aligning the knowledge.
  
==Description==
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== IAEA approach to Nuclear Knowledge Management ==
===Knowledge management and knowledge transfer for LTO===
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[[File:NKM holistic model Subject are mapv65.png|thumb|right|500px|Fig. 1. The Nuclear Knowledge Management Framework]]
 
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Many generic models have been developed describing knowledge management. These models are applicable in a general way, independent of the domain to be considered. For the specific domain of Nuclear KM, IAEA has developed a framework based on the experience of the member states and the long engagement of IAEA in knowledge management. This framework is depicted in Fig. 1. The framework models all fundamental components of nuclear knowledge management and their interrelations, thus presenting an integrated or holistic view of KM in the nuclear domain.
====Expectations====
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It is well recognized that knowledge management has to serve the mission and purpose of an organization with clearly defined objectives, in contrast to early attempts to just introduce knowledge management in the vague anticipation of possible benefits. Therefore, the nuclear organizations and the business process established to reach their goals are central to the framework. A KM strategy is needed to implement KM, and must be aligned with the organization's objectives and its business processes. KM needs to address the challenges of the organization, and to show the benefits in resolving them.
In the plant knowledge should be managed as a resource. This should be applied to LTO as well.
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The business processes are supported by knowledge processes. Knowledge processes cover a broad scope in knowledge generation, validation, and maintenance: they are keys in building new knowledge, maintaining acquired knowledge and applying knowledge. The knowledge processes are enabled by tools, which include KM methods and the IT environment supportive of knowledge related activities.
A knowledge management (KM) plan and processes should be in place to support the LTO activities.
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The focus on people as the most important component of KM ("people-focused KM") is underlined by recognition of the need for competent workforce, which is crucial particularly in the nuclear field. Competence management and provisions for education are the means to achieve and maintain a high competence level. The development and growth of knowledge and competence depends substantially on an open organizational culture.
KM needs to be a part of the long term strategy of the operating organisation. Especially when considering LTO of NPP’s, the plant should include knowledge-loss risk management in its KM practices.  
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The plant should ensure that all relevant design, modification and maintenance data is documented and accessible for the LTO.  
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The plant should have systematic approaches for receiving and evaluating research findings and knowledge from the LTO related processes from other power plants.
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The plant should identify the organization’s knowledge needs (i.e. internal and external knowledge sources, utilization of knowledge, knowledge sharing, and preservation of organisational knowledge and capture of tacit knowledge).  
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The plant should ensure that there is a clear ownership of KM processes and issues.
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Management should demonstrate its commitment to KM policy.  
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Management should communicate the KM policy and processes and involve individuals in implementation and improvement of the KM processes.
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Examples of documents to be available for review:
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* KM policy and strategy;
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* Descriptions of KM process, procedures, guidelines and flowcharts;
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* Description of the process for collecting and distributing operational experience;
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* Documents related to knowledge-loss risk assessment;
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* Report on PSR assessment on use of experience from other plants and research findings (if exists);
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* Work processes, methodologies and procedures for life extension decision;
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* Descriptions of IT and IS processes;
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* Description of the process for managing records, reports and date related to maintenance, surveillance and inspections.
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====Evaluation====
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The peer review will focus on LTO aspects of the following:
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* Check that an appropriate KM policy exists;
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* Check that the KM principles and practices are embedded in the integrated management system;
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* Verify that KM is a part of the operating organisation’s long term strategy;
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* Check that there is a clear ownership of KM processes and issues;
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* Confirm that KM principles and practices are embedded in the organisation;
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* Verify that the plant has embedded KM principles and practices in its process for collecting and using operating experience feedback;
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* Verify that the plant has implemented adequate processes for learning from the LTO experiences of other plants;
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* Confirm that the plant has a process for knowledge-loss risk assessment and mitigation for suppliers, TSOs and outside service providers;
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* Confirm that the plant has established adequate processes for transferring knowledge, information and data to/from the vendor, critical equipment/component suppliers, outsourced services and TSOs;
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* Confirm that the IT/IS processes support managing information and records and their availability;
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* Confirm that the plant retains records of traceability, rationale and assumptions of why and how operational, maintenance and design changes (corporate memory) have been made.
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'''Source:''' Draft SALTO Peer Review Guidelines
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==References==
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[1]
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==Related articles==
 
==Related articles==
[[Nuclear asset management]]
 
 
[[KM performance model]]
 
 
[[Nuclear knowledge]]
 
 
[[NKM future needs]]
 
 
 
[[NKM objectives]]
 
[[NKM objectives]]
  
 
[[NKM policy]]
 
[[NKM policy]]
  
[[NKM processes]]
 
 
[[NKM programme]]
 
 
[[NKM strategy]]
 
 
[[NKM supporting documents]]
 
 
[[Knowledge management]]
 
 
[[Nuclear power plants]]
 
 
[[Challenges]]
 
 
[[Benefits]]
 
  
[[Category:Business processes]]
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[[Category:Nuclear knowledge management]]
[[Category:KM systems]]
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[[Category:Exemplar]]
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Latest revision as of 10:20, 7 April 2016


Definition

Knowledge management in the nuclear domain

Summary

Nuclear knowledge management is an integrated, systemic approach applied to all stages of the nuclear knowledge cycle. It impacts on human resources, information and communication technology, process and document management systems. Thus, corporate and national strategies relating to nuclear safety can be significantly influenced by our ability to manage knowledge both now and in the future. Managing knowledge is an essential enabler of any nuclear power programme.

Description

Knowledge is the nuclear energy industry’s most valuable asset and resource, without which the industry cannot operate safely and economically. In addition to being essential, nuclear knowledge is also very complex, expensive to acquire and maintain, and easily lost. Member states, suppliers, and operating organizations that wish to obtain the benefits of peaceful applications of nuclear technology must also accept the responsibilities that go with it, and this includes a primary responsibility to ensure that the associated nuclear knowledge is sustainable and is sustained.

The industrial infrastructure required to create and maintain the full scope of nuclear knowledge. It can represent a significant economic and technical burden for many Member States. This infrastructure includes research and development (R&D) and technical support organizations, laboratories to handle a wide variety of nuclear materials, research and power reactors, hot cells, reprocessing plants, demonstration facilities and disposal sites. These have to be supported by skilled operators, health physicists, regulatory and licensing bodies, quality and financial controllers. In recent years, the cost of maintaining such an infrastructure has risen. Willingness to share nuclear knowledge means more Member States, particularly in developing regions, are likely to have access to life-changing technology without the crippling burden of infrastructure costs. Effective management of nuclear facilities requires suitably qualified personnel. An important element of human resource management is the management of knowledge — the knowledge that individuals need as part of the competence requirements for assigned tasks and the additional knowledge they acquire in carrying out those tasks. This knowledge will be needed by several generations of the workforce during the lifetime of the nuclear energy programme. As the nuclear workforce ages and retires, the number of suitably qualified and experienced staff will decline and the knowledge they possess may be lost. Action is being taken to address this with the development of higher education programmes that focus, specifically, on nuclear technology and its application. However, many of these programmes in many countries are still in their infancy, and rely on concerted government and academic support — and both bodies are under constant pressure to demonstrate that they make best use of public funding. In some case it could take decades of support before the benefits are realised and, in the meantime, nuclear safety and security may be at risk. Furthermore, innovation will be compromised. Specialist knowledge is needed to apply nuclear technology in medicine, agriculture, industry, disease prevention, water management, electricity production and mineral exploration. If the knowledge accumulated to date is lost, applications will stall and many generations could have a less secure and sustainable future. These factors have led to the need for effective strategies and policies for knowledge management in nuclear organizations [1].


Related articles

NKM objectives

NKM policy