Nuclear knowledge management
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Definition
Nuclear knowledge management is Knowledge management in the nuclear domain Source: Knowledge management for radioactive waste management organisations
Nuclear knowledge management is Template:Nuclear knowledge management 4 Source: Process oriented knowledge management
Summary
One paragraph summary which summarises the main ideas of the article.
Description
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]).
Source: Knowledge management for radioactive waste management organisations
Description
NPPs operate in a highly regulated environment with stringent requirements. Effective management systems must be in place to ensure compliance with a number of regulatory and operating licence requirements including, for example: nuclear safety, environmental controls, equipment reliability and qualification, nuclear quality assurance, nuclear security, nuclear waste management and safeguards, radiation protection and monitoring, operating experience feedback and corrective action programmes, work management and control, outage planning and management, and design basis configuration management. All of these are knowledge intensive processes that involve knowledge management considerations. Knowledge management in the NPP context presents many challenges and issues and these stem from many factors such as:
- A complex technology base and infrastructure;
- Lengthy technology and plant life-cycles;
- Highly capital-intensive plant assets;
- A reliance on multi-disciplinary technologies and expertise;
- Competing operational objectives (i.e. safety, economics, and production);
- Potentially high hazards that must be systematically managed to demonstrably low tolerable risks; and
- An organization that is a complex socio-technical system.
There is an on-going need in NPPs for coordination and alignment of often inter-dependent knowledge processes. There is also a frequent need for risk-informed technical decision making, both from a design basis management perspective and from an operations and maintenance perspective. Nuclear plant organizations are heavily knowledge-dependent and their operational needs demand a high level of expertise and knowledge-based infrastructure. Knowledge is embedded in humans, the underlying plant technology, and work processes and methodologies. The terms ‘knowledge-worker' and ‘knowledge organization’ are all the more relevant to the multi-disciplinary environment of NPP organizations. For these reasons, NPP managers are interested in understanding and influencing the factors that affect not only the building and retention of the corporate knowledge base, but its effective utilization. The KM issues and priorities will vary in each NPP organization and this will depend on both internal organizational factors, and factors such as the national industry and infrastructure issues.
References
[1]
