IAEA Highlights Importance of Safety of Nuclear Installations Against Geological Hazards at the 37th International Geological Congress

Geological experts discussed how the IAEA helps countries enhance the safety of nuclear installations against earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, forest fires and floods at the recent the International Geological Congress.

The congress is held every four years by the International Union of Geological Sciences. This year's event took place in Busan, the Republic of Korea from 25 to 31 August, attracting around 4000 abstracts and 7000 participants from 120 countries.

Given its substantial role in the development of technical guidelines on nuclear installation safety against external hazards, the IAEA was invited to lead a key session on investigation and evaluation techniques related to nuclear power plants and waste disposal sites.

Hyun-Woo Lee, Project Manager at the IAEA's External Events Safety Section provided a detailed presentation on the development of IAEA publications such as safety guides and technical documents. Lee provided examples of how these documents support countries in enhancing safety at nuclear installations in the event of external hazards. He underscored that safety assessment is vital at the design stage of a nuclear installation as it helps to factor in appropriate hazard management.

During the discussions, participants were provided information on the term 'hazard management' that is used to refer to a set of operational processes and measures for hazard development and review focussed on prevention, protection and mitigation of the effects of hazard to a nuclear power plant's safety.

Participants also learned about IAEA Site and External Events Design (SEED) review missions, which support countries going through different stages in the development of a nuclear power programme. This review service offers a choice of modules that cover safety in relation to external hazards such as site selection, site safety assessment and design safety assessment of structures, systems and components. Also highlighted during the discussions were the IAEA's capacity-building programmes and operation of a real-time External Events Notification System (EENS) that tracks natural disasters including earthquakes, floods, tsunamis, volcano eruptions and wildfires to strengthen nuclear installation safety.

During the technical session, Lee spoke about the potential impact of volcanic hazard on nuclear facilities. "While it might not be practical or possible to prevent a hazard or its impacts from triggering an anticipated operational occurrence, hazard management should ensure that, to the extent practicable, it does not trigger a more severe plant state, leading to accident conditions." He added that "hazard management could help prevent a multiple safety system failure."

The IAEA supports countries to evaluate these external challenges and to take concrete steps to enhance the safety of nuclear installations.