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According to the Specific Safety Requirements publication Safety of Nuclear Power Plants: Commissioning and Operation (IAEA Safety Standards Series No. SSR-2/2 (Rev.1), Vienna, 2016), the operating organization shall ‘ensure that an effective ageing management programme is implemented to ensure that required safety functions of systems, structures and components are fulfilled over the entire operating lifetime of the plant.’, and it shall also ‘establish and implement a comprehensive programme for ensuring the long term safe operation of the plant beyond a time-frame established in the licence conditions, design limits, safety standards and/or regulations’.
The Safety Aspects of Long Term Operation (SALTO) peer review service was launched in 2005. It was designed to assist operating organizations in adopting a proper approach to ageing management and preparation for safe long term operation (LTO) of NPPs. The service can also identify gaps in national regulations for ageing management and LTO of NPPs. Repetitive requests from NPPs to add a new review area of ‘Human resources, competency and knowledge management for LTO’ led to the revision of the SALTO Guidelines in January 2014. Since then, the revised guidelines have been used for SALTO missions and other connected activities. SALTO missions increased from one to two per year in the period of 2007-2011 to six to nine per year in the period of 2016-2019. During the 2020 pandemic, only two missions were conducted due to travel restrictions; however, after July 2021 the scheduled missions resumed, and the demand increased to ten missions planned for 2024. Additionally, as part of the SALTO programme, several technical meetings aimed at obtaining feedback from previous missions conducted in 2016, 2020, and 2022.
In recent years, several Member States operating NPPs in early stages of operation joined IAEA activities in the field of ageing management, such as the International Generic Ageing Lessons Learned (IGALL) programme. Some Member States not yet operating NPPs but with active nuclear programmes have requested workshops in the area of ageing management.
In 2021, a reviewed version of the SALTO guidelines was published, expanding the scope of SALTO mission to include research reactors. Additionally, some Member States have invited expert missions based on the SALTO methodology to review ageing management activities on operating research reactors.
The meeting has the following primary objectives:
Participation is solicited from staff members of regulatory bodies, NPP operators, utility organizations, design and engineering consultant organizations, as well as from international organizations engaged in activities related to NPP safety and regulation. To ensure maximum effectiveness in the exchange of information, participants should be persons actively involved in the subject of the meeting.
The meeting is, in principle, open to all officially designated persons. The IAEA, however, reserves the right to restrict participation due to limitations imposed by the available facilities. It is, therefore, recommended that interested persons take the necessary steps for the official designation as early as possible.
Please see the Information Sheet to the right for information on registering for this meeting. The deadline for submission of applications is 10 August 2024.
The event will be held at the Vienna International Centre (VIC), where the IAEA’s Headquarters are located. Participants must make their own travel and accommodation arrangements.