3.2 Recovering with Injunction and Order Use
On the first day, a simulated tornado damaged the nuclear fuel cycle platform in the
early afternoon. As no one knew exactly what were the consequences of such
natural disaster on the plant, all actors tried to face the crisis in the best way they
could think of. In this sense Becker’s vision of enactment phenomenon, that is to
say ways people find to cooperate for the moment to get to the next step in a
specific occasion [16], began to appear.
During the mid-afternoon turn-over preparation conference call between Local
Management Team and Headquarter, five issues were highlighted (in no preference
order):
• Human assessment;
• Safety assessment;
• Production recovery conditions;
• International Nuclear Event Scale (INES) classification of the event;
• Plant workers evacuation.
As injunction use showed regarding the last point (“This needs to be addressed”); Local Management Team was clearly expected by Headquarter to solve those
problems, though Headquarter also ordered “not to waste time” on INES
classification.
On the field, as Local Team handles operational responsibility towards crisis
management for legal and practical reasons, decision was made to prior human and
safety assessment. So, rounds and competencies checking were organized to gather
information on damages, assess risks and take back control on source terms.
Workers evacuation was done during the night when Plant Management was sure
no one would be carelessly exposed to danger.
On the second day, as reliable data were gathered, valuable technical solutions
were found such as sprinkling devices and robot use to deal with the most risky
situations. When it appeared that the intervention force would be sent in a relatively
controlled environment, the Headquarter finally ordered to allocate the internal
intervention force to spread uranium powder extraction, a relatively known action.
As a consequence, the crisis exercise finished in the expected time and with no
human loss due to National or Local effort for system recovery; which might not
have been the case if previous decision had been confirmed to send the force right
after the tornado instead of triggering its early warning mode for field checking
support.
4 Results
First, injunction effectiveness to system recovery in national and local level management relationship has been demonstrated in several ways.
On Safety Management Devices: Injunction …
247
On the first day, a simulated tornado damaged the nuclear fuel cycle platform in the
early afternoon. As no one knew exactly what were the consequences of such
natural disaster on the plant, all actors tried to face the crisis in the best way they
could think of. In this sense Becker’s vision of enactment phenomenon, that is to
say ways people find to cooperate for the moment to get to the next step in a
specific occasion [16], began to appear.
During the mid-afternoon turn-over preparation conference call between Local
Management Team and Headquarter, five issues were highlighted (in no preference
order):
• Human assessment;
• Safety assessment;
• Production recovery conditions;
• International Nuclear Event Scale (INES) classification of the event;
• Plant workers evacuation.
As injunction use showed regarding the last point (“This needs to be addressed”); Local Management Team was clearly expected by Headquarter to solve those
problems, though Headquarter also ordered “not to waste time” on INES
classification.
On the field, as Local Team handles operational responsibility towards crisis
management for legal and practical reasons, decision was made to prior human and
safety assessment. So, rounds and competencies checking were organized to gather
information on damages, assess risks and take back control on source terms.
Workers evacuation was done during the night when Plant Management was sure
no one would be carelessly exposed to danger.
On the second day, as reliable data were gathered, valuable technical solutions
were found such as sprinkling devices and robot use to deal with the most risky
situations. When it appeared that the intervention force would be sent in a relatively
controlled environment, the Headquarter finally ordered to allocate the internal
intervention force to spread uranium powder extraction, a relatively known action.
As a consequence, the crisis exercise finished in the expected time and with no
human loss due to National or Local effort for system recovery; which might not
have been the case if previous decision had been confirmed to send the force right
after the tornado instead of triggering its early warning mode for field checking
support.
4 Results
First, injunction effectiveness to system recovery in national and local level management relationship has been demonstrated in several ways.
On Safety Management Devices: Injunction …
247