Radiation protection performance indicators at the Nuclear Power Plant Krsko

Nuclear power plant safety performance indicators are developed "by nuclear operating organisations to monitor their own performance and progress, to set their own challenging goals for improvement, and to gain additional perspective on performance relative to that of other plants". In addition, performance indicators are widely used by regulatory authorities although the use is not harmonised. Two basic performance indicators related to good radiation protection practice are collective radiation exposure and volume of low-level radioactive waste. In 2000, Nuclear Power Plant Krsko, a Westinghouse pressurised water reactor with electrical output 700 MW, finished an extensive modernisation including the replacement of both steam generators. While the annual volume of low-level radioactive waste does not show a specific trend related to modernisation, the annual collective dose reached maximum, i.e. 2.60 man Sv, and dropped to 1.13 man Sv in 2001. During the replacement of the steam generators in 2000, the dose associated with this activity was 1.48 man Sv. The annual doses in 2002 and 2003 were 0.53 and 0.80 man Sv, respectively, nearing thus the goal set by the US Institute of Nuclear Power Operators, which is 0.65 man Sv. Therefore, inasmuch as collective dose as the radiation protection performance indicator are concerned, the modernisation of the Krsko nuclear power plant was a success.