Methodological proposal for identification and evaluation of environmental aspects and impacts of IPEN nuclear facilities: A case study applied to the Nuclear Fuel Center

Abstract

This work presents an application of Failure Mode Effect Analysis (FMEA) to the process of identification of environmental aspects and impacts as a part of implementation and maintenance of an Environmental Management System (EMS) in accordance with the ISO 14001 standard. Also, it can contribute, as a complement, to the evaluation and improvement of safety of the installation focused. The study was applied to the Nuclear Fuel Center (CCN) of Nuclear and Energy Research Institute (IPEN), situated at the Campus of University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. The CCN facility has the objective of promoting scientific research and of producing nuclear fuel elements for the IEA-R1 Research Reactor. To identify the environmental aspects of the facility activities, products, and services, a systematic data collection was carried out by means of personal interviews, documents, reports and operation data records consulting. Furthermore, the processes and their interactions, failure modes, besides their causes and effects to the environment, were identified. As a result of a careful evaluation of these causes it was possible to identify and to classify the major potential environmental impacts, in order to set up and put in practice an Environmental Control Plan for the installation under study. The results have demonstrated the validity of the FMEA application to nuclear facility processes, identifying environmental aspects and impacts, whose controls are critical to achieve compliance with the environmental requirements of the Integrated Management System of IPEN. It was demonstrated that the methodology used in this work is a powerful management tool for resolving issues related to the conformity with applicable regulatory and legal requirements of the Brazilian Nuclear Energy Commission (CNEN) and the Brazilian Institute of Environment (IBAMA).