Operational safety

Safety is a primary concern in all of our operations. We work continually to ensure minimal risk of fire, explosion and hazardous leakage. Our nuclear power safety is based on multiple barrier and defence in depth safety principles. Our greatest responsibility is to protect the public, the environment and our employees.

Safety is a fundamental aspect and basic requirement for all of Vattenfall’s operations. Negative impact on human health and safety is minimised through comprehensive safety work and well-established risk management systems. Incidents, including such where there is a risk for environmental impact, are handled according to Vattenfall’s Incident and Crisis Management (ICM) framework, which is applied to enhance preparedness and provide effective and proactive ways of handling events that could lead to an incident or crisis.

Safety in nuclear power

Our Nuclear Safety Policy states that we put safety first in all parts of our nuclear operations and work for continuous improvements. Our nuclear power plants use a number of independent and supplementary systems make sure that isolated difficulties do not lead to major problems. The nuclear plants also have reserve power systems to guarantee power if a reactor is shut down. Safety culture and safety work are important elements in the training of our personnel. For the past few years, we have been running an investment programme aimed at improving safety further and adapting our power plants to new, stricter safety requirements.

Spent nuclear fuel

One of our most important tasks is the safe storage of spent nuclear fuel. In Sweden, we carry out development and research in cooperation with the rest of the nuclear power industry in a jointly owned company “Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Co” (SKB). In Germany, the safety level of our nuclear power plants is continuously improved and adjusted to match the state-of-the-art technology in use. The authorities regularly investigate the final storage of spent nuclear fuel.

Safety in hydro power

Dam safety is an important aspect of hydro power, since a dam failure could have serious consequences, causing substantial property damage and a threat to human life. The risk of a dam failure is extremely small, and current requirements are calculated for water flows that statistically occur every 10,000 years. Vattenfall has invested actively in improved dam safety and is active in the industry’s dam safety work. International audits indicate that Vattenfall’s dam safety has a very high standard.

Procurement

In 2007 we initiated work on improving effectiveness and accountability within our purchasing organisation. This included the launch of an initiative to develop a Group–wide solution and practices to ensure that our suppliers meet Vattenfall’s minimum social responsibility requirements. These requirements, based on the UN Global Compact’s principles for human rights, labour standards, the environment and anti–corruption, apply to all of Vattenfall’s suppliers and subcontractors. For example we purchase uranium from several countries and in every case we apply very high environmental and ethical demands on our suppliers.

We consistently demand supplier audits and we regularly conduct site investigations at our suppliers to ensure that they comply with our high demands.