Title: Incident in the Forsmark 1 nuclear power plant in 2006 and knowledge breakdowns

Authors: Elena Ilina, Hakan Sundquist

Addresses: Division of Structural Design and Bridges, The Royal Institute of Technology, Brinellvagen 34, Stockholm, Sweden. ' Division of Structural Design and Bridges, The Royal Institute of Technology, Brinellvagen 34, Stockholm, Sweden

Abstract: The incident in Forsmark nuclear plant in 2006 can be seen not merely as a failure of technology or safety culture but as a failure of knowledge. A previous study of the chain of events that led to the incident revealed that the recent modernisation activities in the plant had led to striking gaps in knowledge and the introduction of flaws. This paper aims to analyse the exact mechanisms underlying breakdowns in knowledge and to suggest how to prevent re-occurrence. Shannon|s communication theory and activity theory are used for the purpose.

Keywords: nuclear knowledge management; information; activity theory; communication theory; nuclear power plants; NPP; Forsmark nuclear plant; nuclear energy; knowledge breakdown; Sweden; nuclear safety.

DOI: 10.1504/IJNKM.2010.036910

International Journal of Nuclear Knowledge Management, 2010 Vol.4 No.3, pp.220 - 234

Published online: 16 Nov 2010 *

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