Evaluation of SAMG effectiveness in view of group decision

Abstract

We evaluate the technical and organizational aspects of the severe accident management guideline (SAMG), focusing on the decision-making process in the technical support center (TSC). From the technical aspects, we conclude that the present SAMG is a good tool that can assist the TSC in efficiently managing probable severe accidents. However, we suggest that the clear separation of the emergency operating procedure (EOP) and SAMG, which shifts plant control from the main control room (MCR) to the TSC, might not be an effective framework from an organizational perspective. Studies on organizational behavior demonstrate that a group decision made under a risky situation might be polarized in either a risky or cautious way. We recognize that we cannot be free from the polarization effect since the current SAMG recommends that the TSC evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of strategies to be implemented and choose the best one based on a group decision process. Illustrative examples of accident management under risky conditions are recapitulated from previous studies of the authors and we propose that the SAMG should be more proceduralized to remove this polarization from the decision-making process.