The US nuclear industry’s safety record is stellar, in part thanks to NRC regulations that arose from Three Mile Island. But complying with NRC regulations is costly: annual ongoing regulatory costs can range from $7.4 million to $15.5 million per plant and can have significant impact on plants and companies’ profitability—with regulatory costs in some cases exceeding profit margins. But while complying with NRC regulations is necessary, the high costs don’t have to be. Nuclear plants can easily and cost-effectively meet NRC regulations with streamlined emergency preparedness plans that rapidly address events while reducing potential for error.

The 15-Minute Struggle

With fifteen minutes to complete the event notification process, nuclear plants need to be able to respond quickly and without having to worry about making mistakes. But as plants work to comply with the fifteen-minute window, they have to contend with handwritten notification forms, faxes, and following up over phone to verify receipt. Mistakes and hold-ups are all too easy—from handwritten forms being illegible, to harried staff writing the wrong time and date, to something as simple as a paper jam and people not picking up the phone. Unfortunately, this can keep the personnel from being able to truly focus on the issue at hand and respond to the emergency at full-capacity.

A Streamlined, Automated Solution

With Vaporstream, the event notification process can be reduced from fifteen minutes to just a few minutes. Vaporstream streamlines emergency response processes so that energy companies can remain compliant with industry regulations in a rapid, intuitive manner. During a nuclear event, the shift manager no longer has to select the correct notification form and fill it out by hand—now he or she can use a dynamic electronic form that, based on classification, presents the relevant fields and pre-configured lists of recipients to simplify and standardize the process. There’s no risk of paper jams in antiquated machines or a need to make any phone calls to confirm receipt: notifications are sent via secure messaging, email and SMS—depending on the best way to contact the recipient—and provide the sender with real-time delivered/read receipts.

By making it easy to rapidly and securely send out notifications and meet compliance requirements, Vaporstream frees up staff to the more important work—focus on the event at hand. To learn more about how we can help you streamline and standardize your emergency response and reduce costs while staying compliant with NRC regulations download our data sheet here.

Contributor: The Vaporstream Team