Identification of Critical Risk Factors for Nuclear Power Projects in India using Risk FMEA

Abstract

Nuclear power is a reliable, do not have carbon emissions and is a most concentrated form of energy. The major drawback is a large amount of nuclear wastes are generated and disposal of these wastes is a major challenge. There is huge demand for electrical energy to accelerate the growth in the field of industrialization, agriculturization and urbanization. To overcome the crisis of electrical energy, large numbers of nuclear power projects are being under construction. Uncertainty is one of the major inherent difficulties in Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) projects. NPP projects are more risky. This paper identifies critical risk factors in NPP projects in India. It is observed that identified risk factors are mainly related to construction, organization, design, government bodies, natural disasters and social issues, etc. It is observed that these risks are spread through the whole project life cycle and many risks occur at more than one phase. With identified factors a survey by experts has carried to collect responses related to probability of occurrence, impact on project & detection difficulties of the risks. This analysis facilitated to scrutinize the high probability factors. Identifying and mitigating project risks are crucial steps in managing successful projects. This article proposes the Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) format to quantify and analyze project risks. The new technique is labelled the project risk FMEA (RFMEA).