Institute of Nuclear Power Operations
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The Institute of Nuclear Power Operations (INPO) is an organization established by the U.S. nuclear power industry in response to recommendations by the Kemeny Commission Report [1], following the investigation of the Three Mile Island Unit 2 event [2] [3] [4]. INPO sets performance objectives, criteria, and guidelines industry-wide for nuclear power plant operations, and is intended to promote operational excellence and improve the sharing of operational experience between nuclear power plants. INPO is funded entirely by the U.S. nuclear industry.
INPO conducts plant evaluations at nuclear sites and identifies both strengths and areas for improvement which are intended to be shared with other nuclear sites as a method to share best practices and common weaknesses. The results of INPO plant evaluations are not shared with the public, and any related information shared within the nuclear industry does not typically include the name of the plant. INPO assigns a score between one and five to each nuclear site following the evaluation, where an "INPO 1" is the most favorable score, and an "INPO 5" is an indicator of a nuclear site with significant operational problems.
INPO also performs and publishes event reviews of significant nuclear industry events that are shared with nuclear plants in order to prevent similar events. Similar to plant evaluation results, event reviews are not intended to be shared with the public. (The unapproved public release to the New York Times of the March 2002 Davis-Besse reactor head boric acid corrosion event by an unknown person is not typical of the organization or the industry. The release of the Davis-Besse event report was the act of a whistleblower who believed that INPO and the industry were downplaying the significance of the event. The Davis-Besse event is widely regarded as a failure of INPO and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for not identifying the plant's management and operational weaknesses which led to the event occurrence [5].)
INPO has been credited by many knowledgeable people in the U.S. nuclear industry with the improved capacity factors of nuclear power plants within the United States.
INPO is a member of the World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO) [6].
The headquarters of INPO is located at 700 Galleria Parkway, Atlanta, GA. While it does maintain a website, it is for the private use of members and is not publicly accessible.
