Waste Management Lifecycle Through the Lens of Environmental Safety Culture: A Course Toward Excellence

The human factor remains the key cause of industrial incidents — in the nuclear industry, this metric can reach up to 95%. Having modern equipment and a certified environmental management system (e.g., ISO 14001) does not in itself guarantee zero violations. A management system is a set of rules, and it is the safety culture that enables the integration of people into these rules, transforming formal requirements into conscious actions by every employee.

During the presentation, experts analyze how to transform the waste management approach through the lens of environmental safety culture, combining theoretical sustainable development concepts with practical case studies from Novovoronezh NPP.

Integrating Environmental Requirements into Contractor Operations

Contractor activities represent one of the most complex intersections between management systems and real-world operational practices. Novovoronezh NPP implemented a pilot project that streamlined this process starting right from the procurement stage.

Additional environmental protection requirements are now included directly in the terms of reference. Before accessing the site, the contractor is required to provide a waste generation schedule and removal schemes as part of the work execution plan. Station environmental specialists verify these data in advance for compliance with established standards. This makes it possible to clearly delineate waste ownership, prevent exceeding limits, and consequently avoid penalty fees that impact the company's financial performance.

Visual waste management diagrams were developed for contractors' frontline personnel and posted directly at work sites. The diagrams visualize exactly where (into which container) a worker must place rags, scrap metal, or electrode stubs, who is responsible for it, and where the waste goes next. This visualization helps personnel without deep environmental expertise flawlessly fulfill requirements at their workplaces.

Optimizing Industrial Waste Management

Fostering a safety culture directly leads to process optimization and cost reduction. The presentation examines in detail the approach to optimizing the handling of paints and coatings and thermal insulation.

For example, during maintenance involving paints and coatings, contractors face fire safety restrictions regarding on-site storage volumes. The implemented procedure allows using small containers for daily tasks and returning them to the warehouse for reusable handling. Upon completion of work, both small and large containers are returned. This significantly reduces the volume of Hazard Class III–IV waste requiring expensive treatment.

Another illustrative example is working with removed thermal insulation (slag wool), which is classified as dust-generating carcinogenic waste. Together with contractors, a process for compacting insulation mats directly at the dismantling site using a mobile press was introduced. As a result, the waste no longer generates dust, fire risks and respiratory exposure for personnel are reduced, and transport costs for hauling compacted material to the landfill are reduced nearly ninefold.

Environmental Safety Architecture and Expanding Beyond the Facility Perimeter

The environmental safety architecture rests on four pillars: technological capability, management systems, qualified personnel, and safety culture. The latter is financially the least costly, yet requires constant commitment from leaders and employees. A facility's maturity in this domain can be assessed on a scale from pathological (ignoring requirements) to generative (a shared safety mindset).

A mature culture is not confined within the facility fence. The speakers emphasize the importance of engaging employees' families and residents of host communities. For instance, in the station's host city, a joint program with Tatneft was launched to collect used car tires from the public, enabling over 46 tons of waste to be sent for recycling over two years, eliminating their accumulation in garage cooperatives.

In addition, students from relevant universities are engaged in analyzing the morphological composition of waste. Practical sorting and analysis of municipal solid waste dispel myths regarding the presence of radioactive waste in municipal refuse and foster conscious environmental thinking among young people.

What You Will Learn from This Presentation

• How to stipulate waste management requirements in contracts with contractors and eliminate environmental fines?
• How workplace visualization helps reduce personnel errors during source-separated waste collection?
• How packaging optimization and waste compaction significantly decrease transport and environmental costs?
• What barriers hinder the development of an environmental safety culture among management and frontline personnel?
• How to organize environmental initiatives outside the facility perimeter to enhance community loyalty and responsibility?