Danish Decommissioning – QualiWare customer for more than 20 years.
Danish Decommissioning (DD) was expected to shut down its operations in 2023. However, in 2018, the Danish Parliament expanded the scope of the business and extended DD's lifespan and its responsibility for handling Denmark's radioactive waste by another 50 years. This has significantly changed how DD runs its business, including a major QualiWare upgrade.
Decommissioning and Nuclear Waste Management
Danish Decommissioning (DD) is undergoing an exciting transformation, and the people working there have been given a challenging new mission. Not only must they continue their original work of completely dismantling the old nuclear facilities on the Danish peninsula, Risø. Now they must also plan for managing Denmark's radioactive waste for a much longer period than they had originally planned for.
This means that DD will be responsible for managing all radioactive waste in Denmark no later than the year 2073, when a final repository must be established somewhere in Denmark. These new tasks have led to a large-scale preparation for construction at Risø, and DD's quality management system in QualiWare has been thoroughly upgraded.
Quality Manager Charlotte Helsted is very excited:
"Danish Decommissioning is an exciting company that is going through a lot of changes and will continue to do so in the future."
When Charlotte joined DD 6 years ago, she was joining a company that was preparing to shut down. Now, instead, it has transformed into a dynamic entity with a lot of activity and development going on.
50 more years
Danish Decommissioning was established in 2003 to dismantle the nuclear facilities at the Risø Atomic Station and handle the radioactive waste from the atomic processes taking place at these facilities, along with radioactive waste generated in the rest of the Danish society.
The Danish government had granted DD 20 years to achieve this goal, and after that, DD was supposed to shut down.
However, as 2023 approached, the work was not completed, and no suitable location had been found to dispose of the radioactive waste.
At the same time, DD was at a crossroads where it did not make sense to update the old quality management system, which had been implemented in QualiWare, and which DD had been using for more than 20 years.
Fortunately, all of this changed when the Danish Parliament in 2018 decided to extend DD's portfolio of tasks by 50 years. This means that DD can now work until 2073.
The New Danish Decommissioning
At the same time as DD's funding was significantly extended, DD's role also changed significantly:
The Danish Parliament decided that DD will not only be responsible for dismantling the nuclear facilities at Risø and handling the radioactive waste from those facilities. DD will also continue to be responsible for handling all of Denmark's radioactive waste from hospitals, laboratories, and businesses until a final repository is established no later than 2073.
This means that DD will evolve from being a decommissioning company to being a nuclear waste management company.
Depositing nuclear waste remains a challenge
Denmark still needs to find an appropriate location for depositing its radioactive waste. Therefore, new storage facilities of approximately 10,000 m2 are being built at Risø, where the radioactive waste from Risø and the rest of Denmark can be stored temporarily until a permanent depositing site is found in Denmark.
QualiWare received a thorough upgrade
When the Danish Parliament extended DD's funding for up to 50 years, DD decided to give the quality management system in QualiWare a thorough update and upgrade.
Charlotte was put in charge of this project. Before that, she was using QualiWare to assist her in her work as an engineer at Risø. But now she got her hands on the system and learned it through and through with the help of QualiWare's consultant.
"Now I work more in the engine room than I used to, and it's fun" Charlotte enthusiastically explains.
User-friendliness above all
As a user, Charlotte had experienced some drawbacks in the system simply because it had not been upgraded for a long time.
She could draw on that experience now as they transitioned to a new version of QualiWare. She had also developed several ideas on how the setup could be made more user-friendly, which is something of a keyword for Charlotte:
"Such a system should be so user-friendly and intuitive that it will be natural for people to use it. And they will have to use it because that's where all our instructions are; That's where all our rules for how we should perform our work are."
DD is ISO9001 certified and subject to significant regulatory requirements.
Her colleagues' response to the new QualiWare version has been very positive:
"It's easier to work with; it's more manageable. And there are more options for finding things" Charlotte says.
QualiWare and the future
Charlotte is pleased with the positive feedback but still has some ideas for how QualiWare can help DD become even better at quality management.
DD faces a challenge many other companies can relate to: Some employees may have important information stored as documents in their desk drawers. Suddenly, this information has been updated several times without others in the organization being aware of it.
"That's why there needs to be some nudging" Charlotte says.
She would like, among other things, for a read and sign module to be activated in QualiWare, where instructions for individual employees can be set up, telling them what they need to read. And then, they simply need to read and sign that they have read each document.
And, of course, development does not stop here:
"We can do much more with the system than we are doing right now. So, as new needs arise, QualiWare makes it easy for us to expand" Charlotte says.
Photo: Danish Decommissioning
D A N S K V E R S I O N
Dansk Dekommissionering – Qualiware-kunde i mere end 20 år.
Dansk Dekommissionering (DD) stod til at skulle lukke i 2023. Men i stedet besluttede Folketinget i 2018 at udvide forretningen og forlænge DD’s levetid og ansvar for Danmarks radioaktive affald med 50 år mere. Det satte skub i en stor udvikling – herunder en solid QualiWare-opgradering.
Dekommissionering og Atom-affaldshåndtering
Dansk Dekommissionering (DD) er i en spændende udvikling: Organisationen har fået 50 år mere til at håndtere Danmarks radioaktive affald i en opgraderet lagerfacilitet. I de første år skal DD desuden færdiggøre arbejdet med at nedtage de gamle nukleare anlæg på den danske halvø, Risø.
Virksomheden har fået til ansvar at håndtere alt radioaktivt affald i Danmark indtil senest 2073 hvor der skal være etableret et slutdepot i Danmark.
De nye opgaver har gjort, at der er kommet fuld gang i forberedelserne til byggeri på Risø, og så har kvalitetsstyringssystemet i QualiWare fået en grundig opgradering.
Kvalitetsansvarlig Charlotte Helsted er begejstret:
”Det er en spændende virksomhed, der forandrer sig rigtig meget, og det kommer den også til i fremtiden”.
Da Charlotte kom til Dansk Dekommissionering for 6 år siden, var det en virksomhed, der var ved at gøre sig klar til at lukke ned. Nu er der i stedet fuld fart på aktivitet og udvikling.
50 år mere
Dansk Dekommissionering blev etableret i 2003 med det formål at nedtage Atomstation Risøs nukleare anlæg, samt håndtere det radioaktive affald fra processen sammen med radioaktivt affald fra det øvrige samfund.
DD havde fået bevilliget 20 år af den danske stat til at nå i mål med det, og herefter var det meningen, at DD skulle lukke.
Men da 2023 nærmede sig, var arbejdet ikke afsluttet, og der var endnu ikke fundet et egnet sted i Danmark til at deponere det radioaktive affald.
Samtidig stod DD i et vadested, hvor det ikke kunne betale sig at opdatere det gamle kvalitetsstyringssystem i QualiWare, som DD havde brugt i 20 år.
Heldigvis ændrede hele denne situation sig, da Folketinget i 2018 besluttede at forlænge DD’s opgaveportefølje med 50 år. Det betyder, at DD nu kan arbejde helt frem til 2073.
Det nye Dansk Dekommissionering
Samtidig med at DD’s bevilling blev betragteligt forlænget, så blev DD’s opgave som virksomhed udvidet:
Folketinget besluttede, at DD fremover ikke blot har ansvaret for at nedtage de nukleare anlæg på Risø og håndtere det radioaktive affald herfra. DD skal også stadig håndtere alt Danmarks radioaktive affald fra hospitaler, laboratorier og virksomheder, indtil et slutdepot er etableret i senest 2073.
Det betyder, at DD vil udvikle sig fra at være en dekommissioneringsvirksomhed til at være en affaldshåndteringsvirksomhed.
Deponering er fortsat en udfordring
Der er endnu ikke blevet fundet et egnet sted i Danmark til at deponere det radioaktive affald. Derfor bliver der nu opført nye lagerfaciliteter på ca. 10.000 m2 på Risø, hvor det radioaktive affald fra Risø og resten af Danmark kan blive midlertidigt opbevaret, indtil der er fundet et varigt deponeringssted i Danmark.
QualiWare fik en solid opgradering
Da Folketinget forlængede DD’s bevilling i 50 år, blev det besluttet, at DD’s kvalitetsstyringssystem i QualiWare skulle have en grundig opdatering og opgradering. Det kom Charlotte til at stå i spidsen for.
Hun havde indtil kort tid forinden været almindelig bruger af QualiWare som ingeniør på Risø. Men nu fik hun for alvor fingrene ned i systemet og lærte det grundigt at kende med hjælp fra QualiWares konsulent.
”Nu arbejder jeg mere i maskinrummet, end jeg har gjort tidligere. Og det synes jeg faktisk er sjovt, ” fortæller Charlotte entusiastisk.
Brugervenlighed frem for alt
Som bruger havde Charlotte oplevet nogle uhensigtsmæssigheder i systemet – simpelthen fordi det ikke var blevet opdateret længe. Den erfaring kunne hun nu trække på, da de skulle over på en ny QualiWare version.
Hun havde også udviklet en række idéer til, hvordan opsætningen kunne blive mere brugervenlig; et nøgleord for Charlotte:
”Sådan et system skal være så brugervenligt og så intuitivt, så folk får lyst til at bruge det. Det er jo ret vigtigt, at folk bruger det. For det er derinde alle vores instrukser ligger. Det er dér alle vores regler for, hvordan vi skal udføre vores arbejde, ligger.”
DD er ISO9001-certificeret og underlagt væsentlige myndighedskrav.
Responsen på den nye QualiWare version har været meget positiv fra kollegernes side:
”Det er nemmere at arbejde med, det er mere overskueligt. Og der er flere muligheder for at søge ting frem” fortæller Charlotte.
QualiWare og fremtiden
Charlotte er godt tilfreds med den positive tilbagemelding, men hun har stadig en del idéer til, hvordan QualiWare kan hjælpe DD til at blive endnu bedre til kvalitetsstyring:
DD har en udfordring, som mange andre virksomheder kan nikke genkendende til: Nogle ansatte kan have en tendens til at have vigtig information liggende som dokumenter i skrivebordsskuffen - og pludselig er denne information blevet opdateret flere gange, uden at andre i organisationen ved det.
”Derfor skal der noget nudging til” siger Charlotte.
Hun ønsker sig blandt andet, at der skal aktiveres et læse- og signeringsmodul i QualiWare, hvor der skal sættes instrukser op for de enkelte medarbejdere: Hvad det er, de skal læse. Og så skal de simpelthen læse og signere for hvert enkelt dokument.
Og udviklingen slutter selvfølgelig ikke her:
”Jeg er helt sikker på, at systemet kan meget mere, end vi bruger lige nu. Så når der kommer nye behov, er det jo rart, at man kan udvide” siger Charlotte.
Foto: Dansk Dekommissionering
