IAEA 52nd General Conference Senior Regulators

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IAEA 52nd General ConferenceSenior Regulators
Meeting3 October, 2008HISTORY AND CURRENT
STATUS OFTHE IAEA SAFETY STANDARDS

• K. Mrabit
• Head, Safety and Security Coordination Section
• Department of Nuclear Safety and Security

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Contents

• History of IAEA Safety Standards
• Current status of IAEA Safety Standards
• Vision and strategies for IAEA Safety Standards

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History of IAEA Safety Standards
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Safety Functions
IAEA Safety Functions (Article III.A.6)
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History
Radioactive Waste Disposal into the Ground
Safe Transport of Radioactive Material
BSS for Radiation Protection
Safe Handling of Radioisotopes
1958
1961
1962
1965
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History (contd)
1958 - 1973

• Bottom-up approach
• Collection of experience in safety practices
  and guides
• Identification of the requirements

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History (contd)
RADWASS Programme
NUSS Programme
Basic Safety Standards
1974
1988
1996
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History (contd)
1974 - 1996

• Four structured programmes
• Bottom-up approach
• Issuance of three Safety Fundamentals

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History (contd)
Unified Safety Fundamentals
Nuclear Safety Department
2006
1996
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History (contd)
1996 - 2008

• 1996 - Establishment of the Department of NS
• Harmonized processes involving the Commission and
  the four Committees and
• Preparation of an overall structure of Safety
  Standards.
• 2006 - Unified Safety Fundamentals beginning
  of a top-down approach
• 2008 - Roadmap on the long term structure and
  format of SR approved by CSS

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Current Status of IAEA Safety Standards
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Status of the IAEA Safety Standards

• Safety Standards are
• Non binding on Member States but may be adopted
  by them
• Binding for IAEAs own activities
• Binding on States in relation to operations
  assisted by the IAEA or States wishing to enter
  into project agreements with IAEA

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Safety Standards Categories

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Safety Standards Categories (Contd)
Fundamental safety objective and principles for
protecting people and environment
Requirements that must met to ensure protection
of people and environment shall
Recommended ways of meeting the requirements
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Commission Committees
Commission on Safety Standards (CSS)
Nuclear Safety Standards Committee (NUSSC)
Radiation Safety Standards Committee (RASSC)
Waste Safety Standards Committee (WASSC)
Transport Safety Standards Committee (TRANSSC)
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Commission on Safety Standards

• Standing body of senior government officials
  holding national responsibilities for
  establishing standards and other regulatory
  documents relevant to nuclear, radiation,
  transport and waste safety
• Overview role with regard to the Agencys safety
  standards and provides advice to the Director
  General on the overall programme on regulatory
  aspects of safety

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Terms of Reference of theCommission on Safety
Standards

• The functions of the CSS are
• To provide guidance on the approach and strategy
  for establishing the Agencys SSs, particularly
  in order to ensure coherence and consistency
  between them
• To resolve issues referred to it by the
  committees

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Terms of Reference of theCommission on Safety
Standards (Contd)

• The functions of the CSS are (Contd)
• To endorse the texts of the SF SRs for the BoG
  approval and SGs to be issued under the authority
  of the DG and
• To provide general advice and guidance on SSs
  issues, relevant regulatory issues and SSs and
  related programmes, including those for promoting
  the worldwide application of the standards.

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Safety Standards Committees

• Standing bodies of senior experts, established by
  the DDG-NS
• They advise the DDG-NS on the overall programme
  for the development, review and revision of
  standards

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Terms of Reference of theSafety Standards
Committees

• To advise on the approach to the development of
  SSs, and to advise on priorities
• To review proposals and to approve the DPPs prior
  to their submission to the CSS
• To review draft SSs, considering the value of
  each draft standard and the needs of users of the
  standards
• To approve the text of draft SSs prior to their
  submission to Member States for comments and
  again prior to their submission to the CSS

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Process Flow for the Development of IAEA Safety
Standards
Outline and work plan Prepared by the
Secretariat Review by the committees and
Commission on Safety Standards
Drafting or revising of safety standard by the
Secretariat and consultants
Review by the safety standards committee(s)
Member States
Endorsement by Commission on Safety Standards

• SF and SRs approved by BoG
• SGs approved by DG

Approval by the IAEAs Director General or BoG
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Current Status of the Safety Standards

• Since the establishment of the Safety Standards
  Series
• Safety Fundamentals issued in 2006
• Safety Requirements issued from 1996 to 2008 (the
  last two still to be issued)
• In total 86 safety standards published
• Updated Status of Safety Standards on the web
  site http//www-ns.iaea.org/standards/status.pdf
• Includes hyperlinks to the published safety
  standards in official languages
• Includes general information and a link to the
  IAEA Safety Glossary

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The Global Nuclear Safety Regime
International Legal InstrumentsConventions and
Codes of Conduct
IAEA Safety Reviews and Services
IAEA Safety Standards
Global Knowledge Network
Global Experts Community
National and Regional Safety Infrastructure
Regulation
Operation
Research and Education
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Provisions for the applicationof standards
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Application of Safety Standards (Contd)

• A crucial element now is to enhance the
  effectiveness efficiency of the feedback
  mechanisms in place to collect and use feedback
  from the application of the SSs

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Application of Safety Standards (Contd)

• Experience in the use by Member States
• Of the IAEA Safety Standards
• Will be presented by Mr. Lacoste
• Chairman of
• The Commission on Safety Standards

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Vision and Strategies for IAEA SSs
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Vision for the IAEA Safety Standards

• Vision
• Complete, consistent, coherent, integrated and
  user-friendly safety series with a manageable
  number of publications
• Sustainable continuous improvement system through
  effective feedback from application of SSs
• Global Reference used worldwide by Member States
  to deliver a harmonized high level of safety for
  protecting people and the environment from the
  harmful effects of ionizing radiation

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Commission of Eminent Persons

• National regulators should continue to strengthen
  and harmonize their safety standards in
  parallel, and in close consultation with national
  regulators, the IAEA should continue to
  consolidate and promote global nuclear safety
  standards

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Commission of Eminent Persons (Contd)

• The IAEA should expand its highly successful
  programme of international safety reviews and
  encourage peer reviews of national regulators
• These safety reviews should also be an integral
  feature of the national reports of the parties to
  the nuclear safety conventions

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Commission of Eminent Persons (Contd)

• over time, states should enter into binding
  agreements to adhere to effective safety
  standards to be subject to international peer
  reviews

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Strategies

• Clear categories of safety standards consistent
  with Member States needs and use
• Clear, logical and integrated structure based on
  a unified philosophy of safety
• Clear scope in terms of areas covered and level
  of detail in each category

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Strategies (Contd)

• Consensus at the highest level on what
  constitutes a high level of safety and the
  related best international practices
• User - friendliness
• Manageable number of safety standards

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Strategies (Contd)

• Transparency and rigour of the process
• Effective feedback mechanisms
• Harmonized terminology
• Effective knowledge management
• Promotion of the safety standards

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Structure of the Long Term Set of Safety
Requirements
Specific Safety Requirements
General Safety Requirements
Vol.1 Governmental and Regulatory Framework
1. Site Evaluation for Nuclear Installations
Vol.2 Leadership and Management for Safety
B. Design of Nuclear Power Plants
2. Safety of Nuclear Power Plants 2.1 Design
and Construction 2.2 Commissioning and Operation
Vol.3 Radiation Protection and Safety of
Radiation Sources
Vol.4 Safety Assessment
3. Safety of Research Reactors
Vol.5 Predisposal Management of Radioactive Waste
4. Safety of Nuclear Fuel Cycle Facilities
Vol.6 Decommissioning and Termination of
Activities
5. Safety of Radioactive Waste Disposal Facilities
Vol.7 Emergency Preparedness and Response
6. Safe Transport of Radioactive Material
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Whats next?

• Are these strategies and conditions sufficient
  to envisage the worldwide de facto acceptance and
  application of the IAEA Safety Standards ?

Suggestions for further improvement will be
highly appreciated
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Thank you for your attention