26 Might 2023
Members of the International Nuclear Regulators’ Association (INRA) have released a joint statement affirming their commitment to perform with each other on generic design and style assessment and licensing of smaller modular reactor (SMR) technologies.
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(Image: CNSC)
SMRs are getting viewed as by nations across the globe and are “increasingly the key concentrate of quite a few nations”, the association mentioned, but the “dangers and challenges” related with such technologies have to have to be addressed.
“INRA members recognise the prospective security overall performance possibilities that SMR technologies could provide and the essential part of regulators in making sure that these technologies are deployed safely, securely and constant with robust non‑proliferation needs, in nations that want to adopt them.
“INRA members whose nations are pursuing new nuclear programmes are committed to proactively collaborate on generic reactor design and style assessments and licensing and help national regulatory evaluations in (re)embarking nations with new nuclear ambitions. These INRA members will seek to establish bi‑lateral and multi‑lateral arrangements to allow the provision of guidance and guidance and the sharing of regulatory evaluations in help of their national regulatory evaluations, lifecycle knowledge and sources,” the regulators mentioned.
“Maximising the worth of collaborative reactor design and style evaluation needs nations that want to adopt SMRs to commit to distinct SMR technologies on equivalent timeframes and for vendors to create their security evaluation and reactor styles to a level appropriate for regulatory assessment. These INRA members commit to undertake danger informed, proportionate and effectively targeted evaluations, and to dedicate the resource expected to provide at pace when technologies choices are taken.”
Common reactor styles will facilitate effective regulatory evaluations, the regulators mentioned, even though additional perform will be expected to address nearby things such as siting and environmental challenges. These will stay the duty of the national regulatory physique, alongside the ultimate selection on the acceptability for deployment of a reactor design and style in its sovereign state.
INRA expressed its help for the IAEA’s Nuclear Harmonisation and Requirements Initiative, saying its members “recognise the worth of an international, coherent framework for info sharing, whilst noting the prospective challenges and sensible hurdles facing timely pursuit of an international pre-licensing procedure. Additionally, INRA members think about that independent, national regulatory evaluations ought to not be replaced by an international strategy.”
“In help of a extra worldwide strategy to new reactor evaluation, INRA members think about regulatory collaboration by means of bi/multi-lateral agreements, with suitable input from business, the optimum way to maximise the efficiency of evaluations, whilst emphasising the critical part and duty of national regulators to assure, by means of the licensing procedure and continued regulatory supervision, the highest requirements of nuclear security, safety and non‑proliferation when contemplating new styles such as SMRs and sophisticated nuclear technologies.
“INRA members are prepared to help a collaborative strategy for the regulatory assessments of SMR technologies in the most effective and efficient way.”
INRA’s nine member nations are Canada, France, Germany, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Spain, Sweden, the UK and the USA.
Researched and written by Planet Nuclear News
