News from 2019

From December 8-12, 2019, the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (U.S. NRC) International Regulatory Development Partnership (IRDP) conducted a workshop on the “Fundamentals of Reactor Regulation & Licensing Process” for the Arab Network of Nuclear Regulators (ANNuR). The workshop was hosted by Jordan’s nuclear regulatory body, the Energy and Minerals Regulatory Commission (EMRC), at its headquarters located in Amman, Jordan. Participants included officials representing the nuclear regulatory bodies of Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, the Kingdom of Saudi...
From November 18-22, 2019, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s International Regulatory Development Partnership (IRDP) conducted a workshop on “Nuclear Power Plant Design and Construction Codes and Standards” in Bangkok, Thailand. The workshop was hosted by the Office of Atoms for Peace (OAP). Participants included staff from the OAP, the Thailand Institute of Nuclear Technology (TINT), the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT), and Suranaree University of Technology (SUT).During the workshop, IRDP instructors Mr. Bob Gramm and Mr. Gene Imbro addressed the following topics...
From November 18-22, 2019, the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (U.S. NRC) International Regulatory Development Partnership (IRDP) conducted a workshop on “Research and Test Reactor (RTR) Emergency Preparedness (EP)” for the Forum of Nuclear Regulatory Bodies of Africa (FNRBA). The Ghanaian Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NRA), an FNRBA member, hosted the IRDP workshop at its headquarters located in Accra, Ghana. Participants included nuclear regulatory officials from six African countries with varying responsibilities within their organizations including: licensing, inspection,...
During November 11- 15, 2019, Mr. Eric Stahl, Dr. Sunil Weerakkody, and Mr. Glenn Kelly from the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (U.S. NRC) International Regulatory Development Partnership (IRDP) program participated in the “China-US Workshop on Risk-Informed Nuclear Safety”.  The workshop was hosted by the Chinese Nuclear Regulator, the National Nuclear Safety Administration (NNSA), in Beijing, ChinaDr. Sunil Weerakkody, US NRC, and Mr. Glenn Kelly, AdSTM, presented on topics that included probabilistic risk assessments (PRAs); and risk-informed regulations, guidance, and...
From October 7 - 10, 2019, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (USNRC) International Regulatory Development Partnership (IRDP) instructors, Mr. Bill Cook and Mr. Bob Gramm, provided training on the USNRC resident inspector protocols and facilitated a benchmarking between the USNRC resident and the National Commission for Nuclear Activities Control (CNCAN) site inspector practices.  CNCAN staff responsible for site inspections and quality assurance, and staff from the Cernavoda Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) licensee, the National Society Nuclearelectrica, participated in the first-of-a-...
During the week of August 26, 2019, Mr. David Skeen of the U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), Dr. Charles Miller and Mr. Mark Tonacci of AdSTM;; and Mr. Peter Hughes, representing the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), provided consultation to the Polish nuclear regulator, the Panstowowa Agencja Atomiskyki (PAA) in Warsaw, Poland. This consultation was focused on PAA’s use of their licensing process in simulating a design review using documents from reactor applications in other countries. The PAA staff performed the simulated review in teams focused on specific parts of the...
From August 19-22, 2019, the United States (US) Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) International Regulatory Development Partnership (IRDP) conducted a workshop on “Research and Test Reactor Emergency Preparedness (EP)” in Bangkok, Thailand. The workshop was hosted by the Office of Atoms for Peace (OAP). The audience included nuclear regulatory staff whose responsibilities encompass various aspects of research reactor oversight related to environmental monitoring, nuclear safety, safeguards, radiation protection, and license review.IRDP instructors, Mr. Rich Holm and Dr. Steve Reese,...
From July 22 – 25, 2019, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (USNRC) International Regulatory Development Partnership (IRDP) instructors, Mr. John Kinneman and Dr. Charlie Miller, provided training on Assessment of Events at Nuclear Power Plants (NPP) including Root Cause Analysis for members of the Romanian Nuclear Regulator, the National Commission for Nuclear Activities Control (CNCAN), and the Cernavoda Nuclear Power Plant licensee, the National Society Nuclearelectrica. The workshop was hosted by Nuclearelectrica at their training center located in Cernavoda, Romania, which is co-...
From July 15 – 19, 2019, Mr. Rich Holm, representing the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (US NRC) International Regulatory Development Partnership (IRDP) program, participated in a joint International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety (KINS) workshop on Safety Evaluation of Research Reactors. The workshop was held at the International Nuclear Safety School (INSS) of KINS in Daejeon, Republic of Korea. The audience included regulatory bodies and technical support organizations from the Arab Network of Nuclear Regulators (ANNuR), the Asian Nuclear...
From June 18 – 21, 2019, Ms. Haimanot Yilma of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and Mr. Mel Fields of Advanced Systems Technology and Management (AdSTM) participated in an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) sponsored workshop to discuss the draft IAEA Technical Document (TECDOC) publication entitled “Case Studies: Experiences of member States in Building a Regulatory Framework for the Oversight of New Nuclear Power Plants”; and to collect additional information insights from other member states’ experiences and practices. The meeting was attended by 41 participants...