From April 4-8, 2016, AdSTM staff conducted an IRDP workshop on Research and Test Reactor (RTR) regulation at the offices of the National Commission of Nuclear Activities Control (CNCAN) in Bucharest, Romania. The audience was composed of CNCAN regulators, operators of the TRIGA® SSR - 14 MW and TRIGA® ACPR research reactors at the Institute for Nuclear Research (ICN), whose responsibility encompasses various aspects of research reactor oversight including inspection, program management, emergency response and security.
Over the four-day workshop, Adstm staff, Mark Trump, Steve Reese, and Tammy Way provided instruction and exercises that focused on the current regulatory approach for RTRs in the United States (U.S.) including inspection programs, initial licensing, license renewal, license amendments, emergency planning, security, safeguards, facility modifications, operator licensing, and enforcement. The course was intended to provide both Romanian RTR regulators and operators with a description of the approach the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission takes for RTR regulation. Differences between this and the current approach taken by CNCAN were found to be minimal, with the single exception being in the area of how changes to facilities are implemented. Participation was exceptional and energetic, particularly in areas related to modifications to facilities and age management issues. Both CNCAN and ICN provided high marks on the efficacy of the workshop and requested to receive the RTR Inspections and Inspector Qualification Program workshop, the second RTR workshop in this serious, in FY2017.