A Siting Application Review Workshop was presented on September 8-12, 2014 at Poland’s National Atomic Energy Agency (PAA) in Warsaw, Poland. The Workshop was presented by Dr. David Squarer, Mr. Richard Emch and Dr. Taekmo Shim of the Korean Institute of Nuclear Safety (KINS). This workshop was developed by AdSTM to illustrate how the NRC reviews a siting application. As such it follows the review procedure described in the siting related chapters of the standard review plan (SRP) (NUREG-0800). This Siting Workshop was modified to meet PAA’s needs. Modifications included additional class exercises, simulation exercise of site application review, NRC site application review methodology together with the required manpower, and several presentations by PAA on their approach to addressing the technical issues of the Siting Application Review Workshop.
The workshop was attended by 16 participants. Ten participants were from PAA, two participants from the Polish Institute of Geology-National Research Institute, two participants from the Institute of Geophysics – Polish Academy of Sciences, and two participants from PGE – Polish Energy Group (the State-owned utility and future operator of the NPP). The active participation in the Workshop of the site characterization coordinator at PGE highlighted some of the important siting-related issues that will have to be resolved during the review of the site application.
The energy policy of Poland calls for diversification of its electricity generation (90% of its electricity was generated by coal in 2009), enhancing energy security, and reducing greenhouse gas emission. According to Poland energy plan nuclear energy is expected to generate 16% of Poland’s electricity by 2030. This implies the construction and commissioning of several nuclear units, which PAA will have to review, license, inspect and monitor.