Third Consultation at National Nuclear Regulator, South Africa (NNR)

February 21st, 2017 — 

AdSTM conducted a third consultation with NNR from February 8 to February 14, 2017 to provide continued assistance to them in the development of a revised inspector qualification program. The consultation was performed as a result of a request by NNR to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (USNRC) as part of the support to South Africa under the IRDP. The consultation was conducted by Dr. Charles Miller and Mr. John Kinneman, and was observed by Eric Stahl from the USNRC Office of International Programs. The main focus of the consultation was to help NNR determine the appropriate mechanism for training NNR staff to achieve qualification to become nuclear power plant inspectors in the future. The consultation took place in the Cape Town office, where the current nuclear power plant reactor inspectors are located, and in the NNR main office in Centurion. It consisted of a series of discussions with NNR management and NPP reactor inspectors and included a trip to the Koeberg Nuclear Power Plant for a site visit and observations of NNR performing selected inspection activities on site. Following the discussions AdSTM will develop a set of recommendations related to the consultation focus on training, and provide a detailed report to NNR. In addition, the AdSTM team had a discussion with NNR related to their acquisition of the regulatory responsibility for radioactive sources and radiation producing machines.