A delegation of the Spanish Nuclear Safety Council (CSN), led by Commissioner Pilar Lucio, has attended the 42nd meeting of the Committee on Nuclear Regulatory Activities (CNRA) of the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA), belonging to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which has taken place in Paris, on December 2nd and 3rd.

The Director-General of the NEA, William D. Magwood, informed during the opening of the meeting about the most recent activities and organizational changes within the framework of the international agency and announced upcoming events of potential interest to the regulatory authorities represented in the Committee.

The meeting, chaired by Petteri Tiippana, focused on a strategic discussion about the future of the CNRA committee. Specifically, the review and definition of the mission and vision of the CNRA, its future priorities and its governance and challenges for the future were addressed. Possible improvements in the operation and internal communication were raised and progress was made in the definition of topics of interest and their respective priorities, for the future work of the activities depending on this Committee. These strategic discussions will continue during the next committee meeting, scheduled for June 2020, at least.

CSN Commissioner Pilar Lucio wanted to recognize the “reflection effort within the Committee focused on improving the internal coordination and the efficiency of its working groups, as well as the identification of specific actions that will maximize the usefulness of the products arising from the activities under the committee” for the regulatory bodies, “who are not only the participants in these activities but also the main beneficiaries of their results”.

In addition, the CSN Commissioner had the opportunity to hold exchanges with the Director-General of the NEA, William Magwood, and with the president of the CNRA, Petteri Tiippana, Director General of STUK, the Finnish regulator.

As usual, the main Committee reviewed the progress of the activities and the working groups that carry out their activities under the CNRA. The representatives from each group had the opportunity to present their progress and to propose new activities and reports for approval. In particular, presentations by the working groups on safety culture, on inspection practices, on operational experience, on digital instrumentation and control, on codes and standards and on public communication were included. CSN experts actively participate in all these groups and, additionally, lead the management of two of them.

The Committee meeting also addressed a thematic session dedicated to the preparation of regulatory bodies for the closure and decommissioning of nuclear power plants. Regarding this issue, several countries (Japan, Sweden, Switzerland, the United States and Slovakia) made presentations addressing the situation of this issue in their region, actions from the regulatory point of view and several possible follow-up activities were discussed.

The CNRA is an international committee composed of representatives of the regulatory bodies of OECD member countries. It was created in 1989 to guide the NEA program concerning the regulation, licensing and inspection of nuclear installations with regard to safety.

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