The Spanish Nuclear Safety Council (CSN) has approved its International Relations Strategy for the period 2020-2025. The document defines the four strategic objectives of the regulator that frame its international activity in accordance with its functions and that define the lines to follow. These are the promotion of international activity, the representation of the CSN abroad, relations with peer regulators and the returns from its international activity.

The international activity of the CSN is carried out, on the one hand, in the multilateral level –through international conventions, organisations, institutions and fora– and, on the other, in the bilateral level, through specific cooperation agreements, of a technical nature, for collaboration with peer regulatory bodies. The international activity of the CSN has its origin in the functions legally assigned to the regulator, the obligations of Spain and other international commitments. However, according to Alfredo de los Reyes, head of the CSN's International Relations area, "the institution's main source of international activities is the result of the importance of maintaining a high level of technical knowledge so that the regulator staff can develop their work according to international standards and best practices”.

The intense international activity carried out by the CSN constitutes a strength of the institution, since it allows for constantly updating and increasing knowledge and work practices, thanks both to cooperation with its counterparts in other countries and through international institutions, all this with the aim of maintaining the highest levels in the fields of nuclear safety and radiological protection.

CSN´s president, Juan Carlos Lentijo, with extensive international experience after his time working at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) where he served as Deputy Director General Director and head of its Department of Nuclear Safety, highlighted that "the work of the CSN in this regard places it as one of the most relevant international references in the matter”. He highlighted also the “enormous usefulness of this strategy document as a tool capable of providing coherence to all the actions that the regulator carries out in this regard and can maintain itself as a reference in its field”.

The 90% of the regulator's international activities are carried out by the members of its technical staff. For this reason, given its characteristics as a body with a high technical specialization in which many of its workers participate in activities of an international nature, the CSN's international relations strategy applies to all levels throughout the organisation: its governing bodies, the technical staff and the different areas of  the body.

As a representative sample of international activity, in the last two years most of the CSN's international activity has been carried out within the framework of the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (31%) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (14%), while the activities covered by the institutions of the European Union accounted for 10% of the total. The rest of the international activity is carried out in the bilateral sphere, in international conventions and in international regulators’ fora.

International activity was affected by the pandemic during 2020 and 2021, years in which practically all meetings were virtual. In this period, the CSN participated in a total of 414 international activities. The volume of meetings increased by 36% in 2021, after the first year of the pandemic, during which the regulator's activity in this area not only didn´t cease, but even increased compared to previous years. Face-to-face activity is currently being resumed, since, according to Lentijo, "close contact with international organizations and our counterparts is necessary".

The international relations strategy is in line with the current Strategic Plan of the Spanish Nuclear Safety Council and, consequently, with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The guarantee of compliance with the international relations strategy is carried out in two aspects; through the CSN Annual Work Plan and through a specific International Strategy Monitoring Committee.

*Check here the glossary of technical terms*