The European Nuclear Safety Regulators Group (ENSREG) has held, between yesterday and today, its forty-second meeting. The president of the Nuclear Safety Council (CSN), Josep Mª Serena i Sender, and the technical director for Nuclear Safety, Rafael Cid, have participated in this meeting, held through videoconference

The second Topical Peer Review (TPR-II)

After the welcome and introduction to the attendees by the current president, Marta Žiaková, the meeting began with the analysis of the second Topical Peer Review (TPR) on fire protection in nuclear power plants. In this sense, Patrick Majerus, president of ENSREG's Transparency Group (WG3), has presented a proposal on how to achieve greater stakeholder participation in this TPR. Likewise, the proposals of the Western European Nuclear Regulators Association (WENRA) regarding the scope of the facilities to be covered by the TPR have been discussed.

Subsequently, the National Stress Tests and Action Plans outside the EU, specifically the missions in Turkey and Belarus, have been discussed. On this last case, the members of the group have thoroughly evaluated the preliminary report on Belarus, in which the CSN was involved.

Progress in the activities of the Working Groups

During the meeting, information was also exchanged on the progress made by the working groups in the areas of nuclear safety, waste management and transparency, and it was highlighted that, from now on, the responsibilities on international cooperation that fell in the late WG4 will be reviewed among all current groups.

In addition, this meeting has allowed representatives of the nuclear regulatory authorities to discuss other relevant topics for the association, such as the development of the program of the new Instrument for Cooperation in Nuclear Safety, which will cover the period between 2021 and 2027 , the analysis of the sixth ENSREG report to the European Council and Parliament, which includes the progress of this group or the approval to include the United Kingdom as an observer in ENSREG at the end of April.

ENSREG work program 2021-2023

On the other hand, all the participants have been able to review and comment on the ENSREG Work Program for the 2021-2023 period, which highlights the support for the continuation of the implementation of the Nuclear Safety Directive and the Waste Directive or the advice to the European Commission and Member States on nuclear safety and radioactive waste management. Moreover, another objective in this new stage is to facilitate the participation of Member States in IAEA verification missions and the definition of National Action Plans for Stress Tests, in addition to improving the transparency of the group.

Finally, it has been agreed among ENSREG members that, due to the Covid-19 health situation that continues to affect member countries, this year's ENSREG conference will be postponed to 2022.

ENSREG is a high-level advisory group created in 2007 at the request of the European Commission to raise recommendations to the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament on Nuclear Safety and Nuclear Waste Management. The CSN participates in its meetings as well as in ENSREG working groups dedicated to the areas of Nuclear Safety, Radioactive Waste and Spent Fuel Management, International Cooperation and Communication and Transparency of the regulatory body.

 

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