The Spanish Nuclear Safety Council (CSN) has participated in the thirty-fourth Regulatory Information Conference (RIC), which has been held virtually from March 8 to 10. This event, organized by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), was attended by its acting president, Javier Dies, and the commissioners Francisco Castejón, Pilar Lucio and Elvira Romera, representing the CSN, as well as other members of the organization.

This international conference is a forum for the exchange of information and experiences and, in this online edition, around 3,000 participants from 30 countries have gathered, according to data from the organizers.

During his opening speech, the chairman of the NRC, Christopher T. Hanson, alluded to the situation in Ukraine and shared with the attendees his concern about the safety of nuclear facilities in the country. The NRC chairman highlighted his agency's commitment along with the US government to closely monitor the situation and showed his solidarity and commitment to continuously supporting the regulatory body and the people of Ukraine.

The NRC´s chairman focused his opening speech at the conference on the concept of trust in regulatory bodies, which, based on recognized legitimacy and responsibilities, should contribute to trust in public institutions. "The obligation to be independent is an imperative for efficiency and public trust," said Hanson, highlighting, in this regard, the importance of providing quality information to the public about risk, especially in the face of misinformation and disinformation circulating widely. Likewise, he emphasized the importance of the regulatory process, which must provide a predictable and consistent framework, based on objectivity and methodologies well known and transparent. With this objective, the NRC has been addressing a transformation initiative for a few years that also seeks to optimize and make resources and processes more flexible in order to be able to adapt with guarantees to a technological scenario that is constantly changing.

Technical sessions, panel discussions and presentations

The RIC program was divided into technical sessions, panel discussions and presentations on current issues for the regulators, the administration and the industry, such as knowledge management, digital instrumentation, regulation for nuclear emergencies, spent fuel safety, long-term operation and safety culture or the lessons learned from the pandemic.

Several special sessions were included in the conference dedicated to risk-informed regulation, gender equality and the decommissioning of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

During the technical sessions, topics related to the regulation of advanced reactors, new nuclear fuel technologies and designs, cybersecurity, innovation in medical applications of nuclear energy, small modular reactors (SMR), physical protection, planning and response to nuclear emergencies, decommissioning of nuclear power plants and management of radioactive waste were addressed.

The US regulatory body has made the information available to the public on its website www.nrc.gov.