Nuclear safety experts have concluded an eight-day mission to review Spain´s nuclear regulator, the Nuclear Safety Council (CSN). At the request of the Spanish Government, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) assembled a peer-review team of five high-level regulatory experts from four nations and two IAEA staff members. They conducted a follow-up assessment of an Integrated Regulatory Review Service (IRRS) mission that was completed in 2008.
This follow-up IRRS mission finished on 1 February 2011 and examined CSN´s progress in acting upon the recommendations and suggestions made during the 2008 IRRS mission. The team reviewed the areas of significant regulatory changes since that review. Both reviews covered the safety and security regulatory aspects of all facilities and activities in Spain.
IRRS team leader Luis Reyes, Senior Executive of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said, "In 2008, the mission found particular strengths in CSN´s policy, its regulatory framework and its regulatory activities. We made a number of suggestions and recommendations for further improvement of the regulatory framework. CSN should be commended for the significant amount of efforts in addressing all the findings identified in 2008 mission."
About 30 IRRS missions, including three follow-up visits, have been conducted since the IAEA began offering the service in 2006.
Denis Flory, IAEA Deputy Director General for Nuclear Safety and Security, said, "This mission is a clear example of the value of regulatory bodies participating in a senior peer review process offered by the IAEA. A particularly important feature of these IRRS follow-up missions is to assess the effective implementation of the recommendations made. This mission to Spain also clearly demonstrates the mutual interest of IRRS missions: they encourage improvements in the host countries and serve as valuable sources of information for the reviewers themselves and for other regulatory bodies."