IAEA Organizes Schools to Improve National Regulations on Nuclear and Radiation Safety

Regulatory documents define national regulatory strategies and stand as pillars for comprehensive regulatory frameworks. To ensure that national regulations rigorously address all necessary safety aspects of nuclear and radiation activities and are consistent with IAEA and other international safety standards, the IAEA helps Member States to develop or revise safety regulations through a series of Schools of Drafting Regulations. The Schools, supported by funds from the European Commission (EC), are delivered through the IAEA’s technical cooperation programme, and bring together regulatory staff from Member States in a peer forum. International experts in the various regulatory topics being covered provide mentoring, and support is also provided by IAEA Technical Officers. This meeting of expertise and experience ensures the relevant international requirements are fully understood and reflected in thoroughly drafted or revised national regulations.

Through such Schools, the IAEA, together with the EC, helps Member States to address gaps in their regulatory frameworks. The Schools assist safety regulators in developing effective and sustainable regulations in nuclear and radiation safety in accordance with the IAEA’s safety requirements, and, where appropriate, taking into account other requirements such as EC Directives. The Schools aims to help Member States to maintain their regulatory systems in line with advances in the global safety regime.

Each IAEA School of Drafting serves as a forum for information and experience sharing in drafting and revising regulatory documents on nuclear and radiation safety. Participants can compare and examine each other’s regulations and use the knowledge they acquire for the development of their own. Moreover, participants spend a full month working with international experts as well as IAEA specialists who provide technical, legal and regulatory support in the development, updating or revision of national regulations in accordance with IAEA requirements.

The most recent School for Drafting Regulations on Nuclear and Radiation Safety – the third so far – ended this month following four weeks of knowledge sharing, discussion and close mentoring. Participants drafted national regulations based on IAEA standards in the context of their own legislative framework.

This year, 24 participants took part in the School, coming from 19 countries, including Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Montenegro, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Tajikistan, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkey, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.

The next School is anticipated to be held in 2013 for countries in the Asia and the Pacific region, with another planned later for the African and the Latin American and the Caribbean regions. In the future, the Schools are expected to target specific topics areas, such as nuclear waste, occupational radiation safety, and safety and security of radioactive sources.