International Conference on the Challenges Faced by Technical and Scientific Support Organizations (TSOs) in Enhancing Nuclear Safety and Security: Ensuring Effective and Sustainable Expertise

15 Oct 2018, 09:00 → 18 Oct 2018, 18:00 Europe/Brussels

Benoit De Boeck (Bel V)

Background

The International Conference on the Challenges Faced by Technical and Scientific Support Organizations in Enhancing Nuclear Safety and Security: Ensuring Effective and Sustainable Expertise to be held in Brussels, Belgium, from 15 to 18 October 2018 will continue the tradition established by the three preceding conferences on this subject, which were held, respectively, in Beijing, China (2014), in Tokyo, Japan (2010) and in Aix-en-Provence, France (2007). Like these earlier conferences, the forthcoming one will play a vital part in the national and international efforts made to ensure the effectiveness of nuclear and radiation safety and security regulatory systems and will focus, in particular, on prerequisites and ways for maintaining and strengthening the actions of technical and scientific support organizations (TSOs) in supporting the enhancement of nuclear and radiation safety and security worldwide in particular through the IAEA TSO Forum.

It was already recognized that nuclear safety and security are to a great extent scientific in nature and that a regulatory body with responsibilities for nuclear facilities and other licensed activities involving radioactive material needs to have permanent access to supporting expertise. One of the main conclusions of the last conference in 2014 concerned the need to assist Member States especially with the development and strengthening, in an effective and sustainable way, of the scientific and technical capabilities that TSOs can draw upon in order to support regulatory bodies. This fourth conference on TSOs will, in particular, present achievements of the IAEA TSO Forum that address the recommendations from the previous TSO conferences.

This conference is being organized by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and will be hosted by the Government of Belgium through Bel V in cooperation/and co-organized by the European Technical Safety Organisations Network (ETSON).

Objectives

The conference will highlight the importance of scientific and technical capabilities to support regulatory decision-making for enhanced nuclear and radiation safety and security. While addressing challenges to the development, maintenance and enhancement of such capacities, the conference will:

• Evaluate actions undertaken to address the recommendations from previous TSO conferences;
• Promote understanding of the roles, functions and value of TSOs in enhancing nuclear and radiation safety and security and, in particular, addressing challenges related to embarking, existing or expanding nuclear power programmes, with a particular focus on capacity building;
• Discuss the role and achievements of the Technical and Scientific Support Organization Forum (TSO Forum);
• Present the need for, and benefits of, self-assessment for TSOs to maintain and enhance their technical and scientific capabilities to support regulatory bodies’ decision-making process;
• Discuss the significant contribution of the TSOs’ safety assessment work to the continuous updating and revision of the IAEA safety standards;
• Address the role of TSOs in enhancing nuclear and radiation safety in applications other than nuclear power;
• Highlight the main methods for supporting the development of scientific and technical expertise, including research and development;
• Facilitate the exchange of experience and good practices in capacity building activities, and in the recipient countries’ arrangements for identifying areas in which they require assistance;
• Discuss ways to enhance international cooperation through IAEA safety and security networks, bilateral cooperation, and Nuclear Security Training and Support Centres (NSSCs) or centres of excellence.

Key Deadlines

Submission of Form for Submission of a Paper (Form B) and abstract:  17 March 2018

Submission of Grant Application Form (Form C):                                     17 March 2018

Notification of acceptance of synopses:                                                      27 April 2018

Submission of accepted draft paper (4 pages max.):                                  29 June 2018

Submission of accepted final paper (4 pages max.):                        14 September 2018

Topics

Session 1: General Role of Technical and Scientific Support Organizations

• Experiences of regulatory bodies and TSOs

Session 2: Technical and Scientific Challenges Faced by Technical and Scientific Support Organizations

• New-builds, small and medium sized or modular reactors, long term operation
• Decommissioning and dismantling
• Nuclear and radiation safety related research
• Challenges met by embarking countries
• Safety challenges in medical and industrial application
• Quality management systems for radiation measurements
• Environmental monitoring
• Long term and interim storage and final disposal
• International cooperation in safety assessment and in developing codes and simulation tools

Session 3: Role of Technical and Scientific Support Organizations in Emergency Preparedness and Response

• Demonstration of Assessment tools for emergency preparedness and response and international cooperation and assistance

Session 4: Other Challenges Faced by Technical and Scientific Support Organizations

• Conflicts of interest, Civil society and public communication, Synergies between safety and security

Session 5: Key Components Needed to Develop and Maintain Technical Expertise

• Education & Training, Knowledge management, Human resources

Session 6: Initiatives to Develop and Maintain Technical and Scientific Capabilities

• Implementation of a national strategic policy
• IAEA peer review missions and advisory services, Methodology to develop and maintain TSO capacity, School of leadership

Participation and Registration Requirements 

Persons wishing to attend the conference must register with the forms listed below.
All those wishing to present a paper must submit a abstract by 17 March 2018 and be registered to attend the conference in order to be considered.

Items to be completed

• Form A: Submitted through the official authority of his/her country
• Form C: Grant applicants only - submitted through the official authority of his/her country

Abstact Submission Requirements

Persons who wish to present a paper at the conference either orally or in the form of a poster must submit a abstract to the IAEA. This abstract must be submitted in an electronic format (no paper copies) directly to the IAEA. The abstract should not exceed 300 words and relevant to the scientific and technical programme. The abstract must be submitted through INDICO (this system).

All papers submitted must present original work and should not have been published elsewhere.

The abstract should give enough information on the contents of the proposed paper to enable it to be evaluated.

Items to be completed

• Registration for the Conference (Form A) and Form C if the submitter is a grant applicant
• Form B is to be completed by all participants submitting an abstract

Conference Web Page
Please visit the following web page regularly for new information regarding this conference:

https://www.iaea.org/events/challenges-faced-by-technical-and-scientific-support-organizations-conference-2018

notes cn-266-announcement.pdf