Speaker
Description
Beyond the sustained efforts of the international nuclear community to promote common safety principles and approaches, nuclear safety regulatory frameworks remain very national specific at the implementation level. While many SMR designs are being considered across borders, with the industrial imperative of minimizing design changes, convergences of regulatory standpoint emerge as crucial. Sharing regulatory views and practices is a first step to streamline regulatory processes, to facilitate efficient licensing procedures across jurisdictions and at the same time to promote the highest safety level reasonably achievable. Through the Joint Early Review (JER), six European regulatory bodies are conducting a synchronised preliminary review of the Nuward SMR, focused on a selection of key topics. This initiative enables the vendor to refine its design in a very early phase but it also raises regulators readiness by considering different regulatory approaches. Maturity of documentation, involvement of the vendor and commitment of regulators have been key conditions for a successful collaboration. The early outcomes of the JER highlight the benefits of such initiatives. It also confirms the need to develop new frameworks to address the challenge of licensing a very large diversity of designs, supported by new applicants, while ensuring the highest standards of safety.
| Country OR International Organization | France |
|---|---|
| Email address | thomas.buckenmeyer@asn.fr |
| Confirm that the work is original and has not been published anywhere else | YES |
