Speakers
Mr
Alfredo de los Reyes
((CSN))Mr
Fernando Castello
(FORO (Ibero-American Forum of Radiological and Nuclear Regulatory Agencies))
Description
The Ibero-American Forum of Radiological and Nuclear Regulatory Agencies (FORO) was established with the purpose of promoting a high level of radiological and nuclear safety in all practices using radioactive materials in the member countries and, consequently, in the countries of the Ibero-American region. The FORO was created in 1997 and is now composed of the nuclear regulatory bodies of nine countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Mexico, Peru, Spain and Uruguay.
The FORO has the vision of providing a fruitful environment for strengthening the regulatory organizations in its member countries, through the exchange of information, experience and best practices, as well as a robust technical programme in key radiological and nuclear safety areas and regulatory practices identified and supported by the FORO’s members. The FORO values cooperation with other organizations while maintaining its independence.
The FORO has launched a number of relevant technical projects in close cooperation with the IAEA (FORO’s scientific reference), in key areas of nuclear safety and radiological protection. Seven of these projects have been completed: (1) prevention of accidental exposures in radiation therapy through the application of probabilistic risk assessment and the development of a radiotherapy risk assessment tool (named SEVRRA); (2) cooperation between regulatory and health authorities for the regulatory control of medical exposure; (3) regulatory assessment and inspection of ageing management and long term operation in nuclear power plants (NPPs); (4) control of inadvertent radioactive material in scrap metal and recycling industries; (5) assessment of stress tests performed to NPPs in the FORO member countries and (6) preparedness and response to emergencies and (7) licensing and inspection programme for cyclotrons. The results of many of these projects have been published jointly with the IAEA in Spanish –FORO language- and some of them are also available in English.
In addition, other activities are being conducted on safety culture in regulatory practices for radioactive sources; the implementation of the radiotherapy risk evaluation tool SEVRRA in FORO member countries; the development of a guide for building, developing and maintaining of competences and training programmes on licensing and inspection of safety of nuclear reactors for regulatory staff; and the clearance of small low level waste from small facilities.
The FORO has recently launched new technical projects on implementation of clearance concept and criteria for (small) nuclear installations and on Risk Matrix applied to Industrial Installations.
As the results of the technical program become available, dissemination to all countries in the region and beyond as well as their eventual application is basically being carried out through the IAEA’s technical cooperation programme in close collaboration with the FORO. The dissemination of these results is achieved through workshops, conferences, technical meetings and the Global Nuclear Safety and Security Network (GNSSN).
The FORO collaborative web-based IT platform, the RED, was fully updated and released in June 2013. The new RED aims at further sharing and exchanging knowledge on new or existing nuclear and radiological safety and nuclear security issues of regulatory interest and contributes to the development of national systems for the regulation, authorization and control of activities involving the safe use of ionizing radiation. The RED constitutes a valuable reservoir of technical information on radiation protection, nuclear safety and security from the regulatory perspective.
FORO is strengthening its cooperation with other associations, institutions and networks: (1) The World and the Pan-American Health Organisations in the field of radiation protection to patients; (2) The General Secretariat for Ibero-America to facilitate the spreading of the results of its projects; (3) The International Commission on Radiological Protection as Special Liaison Organisation to exchange scientific and technical information on radiation safety, (4) The International Radiation Protection Association (IRPA) to cooperate in radiation protection through areas of mutual interest like the safety culture.
Around one hundred regulatory specialists in various technical areas related to radiation protection, nuclear safety and security are networking in groups, sharing their experiences, good practices and lessons, addressing problems and regulatory challenges by means of technical projects and other activities. These activities are prioritized by FORO taking into account the members’ needs and without duplicating the efforts made by the IAEA in these areas and making the results available to others.
FORO, as an association of 9 regulators, provides technical support to its members, to the other regulators in the region, creating a reference in nuclear safety and radiation protection in close cooperation with the IAEA.
| Country or International Organisation | FORO |
|---|
Primary author
Mr
Fernando Castello
(FORO (Ibero-American Forum of Radiological and Nuclear Regulatory Agencies))
Co-authors
Mr
Alfredo de los Reyes
((CSN))
Mrs
Rejane Spiegelberg-Planer
(IAEA)
Mr
S. Fernández Moreno
(FORO)
