Senior Regulators Meeting

1. Senior Regulators Meeting The future of the IRRS Programme: Enhancing the Effectiveness of the Regulatory Body RamziJammal, Executive Vice-President and Chief Regulatory Operations Officer Sept. 19, 2013

2. Benefits of IRRS Missions IRRS missions provide: • Opportunities, through self assessment and peer reviews, for national regulators to continually improve their regulatory programs • Feedback to the member state and the IAEA on the application of IAEA safety standards in member states • Opportunities for harmonization and strengthening of regulatory approaches among member states • Demonstration of commitments through the use of follow-up missions • Opportunities, through publishing of IRRS reports, for transparency on the performance of national regulatory programs • Continuous improvement and transparency to strengthen global nuclear safety 2 2013-09-19 Senior Regulators Meeting

3. IRRS Participation by Member States • Member states which have had or plan to host missions: • Countries with existing nuclear installations producing electricity - 26 out of 30 (87%) • New Entrants - 3 of 18 (17%) • Approximately half of member states make their full IRRS reports publicly accessible • 43% publish only the Executive Summary 3 2013-09-19 Senior Regulators Meeting

4. IRRS Follow-Up Participation To date, only 8 of 40 participants have hosted follow-up missions: Within 2-4 year timeline: • 7 countries have nuclear installations producing electricity • 1 has a research reactor IRRS Guidelines Sec. 10.2: “Typically, a follow-up mission will take place two to four years following the initial IRRS. … Beyond four years the effectiveness of the follow-up process may be limited.” Why are follow-up missions needed? Review the implementation of the recommendations and suggestions IRRS Guideline is not being met. Who is the champion? 4 2013-09-19 Senior Regulators Meeting

5. Obligations of Member States IAEA General Safety Requirements Part 1, states: “2.7 An independent regulatory body will not be entirely separate from other governmental bodies.” “2.8 To be effectively independent, the regulatory body shall have sufficient authority and sufficient staffing and shall have access to sufficient financial resources for the proper discharge of its assigned responsibilities.” • IAEA Safety Guide SSG-16, Action 10. • “The government should ensure that the regulatory body and the operating organization are fulfilling their responsibilities.” Government has a role and an obligation to ensure that its regulatory body is effective in carrying out its mandate. Governments must be notified of non-responding regulators 5 2013-09-19 Senior Regulators Meeting

6. Roles of Government and Regulator Independence from government is critical for sound judgements and independent decisions, but... • Independent regulator should not be isolated from government. Governments should know if their regulators: • Do not respect IRRS Guidelines in implementing recommendations and suggestions • Have no plans for an IRRS mission or requests for a follow-up mission Who should inform the government with regard to safety? 6 Senior Regulators Meeting

7. Enhancements to IRRS Program: Implementation and Governance IAEA Safety Standards, Requirements and Guidelines are adequate The IRRS programme needs to focus on deficiencies in implementation and address: • Regulator inaction and unresponsiveness in implementing IRRS recommendations and suggestions • The commitments to both initial and follow-up missions in a timely manner • Publish reports and findings of the peer reviews DG of IAEA must inform government of member state in cases of inaction by regulator Need to verify implementation of IRRS recommendations and suggestions 7 Senior Regulators Meeting

8. Enhancing the IRRS Programme Should we continue to have 30-40 findings – selective modules – is this an effective way to promote improvements? Recommendations and suggestions (R&S): • Should be strategic • Should be focused on findings that impact both short-term and long-term functions of the regulator • Should be SMART: Safety-focussed Measurable against safety standards Achievable in order to be implemented Results-oriented in order to be verified Timely- to be implemented within 2-4 years Relevant and beneficial reviews 8 Senior Regulators Meeting

9. Role of the Convention on Nuclear Safety • As a legal tool to enhance global safety in addition to the IRRS • Preamble • (vii) Affirming the importance of international co-operation for the enhancement of nuclear safety through existing bilateral and multilateral mechanisms and the establishment of this incentive Convention; • Objectives • The objectives of this Convention are: • (i) to achieve and maintain a high level of nuclear safety worldwide through the enhancement of national measures and international co-operation including, where appropriate, safety-related technical co-operation; 9 2013-09-19 Senior Regulators Meeting

10. Role of the Convention on Nuclear Safety Guidelines should call on every contracting party to: • Include recommendations and suggestions (R&S) of IRRS missions in their respective country report • Report on the status of implementing IRRS R&S • Indicate if the contracting party is willing to request IRRS or follow-up missions Country Grouping questions or requests for information should: • Challenge their peers to report on whether they hosted an IRRS mission or a follow-up mission and ask about the progress in implementing (R&S) The President’s report should: • Contain a section dedicated to peer reviews to report on the compliance with safety standards • Inform the DG of the IAEA of contracting parties who are not implementing peer reviews nor requested peer reviews Openness and transparency 10 Senior Regulators Meeting

11. The Role of the Board of Governors Governance • Responsibility of the IAEA Secretariat to report and make recommendations to BoG regarding non-responsive regulators • Responsibility of BoG to direct the DG of the IAEA to write to governments to make sure they are aware of lack of response from their regulators • One non-responsive or dismissive regulator impacts all other regulators’ effectiveness regarding safety “members of the Board … are not technical specialists” but all have an important role in nuclear safety 11 Senior Regulators Meeting

12. Conclusions • Nuclear safety is paramount in protecting the health of humans and the environment and retaining public confidence in the effectiveness of the global regulatory framework • Peer review processes are a critical component ensuring consistent application of IAEA best practices throughout the world • BoG must actively promote and encourage the consistent application of best practices in nuclear safety – and give it the same visibility as safeguards and security 12 Senior Regulators Meeting

13. Conclusions • Member states should support IAEA action plan and ongoing review of the IAEA IRRS guidelines and lessons learned from missions • Many member states are already raising the bar, for example: • EU directive for countries to host peer reviews at least every 10 years • Canada is ready to participate in the enhancement of the IRRS programme 13 Senior Regulators Meeting

14. We Will Never Compromise Safety… … It’s In Our DNA! Visit us at nuclearsafety.gc.ca