Two senior officials of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) made presentations at the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission Regulatory Information Conference 2010 (NRC-RIC 2010) last week. The President of the CNSC, Dr. Michael Binder, spoke at NRC-RIC-2010 on A Canadian Regulator's Perspective on International Cooperation. He noted that there were now 48 CANDU-type power reactors in 7 different countries (plus 3 reactors under construction - 1 in Argentina and 2 in India). Emphasizing that national regulators have responsibilities toward customer countries, which he considered an international extension of Canada's safety mandate, he outlined the three phases of Canada's current engagement with the regulatory mechanism in a customer country: (i) With the national regulating agency in the buyer country (ii) On-site, at the end-use location of Canadian-origin technology (e.g. at the site of a CANDU reactor). (iii) Training of regulators as well as interactions at the university level. As the Nuclear Renaissance unfolds, he also indicated that the pattern of Canadian inernational regulatory engagement might move beyond bilateral engagements and evolve to encompass more multilateral mechanisms such as the Multinational Design Evaluation Program (MDEP), with greater harmonization of codes and standards and perhaps including a code of conduct for vendors of nuclear technology.
The Vice President of the CNSC's Technical Services Branch, Terry Jamieson took the theme of International Cooperation in Nuclear Regulation forward, speaking on the MDEP's Role in Converging Codes and Standards. He outlined the efforts of the Codes and Standards Working Group (CSWG) of the MDEP, and indicated that the present focus of the group was on the pressure boundary components. Although different countries had their own codes and standards regarding pressure boundary components, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) codes were used as a basis for comparison, focusing first on Class I Pressure Vessels. The objective was to eventually evolve a harmonized set of standards (since full convergence was not found feasible). Next steps will focus on codes for Class I piping, pumps and valves, and later on codes for components beyond those at the pressure boundary.
The Vice President of the CNSC's Technical Services Branch, Terry Jamieson took the theme of International Cooperation in Nuclear Regulation forward, speaking on the MDEP's Role in Converging Codes and Standards. He outlined the efforts of the Codes and Standards Working Group (CSWG) of the MDEP, and indicated that the present focus of the group was on the pressure boundary components. Although different countries had their own codes and standards regarding pressure boundary components, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) codes were used as a basis for comparison, focusing first on Class I Pressure Vessels. The objective was to eventually evolve a harmonized set of standards (since full convergence was not found feasible). Next steps will focus on codes for Class I piping, pumps and valves, and later on codes for components beyond those at the pressure boundary.
