Evaluation of experience and trends in international co-operation in nuclear safety and licensing

The paper traces the development of co-operation in nuclear safety technology between the OECD Member countries which began as early as 1965 and is now organised under the auspices of the Committee on the Safety of Nuclear Installations of the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency. The principal objective is to exchange and evaluate information on relevant R and D and hence broaden the technical basis for decision-making by licensing authorities in the different countries. The membership of the Committee on the Safety of Nuclear Installations combines expertise in nuclear safety R and D and in licensing questions so that licensing procedures in the different countries may be exposed continuously to the influence of overall technological progress. The Committee actively seeks to narrow the differences between administrative procedures and traditional legal practices in Member countries as these affect the licensing of nuclear installations, primarily by assessing and comparing the methods employed. The paper shows how the Committee's working arrangements provide for maximum flexibility: the various co-ordinated programmes are selected after in-depth evaluation of potential areas of priority and are implemented through ad hoc Working Groups, specialist meetings or task forces, or in the form of special studies involving all interested countries. The results, conclusions and recommendations emerging from each programme are reviewed by the Committee before dissemination. Hitherto the greater part of the Committee's activities has been concerned with the safety of light water reactors and related subjects, but more attention is now being given to other topics such as LMFBR safety technology and the safety of fuel cycle facilities, particularly those at the end of the process, the so-called ''back-end'' plants. The paper discusses certain problems and constraints encountered in implementing the programme, some of which stem from Member countries' different degrees of penetration into nuclear development, others from varying concepts of priority and disparities in legal and administrative practice