Future regulatory challenges. Keynote address

The Committee on Nuclear Regulatory Activities (CNRA) of the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) is an international committee made up of senior representatives from regulatory bodies. It was created in 1989 to guide the NEA's programme concerning regulations, licensing and inspection of nuclear installations. It acts as a forum for the exchange of information and experience among regulatory organizations and for the review of developments which could affect regulatory requirements. A report was produced by a Working Party on Future Regulatory Challenges which the CNRA established at the end of 1996 to consider issues that could present a challenge to nuclear regulatory bodies over the next 10 years and to make recommendations to address any concerns. The Working Party decided to sort the perceived challenges into four categories: (1) Technical issues with potential regulatory impact included ageing of plants, backfitting of plants and requests for plant life extension, maximizing output from existing reactors and decommissioning of plants; (2) Socio-economic and political issues with potential regulatory impact included economic deregulation of the electricity market, privatization of national companies, mergers between utilities and restructuring of the electricity supply industries and risk informed/performance based regulation; (3) Organizational, management and human issues with potential regulatory impact included regulatory effectiveness, licensee responsibility, response and self-assessment, expertise and the inter-face between regulatory authorities and the public; (4) International issues with potential regulatory impact included development of co-operation between safety authorities and co-operation' with, and assistance to, safety authorities in countries where regulatory organizations need to be strengthened. (author)