Results of the 4th Review Meeting of the Convention on Nuclear Safety and the Implications on Global Nuclear Safety Regime

The 4th Review Meeting of the Convention on Nuclear Safety (CNS) took place from April 14-25, 2008. Fifty five out of 61 Contracting Parties (CPs) participated with over 500 delegates in attendance. A high degree of compliance with the Convention was reported and the overall safety and radiation protection performance appear to remain satisfactory. However, the Review Meeting recognized the importance of avoiding complacency regarding safety and noted that all CPs had identified planned measures to enhance safety. During the meeting the CPs identified several issues that warrant special attention. Some of them have been discussed for a long time such as regulatory independence and others are new emerging one such as ensuring safety for new NPPs. This paper presents the results of the 4th Review Meeting and addresses some implications on global nuclear safety regime and on the next Review Meeting