Australian regulatory licensing and compliance monitoring of the construction of a research reactor

Full text: The Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA) was established by the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Act 1998 to perform a number of specific functions. Licensing and Compliance Monitoring of those activities involving radiation, that are undertaken by Commonwealth entities, are two of these functions. When making a decision on whether to issue a licence, the CEO of ARPANSA is obliged by the ARPANS Act to take into account a number of matters. The information that the CEO may request to assist make his decision includes (but is not limited to): (a) The design of the controlled facility, including ways in which the design deals with the physical and environmental characteristics of the site; (b) Any fundamental difficulties that will need to be resolved before any future authorisation is given; (c) The construction plan and schedule; (d) A preliminary safety analysis report that demonstrates the adequacy of the design of the facility and identifies structure, components and systems that are safety related items; (e) The arrangements for testing and commissioning safety related items. A licence granted by the CEO of ARPANSA is subject to a number of licence conditions. These licence conditions fall into three categorises: (1) Licence conditions prescribed by the Act and Regulations; (2) Licence conditions imposed by the CEO at the time of making the licence decision; (3) Licence conditions imposed by the CEO at a time after the licence has been granted. The regulatory compliance monitoring of these conditions during the construction of the ANSTO Replacement Research Reactor will be described. Two licence conditions of significance during the construction process are: (1) The holder of a licence must seek the CEO's prior approval to make a relevant change that will have significant implications for safety. (2) The holder of a licence, or person covered by a licence, must only construct an item that is important for safety, and identified in a safety analysis report, as part of the construction of a controlled facility, if the CEO has given the holder approval to construct it. (author)