Nuclear Safety Review for 2015

The Nuclear Safety Review 2015 focuses on the dominant nuclear safety trends, issues and challenges in 2014. The Executive Overview provides general nuclear safety information along with a summary of the major issues covered in this report: improving radiation, transport and waste safety; strengthening safety in nuclear installations; enhancing emergency preparedness and response (EPR); and strengthening civil liability for nuclear damage. The Appendix provides details on the activities of the Commission on Safety Standards (CSS), and activities relevant to the Agency's safety standards. The global nuclear community continued to make steady progress in improving nuclear safety throughout the world in 2014; and, the Agency and its Member States continued to implement the IAEA Action Plan on Nuclear Safety (hereinafter referred to as "the Action Plan"), which was endorsed by the General Conference in 2011 after the Fukushima Daiichi accident in March 2011. • Significant progress has been made in reviewing and revising various Agency's safety standards in areas such as management of radioactive waste, design basis hazard levels, protection of nuclear power plants (NPPs) against severe accidents, design margins to avoid cliff edge effects, multiple facilities at one site, and strengthening the prevention of unacceptable radiological consequences to the public and the environment, communications and EPR. In addition, the Guidelines for Drafting IAEA Safety Standards and Nuclear Security Series Publications was issued in July 2014.• The Agency continued to analyse the relevant technical aspects of the Fukushima Daiichi accident and to share and disseminate lessons learned to the wider nuclear community. In 2014, the Agency organized two international experts' meetings (IEMs), one on radiation protection and one on severe accident management. Reports from previous IEMs were also published in 2014: IAEA Report on Human and Organizational Factors in Nuclear Safety in the Light of the Accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant; and IAEA Report on Radiation Protection After the Fukushima Daiichi Accident: Promoting Confidence and Understanding3. The Agency's report on severe accident management in the light of the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi NPP is currently in the publication process. Furthermore, during this reporting period, significant progress has been made in preparing the Agency's report on the Fukushima Daiichi accident. The report will be formally presented to the 59th session of the General Conference in 2015. The Sixth Review Meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Convention on Nuclear Safety (CNS) concluded in April 2014. Of the 76 Contracting Parties, 33 Contracting Parties have NPPs, while 43 Contracting Parties have no NPPs. Sixty-nine of the 76 Contracting Parties participated in the Review Meeting and 65 Contracting Parties provided National Reports which were presented and discussed at the six Country Group sessions. Additionally, to reinforce the effectiveness of the Convention peer review process, the Contracting Parties approved modifications to the CNS guideline documents recommended by the Working Group on Effectiveness and Transparency, set up after the Second Extraordinary Meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Convention in August 2012. These modifications aim, for example, to ensure greater consistency in reporting and to enhance international cooperation. The next Review Meeting will be convened in April 2017. At the CNS review meeting, the Contracting Parties agreed to convene a Diplomatic Conference within one year to examine a proposal from Switzerland to amend Article 18 of the Convention addressing the design and construction of both existing and new NPPs. • The Agency organized the third International Conference on Challenges Faced by Technical and Scientific Support Organizations (TSOs) in Enhancing Nuclear Safety and Security: Strengthening Cooperation and Improving Capabilities, in October 2014, in Beijing, China. This conference was attended by more than 240 participants from 42 Member States and five organizations. The focus of the conference was to strengthen cooperation among TSOs and improve their capabilities to provide nuclear and radiation safety and security expertise to both regulators and operators. Important key outcomes focused on, for example: building capacity for Member States embarking on nuclear power development programmes; networking and knowledge sharing; and strengthening cooperative research and development (R&D) programmes in areas such as: decommissioning, remediation, human and organizational factors, safety analysis, and predicting severe accident progression