Legislation of Accident Management and Related Issues

This paper provides technical backgrounds for the regulatory requirements for an AMP and discusses the anticipated issues for its implementation. To legislate for the regulatory control of accident management including severe accident management, the Nuclear Safety Act (NSA) was amended in June 2015. As the effective date of the amendment of the NSA was set to be the 23rd of June 2016, the subsequent rulemaking for the implementation of the amendment of the NSA was completed by June 2016 and the regulatory framework on accident management including the management of severe accident is currently in effect. As required by the amended NSA, the applicant for operating license of a nuclear power plant (NPP) shall submit an accident management program (AMP) and its contents shall meet the pertinent regulatory requirements which were set forth by recently completed rulemaking efforts. Major contents of recently completed legislation of accident management are introduced and their technical backgrounds are discussed. The new regulations for the AMP requires various evaluations and assessments to assure that the severe accident is appropriately prevented and, should it occurs, its consequence is appropriately mitigated enough to protect people and the environment. For development of an AMP, a few anticipated issues are introduced, which are mainly related to the absence of specific safety review guidelines. These guidelines are to be developed by the end of 2017 and that can enhance the consistency of the regulation of AMPs.