ISPRA Hosted the WENRA Fall Plenary Meeting

On 26 and 27 October, was held in Rome, hosted by ISPRA, the autumn plenary meeting of WENRA (Western European Nuclear Regulators Association), the voluntary and independent association made up of the directors responsible for the nuclear safety authorities of the Member States European Union with nuclear power plants and also Switzerland and Ukraine. The Association has been also opened to the authorities of other States as Observers. ISPRA is a member of the Association since its establishment in 1999, and is currently represented by the Director General of the Institute, Stefano Laporta, supported by the staff of the of Nuclear, Technological and Industrial Risk Department.

With the general aim of improving nuclear safety, among its objectives WENRA has to develop a common approach to nuclear safety and regulation, in particular in the European Union, and to provide an independent evaluation capability by expressing its opinion on significant safety and regulatory issue.

Since the issue its first Report in 2000 on the status of nuclear safety in candidate countries to be member of the European Union, WENRA has carried out a huge harmonization work that has led to the definition of a set of safety reference levels. These levels, to be implemented by the members of the Association, are related to the safety of reactors, the storage and disposal of radioactive waste and spent fuel, as well as the decommissioning on nuclear installations.

In relation to the Fukushima accident WENRA has prepared the terms of reference for the implementation of the "stress tests" conducted on the nuclear power plants in the Member States, as required by the EU institutions.

After the Fukushima accident and the “stress test” WENRA updated the above mention safety reference levels.

The Rome meeting has been attended by all the WENRA members and by many observers, including the nuclear safety authority of Japan for the first time.

During the meeting the following main topics have been addressed: terms of reference of the Topical Peer Review as requested by the new Council Directive 2014/87/Euratom on nuclear safety, on which a public consultation is envisaged; the status of the working groups activities on nuclear safety, waste management and decommissioning, the harmonization of emergency response among neighboring countries. Of particular interest the presentation given during the meeting by the Japan delegation on the new nuclear safety authority organization (NRA) and on the status of the Fukushima site.

The complete current composition of WENRA is listed below:

18 Full members: Belgium (FANC), Bulgaria (BNRA), Czech Republic (SUJB), Finland (STUK), France (ASN), Germany (BMUB), Hungary (HAEA), Italy (ISPRA), Lithuania (VATESI), Romania (CNCAN), Slovak Republic (UJD), Slovenia (SNSA), Spain (CSN), Sweden (SSM), The Netherlands (ANVS), United Kingdom (ONR), Switzerland (ENSI), SNRIU (Ukraine);

12 States as Observers: Austria (Lebensministerium), Denmark (BRS), Ireland (EPA), Luxemburg (MS), Norway (NRPA), Poland (PAA); Armenia (ANRA), Belarus (Gosatomnadzor), Russian Federation (Rostechnadzor), Serbia (SRBATOM), Canada (CNSC) and Japan (NRA).

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