Move clarifies basis of cooperation agreement signed in early 2023
The nuclear regulators of Poland and Canada will establish a joint committee on advanced nuclear and small modular reactor (SMR) technologies with the aim to coordinate cooperation between the two institutions agreed on earlier this year.
Poland’s Panstwowa Agencja Atomistyki (PAA) said in a statement that a terms of reference agreement signed on Wednesday outlines the details to a memorandum of understanding concluded with the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) in February 2023.
PAA said details of the bilateral cooperation efforts will include developing common approaches to technical reviews of advanced reactors and SMRs, a move expected to streamline national regulatory reviews, and the exchange of information on regulations and regulatory documents dedicated to advanced nuclear reactor technologies.
Additionally, the two regulators will work together on joint design assessments to ensure mutual readiness for the review of advanced reactor and SMR designs and on the research, training, and development of mutual regulatory approaches to nuclear safety.
In March 2023, CNSC said the “early focus” of the cooperation efforts will be on GE Hitachi’s BWRX-300 reactor technology, which both countries are planning to deploy in the coming decade.
“Shared design reviews and standards provide greater regulatory certainty for the safe global deployment of these technologies,” Caroline Ducros, the CNSC’s director-general of the directorate of advanced reactor technologies, told NucNet at the time.
PAA said yesterday that one of its experts has just begun a three-month internship at the CNSC and will take part in the licensing process currently underway in Canada for the BWRX-300 SMR design.
The February 2023 memorandum expanded the cooperation between PAA and CNSC based on a prior agreement on advanced and SMR technologies signed in 2014.
