UAE- FANR presents nuclear safety report to IAEA
Date
8/23/2016 9:00:17 AM
(MENAFN- Emirates News Agency (WAM))
ABU DHABI, 23rd August, 2016 (WAM) -- The Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation, FANR, today presented the UAE's third national report to the International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, as part of the nation's participation in the Seventh Review Meeting of the Contracting Parties, CPs, to the Convention on Nuclear Safety, CNS, set to take place from 27th March to 7th April 2017, at IAEA headquarters in Vienna.
The UAE's national report describes how the UAE has met its obligations to the convention as the state has made progress in constructing its first nuclear power plant at Barakah in the Western Region of Abu Dhabi. The report includes an update to the lessons learned from the 2011 accident at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station and the measures taken in the UAE to prevent a similar incident. The report also describes the preparations underway to prepare for the first nuclear reactor to begin operations, currently expected in early 2017, pending FANR's regulatory review.
The report is the result of a collective effort of key national organisations including FANR, the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation, the National Emergency Crisis and Disasters Management Authority and other leading UAE institutions.
The report is now available to all 78 CNS contracting parties, who can review it and submit written questions to the UAE, which will in turn provide replies in advance of the 7th review meeting. At that session, the contracting parties will again review each other's reports in working groups and plenary sessions, as part of the convention's objective to create a "peer review" forum for nuclear safety.
"The 7th review meeting offers the UAE an opportunity to demonstrate its commitment to nuclear safety and the tangible progress it has achieved in building the regulatory framework, the technical systems, and the management infrastructure needed to conduct a nuclear energy programme safely and securely," said FANR Director-General, Christer Viktorsson.
FANR has made the UAE's CNS report publicly available on its website, just as it has done for its previous reports.
The Convention on Nuclear Safety was adopted in Vienna on 17th June, 1994. Its aim is to legally commit participating states operating land-based nuclear power plants to maintain a high level of safety by setting international benchmarks to which states would subscribe.
The convention obliges its Contracting Parties to submit reports on the implementation of their obligations for "peer review" at meetings of the Parties to be held at the IAEA. This mechanism is the main innovative and dynamic element of the convention. There are currently 78 CPs to the convention, and the United Arab Emirates has been a party since 2009.
WAM/AAMIR/Moran