On 28 June 2011, the Chairperson of the European Nuclear Regulators Group (ENSREG), Mr Andrej Stritar and the Deputy Director General, Head of the Department of Nuclear Safety and Security at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Mr Denis Flory have signed a "Memorandum of Understanding between ENSREG and the IAEA for International Peer Review Missions to the EU Member States".
The Nuclear Safety Directive (1) requests that the EU Member States shall at least every 10 years arrange for periodic self-assessments of their national framework and competent regulatory authorities and invite an international peer review of relevant segments of their national framework and/or authorities with the aim of continuously improving nuclear safety.
ENSREG has unanimously recommended that in order to comply with this requirement of the Directive, the best way forward is by cooperation between the EU Member States and the IAEA IRRS (International Regulatory Review Service) programme. For this purpose, a dedicated European programme of IRRS missions has to be developed.
The bilateral Memorandum of Understanding creates the framework and sets up the mechanism and guiding principles for the cooperation between ENSREG and the IAEA, aiming at supporting and facilitating the practical implementation of the European programme of IRRS missions.
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References
(1) Council Directive 2009/71/Euratom of 25 June 2009 establishing a Community framework for the nuclear safety of nuclear installations (OJ L 172, 2.7.2009)
