When performing regulatory assessments of licence applications for nuclear facilities, the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA), Australia's Federal Government regulator, places significant emphasis on the implementation of defence in depth. ARPANSA makes the emphasis clear, primarily to its own assessors but also to the operating organisations and the public, by specific mention of defence in depth in selected principles and criteria that are recorded in two key documents used in ARPANSA's regulatory assessment process. The importance is further underlined by structuring those documents by defence in depth level. Some examples are given for the specific case of the replacement research reactor, a 20 MW(th) pool-type reactor currently under construction in Australia. The examples include some regulatory assessment criteria used, and how both the resulting regulatory assessment report and the detailed design approval process for items important to safety reflect that emphasis on defence in depth.
展开▼
