Enhancing the Effectiveness of National Nuclear Regulatory Bodies: The International Nuclear Regulators Association

摘要

With the emergence of the global marketplace, and most certainly in the post-Chornobyl era, the focus on safety in the generation and use of nuclear energy has become an issue that transcends national boundaries. What is sometimes less widely understood is that the effectiveness of national nuclear regulatory bodies also has become, by inference, an issue with international implications. In the Fall of 1995, shortly after President Clinton appointed me as the Chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, I became impressed with the similarity of the challenges lacing senior regulators around the world. My discussions with those regulators frequently turned toward the need for a permanent forum specifically dedicated to sharing with each other our experiences on regulatory challenges, viewpoints, and solutions common to national nuclear regulatory organizations. After considerable dialogue and several group meetings, the heads of eight such organizations - from Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Spain, Sweden, the U.K., and the U.S. - formally constituted the International Nuclear Regulators Association (INRA) in May 1997.