International Conference on Research Reactors:
Safe Management and Effective Utilization

14-18 November 2011, Rabat, Morocco

The IAEA has greatly contributed through its programmes and activities to the records of safe operation of research reactors worldwide. Since 2006, the activities of the IAEA sub-programme on research reactor safety have been mainly focusing on supporting Member States (MSs) to enhance the safety of their research reactors mainly through the application of the Code of Conduct on the Safety of Research Reactors for the management of the safety of these facilities. In doing so, the key part of the implementation strategy of the activities included the development of Safety Standards and supporting documents. At present, the corpus of Safety Standards for research reactors has reached maturity. Safety review services, based on the IAEA Safety Standards, were provided, in the field, through the implementation of Integrated Safety Assessment (INSARR) missions and other safety review and expert missions. Since 2006, about one hundred missions were conducted to research reactors worldwide. Fact finding missions were also implemented by the IAEA in MSs establishing their first research reactors in order to identify gaps and define actions to assist them building the necessary technical and safety infrastructures. An important part of the implementation strategy for the IAEA safety enhancement plan included the fostering of regional and international cooperation to enhance operational safety and regulatory supervision of research reactors, and support for the establishment and functioning of regional advisory safety committees and nuclear safety networks. International exchange of information and sharing of operating experience feedback are essential contributors for enhancing safety and have been promoted through the IAEA web-based incident reporting system for research reactors IRSRR which ensures the collection of data and information on events and the dissemination of lessons learned from their analysis. Existing inconsistencies in the safety demonstrations for research reactors worldwide were addressed by two Coordinated Research Projects to promote the use of research results in safety assessment and the harmonization of approaches and data used in safety analysis of research reactors. The implementation of the above mentioned activities has resulted in a substantial progress in enhancing the safety of research reactors worldwide. This paper presents a brief summary of recent progress and achievements for improving research reactor safety, outlines the Agency’s strategy for further improvement and discusses the approach for implementation of the strategy.

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