External evaluation adds value
Over the past two weeks, the evaluation team of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has assessed how well Finland's radiation and nuclear safety supervision meets the IAEA's regulatory supervision requirements. Although there was room for improvement found, the head of the IAEA's evaluation team states that the supervision of the Finnish authorities is up to date and solid. The evaluation was completed on Friday, 14 October.
The EU's Nuclear Safety Directive requires that the activities of public authorities are peer reviewed every ten years. The IAEA's Integrated Regulatory Review Service (IRRS) has been selected as an instrument to be used in Europe. The actual peer review was preceded by the country's self-assessment, which started in Finland last year. As a result of the self-assessment, a report and a preliminary action plan on improvement targets for authority activities were completed last July.
In the peer review, a group of foreign experts assessed the results of the activities and self-assessment against the IAEA's regulatory requirements.
Petteri Tiippana, Director General of the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK), emphasises that the peer review has confirmed the development areas identified in the self-assessment. They relate, for example, to the revision of the legislation under the Nuclear Energy Act, development of emergency preparedness and planning as well as the national development and ensuring of radiation safety expertise.
The evaluation team also highlighted new development areas that complement the self-assessment, one of the most relevant in Tiippana's opinion was the systematic qualification of STUK's inspectors. STUK will prepare an action plan for the development targets indicated by the evaluation team, according to which the operations will be developed.
“Although we carried out the self-assessment in Finland with great care, the evaluation team found additional areas for improvement. I believe that this is where the added value of peer reviews lies. We may not recognise all the shortcomings ourselves,” says Petteri Tiippana.
The head of the IRRS evaluation team, Commissioner Sylvie Cadet-Mercier of the French Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN), concluded in the press release published by the IAEA that the framework for regulatory supervision in Finland is robust, up-to-date and in line with IAEA safety standards.
18 experts from 14 countries
A total of 18 experts from 14 different countries participated in the IRRS evaluation in Finland. The evaluation was made at the request of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment and organised by STUK.
In addition to evaluating the results of the self-assessment, the members of the team interviewed the personnel of STUK, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment and the Ministry of the Interior as well as the chairpersons of STUK's Advisory Committee on Radiation Safety and Nuclear Safety. The team followed STUK's inspection activities at the Loviisa nuclear power plant, the HUS Comprehensive Cancer Center and the company carrying out industrial radiography.
The final report of the IRRS review will be completed in approximately three months' time and STUK will publish it on its website.
Contacts:
Links:
IAEA’s press release
STUK's self-assessment report
