The purpose of Planning and Orientation is to define the overall regulatory development program and train staff in fundamental concepts. Each new country entering the program goes through an initial orientation stage. In the early stages of the IRDP, planning and orientation involved a number of face-to-face meetings in the participating country. These meetings have involved representatives from NRC OIP, AdSTM Inc. and the highest management of the participating agency. The meetings covered the two key aspects of program planning: development of agency infrastructure and development of the regulatory program. The goal of these initial meetings is to develop a country-specific action plan to guide the activities of the regulatory agency as they progress to a fully functional regulatory program.
One resource that can be used for planning and orientation is the generic action plan developed by AdSTM; namely, G-OV-AP: Action plan for developing a regulatory oversight program for nuclear power reactors. This generic document outlines the steps in creating a reactor oversight program, provides insight on how to implement such a program, and gives guidance on schedule and resource requirements. Countries can use this document as the “skeleton” on which they build their own country-specific action plan.
The IRDP has developed the Nuclear Executive Workshop which is described in the training section of this web site. The workshop, which is conducted by experienced AdSTM staff, provides the participating agency with training on the basic concepts and practices of reactor regulation while giving them the opportunity to discuss these concepts among themselves and formulate strategies for implementing their program.
The IRDP has also developed two introductory training courses for individuals who are new to nuclear safety and nuclear regulation.
The Fundamentals of Reactor Safety (FORS) course provides a broad primer of the most basic concepts related to reactor safety. This two-day course describes how a reactor works, the health effects of radiation, the safe design and operation of plants, the progression of nuclear accidents and the safety features provided for public protection. It is suitable for technical or non-technical participants from the regulatory agency or other ministries of government.
The Fundamental of Reactor Regulation (FORR) course is an introduction to the policies and practice of a nuclear reactor regulatory program. In addition to discussing basic concepts of regulation, it outlines regulatory functions such as rule-making, licensing and the imposition of enforcement actions. It describes the activities which the staff must be able to conduct such as review of technical documents, inspection of facilities and response to operating events. This one-day course is suitable for technical or non-technical participants in the nuclear regulatory agency or other ministries of government.