From July 11-15, 2011, the IRDP conducted a Construction Permit Workshop for the Forum of Nuclear Regulatory Bodies of Africa (FNRBA) in Mombasa, Kenya. Workshop attendees included representatives from 11 African countries including Kenya, South Africa, Sudan, Burkina Faso, Egypt, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, and Tunisia. The Kenyan delegation included representatives from the Kenyan Radiation Protection Board (regulator) as well as the Ministry of Energy, Nuclear Electricity Project Committee (utility).
The newly developed Construction Permit Workshop addressed the prerequisites associated with the development of a nuclear regulatory authority, safety requirements and concepts, the construction permit review process, the content of and method for reviewing a preliminary safety analysis report (PSAR), and the content of a construction permit. The workshop included several interactive exercises during which participants prioritized PSAR sections for review and actually reviewed a PSAR section in accordance with the U.S. NRC Standard Review Plan (NUREG-0800). Several of the participant countries expressed an interest in joining the International Regulatory Development Partnership (IRDP).