NRC staff and support contractors traveled to Hanoi, Vietnam to present training and hold discussions with the Vietnam Agency for Radiation and Nuclear Safety (VARANS). Two courses were presented over a four day period. The first course presented was on Nuclear Codes and Standards. This training provided an introduction to and the importance of the use of codes and standards in the licensing process. The course provided insights into the fundamental principles incorporated into the design of nuclear generating stations, NRC requirements contained in Appendix A to 10CFR50, and a number of codes and standards commonly used in the design of nuclear generation facilities that are acceptable the NRC staff to meet NRC’s regulations, including the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers Codes and Standards, incorporated by reference in 10CFR 50.55a. The duration of this training was two and a half days.
The second course presented to VARANS was on the topic of Nuclear Quality Assurance. This course covered the importance of nuclear quality assurance and presented a detailed discussion of NRC’s requirements contained in Appendix B to 10CFR50, the ASME Standard on Nuclear Quality Assurance, NQA-1 endorsed by NRC’s Regulatory Guide 1.28, Rev 3 and a discussion of ISO-9001 with a focus on the differences between ISO-9001 and NRC’s requirements. The duration of this training was one and a half days.
In addition to the training, NRC staff and contractors met with VARANS management to discuss future training needs, explore further areas where NRC cooperation would be beneficial and the timing of future cooperative efforts.