A Siting Application Review Workshop was presented on August 25-29, 2014 in Accra, Ghana at the Radiation protection Institute of the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission. The Workshop was presented by Dr. David Squarer and Mr. Richard Emch. This workshop was developed by AdSTM to illustrate how the NRC reviews a siting application, either in the context of Early Site Permit (ESP), Construction Permit (CP), or Combined License (COL). As such it follows the review procedure described in the siting related chapters of the standard review plan (SRP) (NUREG-0800). The workshop was attended by 20 participants from the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission’s (GAEC’s) Radiation Protection Institute (RPI), National Nuclear Research Institute (NNRI), School of Nuclear and Allied Sciences (SNAS), and Biotechnology and Nuclear Agriculture Research Institute (BNARI) as well as participants from the following other organizations: University for Development Studies (UDS), Geological Survey Department (GSD), and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Several of the participants are part of a siting screening team appointed by the GAEC. Thus the timing of the Siting Application Review Workshop was important in helping GAEC identify the most important siting-related issues. Ghana is pursuing the formation of an independent nuclear regulatory authority, and has launched a national program to include nuclear power in its energy mix. The goal of Ghana’s nuclear power program is to commission the first nuclear power reactor by 2022.