The United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC’s) International Regulatory Development Partnership (IRDP) conducted a virtual workshop with the Thailand Office of Atoms for Peace (OAP) on August 1 - 4, 2022. During the workshop the IRDP instructor Mr. Robert Gramm, along with Mr. Kevin Roche from the NRC Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, discussed the NRC’s construction inspection program for research reactors.
The instructors presented the suite of NRC construction inspection program documents that are applicable for research and test reactors. This included:
- Inspection Manual Chapter 2550 that describes the overall construction inspection program objectives
- Inspection Procedure 69020 that describes construction inspection practices for safety-related items and services
- Inspection Procedure 69021 that describes construction quality assurance inspection approaches
- Inspection Procedure 69022 that describes operational readiness inspection protocols
The instructors presented examples of several NRC inspection reports to illustrate the implementation of the associated inspection procedures. This provided information about the scope and depth of construction inspections performed in accordance with the applicable inspection procedures,
Staff members from the OAP licensing and inspection groups attended, as well as representatives from the Suranaree University of Technology and Thailand Institute of Nuclear Technology. The workshop participants asked insightful questions that prompted more in-depth discussions on topics of interest to OAP such as how construction inspections will be performed for the reactor and its internals. The workshop participants gained an increased understanding of the NRC inspection program that is implemented during the construction and pre-operational testing phases of a research reactor facility.