IAEA's IRRS mission to evaluate Belarus' regulatory infrastructure on 5-13 December

MINSK, 2 December (BelTA) – Belarus will welcome a post-mission of the International Atomic Energy Agency's Integrated Regulatory Review Service (IRRS) on 5-13 December. The mission will evaluate Belarus' nuclear and radiation safety regulatory infrastructure, representatives of the Nuclear and Radiation Safety Department of the Belarusian Emergencies Ministry (Gosatomnadzor) told BelTA. Gosatomnadzor coordinates preparations for the mission.

The organization of the IRRS post-mission will continue Belarus' consistent steps to invite international evaluation missions and peer reviews, which results are used to further improve the country's nuclear and radiation safety infrastructure and its individual components on the basis of the International Atomic Energy Agency's recommendations and the best international practices.

The IRRS post-mission will be led by Deputy Director of the Swiss Federal Inspectorate for Nuclear Safety (ENSI) Georg Schwarz. The mission will consist of 13 people representing the relevant organizations of Greece, Pakistan, Russia, USA, Finland, Switzerland, and the International Atomic Energy Agency. Representatives of Gosatomnadzor, the state science and technology institution Nuclear and Radiation Safety Center, the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Ministry, the Healthcare Ministry, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will work with the mission.

The primary goal of the forthcoming IRRS post-mission will be to review the fulfillment of recommendations and proposals of the IRRS mission that visited Belarus in 2016. While in Belarus the experts are expected to have an opening meeting with representatives of government agencies and Belarusian organizations concerned, interview Belarusian executives about the areas the mission focuses on, visit the Belarusian nuclear power plant site, prepare and discuss the mission's draft report with the Belarusian side. The draft report will be presented at a closing meeting on 13 December. Right after the presentation top officials of the post-mission and representatives of the Belarusian side will talk to reporters.

In anticipation of the post-mission Gosatomnadzor and the government agencies concerned prepared a self-evaluation and sent the relevant materials to the International Atomic Energy Agency in early October 2021.

An IRRS mission visited Belarus in 2016. Over 20 experts came to Belarus to thoroughly examine the country's regulatory infrastructure and the country's work for compliance with the International Atomic Energy Agency's recommendations. The IRRS experts concluded that a regulatory infrastructure for nuclear and radiation safety had been created in Belarus. Solid adherence to realizing nuclear and radiation safety principles was demonstrated during the visit. The experts noticed two positive practices and formulated 25 recommendations and 20 proposals on further improvement of the regulatory infrastructure of nuclear and radiation safety and its individual components. The recommendations and proposals were used to work out the relevant national action plan. That IRRS mission's report is available to the general public on the Gosatomnadzor website.