DECC is responsible for co-ordinating UK policy on international nuclear safety, liaising with the IAEA: Department of Nuclear Safety and Security, and submitting the UK's report under the Convention on Nuclear Safety (CNS).
Convention on Nuclear Safety
Fifty-three countries and the European Commission (referred to as contracting parties) have ratified the Convention on Nuclear Safety, which came into force in the Autumn of 1996. This is designed to raise standards of civil nuclear safety worldwide.
It means that every three years, each country is required to submit a detailed written report and undergo peer review, explaining how they fulfil the articles of the Convention, in areas such as:
- legislative and regulatory frameworks for nuclear safety
- financial and human resources for nuclear safety
- assessment and verification
- radiation protection
- procedures for siting, design, construction and operation of civil nuclear power plants.
In the UK, the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) oversees the Convention, and produces the report. DECC is responsible for submitting the report, the last of which was in October 2010.
The peer review meetings take place approximately every three years. The first was held in Vienna in April 1999, and the most recent took place in April 2011 – also in Vienna.
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