Análisis de los contratos suscritos por el Municipio de Montecristi,

EXCHANGES OF INFORMATION

7.5.1. IAEA Legislative and Technical Assistance including Capacity-Building The IAEA works with MSs to ensure their RRs have the highest safety and security level. The Agency is present in every phase of a facility’s lifetime, from the planning to the decommissioning stage. The Agency also assists MSs in the management of RSs including in establishing and implementing cradle to grave control of RSs, including through authorization and inspections programmes, as well as national registers and inventories of RSs. Further, the Agency continues to promote awareness at the appropriate level of government to encourage states to make political commitments to the 2003 CoC (and/or its Guidance) and to assist in the effective implementation of both IAEA Codes of Conduct.

Generally speaking, the Agency assists MSs in their efforts to build capacity to fully implement the provisions of the 2004 RRs CoC through developing safety standards, and security and

63 The Agency held a meeting on the application of the 2004 RR CoC for the Europe region in Brussels in March 2019, attended by 25 participants from 14 Member States. The Agency held a Regional Meeting on the Application of the 2004 RR CoC for the African region in Rabat, Morocco, in July 2018, attended by 15 participants from 10 Member States. Both activities enabled participants exchanged information on the safety status of their research reactors and on their experience in applying the provisions of the 2004 RRs CoC.

technical publications, implementing peer review and advisory service missions, convening international, regional and inter-regional meetings. The IAEA also organizes capacity building activities, including meetings, workshops and training activities.

In order to achieve their objectives, both IAEA Codes of Conduct require States to create adequate national systems of regulatory control. MS continue to actively benefit from IAEA assistance in helping them to effectively implement the Code of Conduct and supplementary Guidance into national legislative and regulatory frameworks. IAEA legislative and technical activities and services assistance, available upon request, provides valuable support to states including in their efforts to build capacity to implement the provisions of both IAEA Codes of Conduct. In this regard, the Agency assists MSs regulatory bodies in developing the programmes and competences necessary to ensure effective regulatory control of RRs and RSs.

Moreover, the IAEA supports MSs in the application of the Codes of Conduct through a wide-range of services and activities by organizing periodic international and regional meetings, seminars, symposia and conferences, training courses and workshops, publishing safety standards and technical guides in all areas of RR safety and the safety and security of RSs as the foundation for a global safety and security framework, as well as by facilitating the sharing of experience and the conducting peer reviews and safety missions based on the standards and guidance.

Further, the Agency provide assistances to MSs, through a wide range of services, including the Integrated Safety Assessment for Research Reactors (INSARR) peer review, to support their preparation for implementation of safety upgrades resulting from safety assessments of RRs, managing ageing of research facilities, enhancing regulatory supervision, and strengthening application of the 2004 RRs CoC in all areas including design, construction, and operation. In addition, the IAEA provides a wide range of services to assist MSs improve safety and security of RSs, such as training courses to help guide strategies for regaining control over sealed RSs and the Emergency Preparedness Review (EPREV) to independently appraise the EPR capabilities in MSs. In addition, the Agency assists MSs in addressing ageing management and periodic safety reviews by conducting peer review and advisory service missions to examine projects for the refurbishment and upgrading of RRs, and by organizing training activities and workshops.

Both the RSs and RR communities have raised their standards through seeking to become a

‘learning community’ through sharing of experience which has become an accepted practice.

In addition to the formalized and informal processes associated with the Code of Conduct, various mechanisms for sharing of operating experience exist. In the context of RR, they address the reporting of incidents and operational events; the follow-up with analysis of events;

and the dissemination of lessons learned through operation of the Agency’s Incident Reporting System for Research Reactors IRSRR (Incident reporting System for RRs), publications, and organization of meetings and workshops. There is also the Global Nuclear Safety and Security Network, GNSSN), as well as regional and international meetings and networks, such as the Asian Nuclear Safety Network, the ANNuR (Arab Network for Nuclear regulators), the Ibero-American Forum of Radiological and Nuclear Regulatory Agencies (FORO) and FNRBA (Forum for Nuclear regulatory Bodies in Africa). The Agency continues to foster global and regional cooperation in RR safety and the safety and security of RSs. Since 1999, the IAEA has been organizing major international conferences on topics of interest to the research reactor community every four years, with the last, held in 2019⁶⁴.

64 International Conference on Research Reactors: Addressing Challenges and Opportunities to Ensure Effectiveness and Sustainability, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 25–29 November 2019.

The Agency provides various tools to assist regulatory bodies in strengthening the effectiveness of their activities, including the Self-Assessment of Regulatory Infrastructure for Safety (SARIS), the Regulatory Authority Information System (RAIS), the Control of Sources Network (CSN) and the Radioactive Waste Management Registry (RWMR) for operators. CSN is a platform designed for regulators with the objective of providing an instrument for enhancing the sharing of knowledge and experience in the establishment and maintenance of a system for regulatory control of radiation sources.

Further, the Agency assists MSs in developing operating experience programmes and facilitates the exchange of safety information and dissemination of operating experience via the Incident Reporting System for RRs a web-based system through which participating countries exchange operating experience to improve the safety of RRs. Established in 1997, the system, has 60 participating countries in 2020 (more than 95% of the facilities are covered). The system is modelled after a similar reporting system for NPPs (IRS (International Reporting System for Operating Experience)). In addition, there is RRDB (Research Reactor Database) an authoritative IAEA database containing technical information on RRs world-wide, including critical and sub-critical assemblies. Finally, the Secretariat continues to foster regional and international efforts in ensuring wide access to existing multi-purpose RRs to enhance RR utilization. In this regard, the IAEA designated International Centre based on Research Reactors (ICERRs) scheme was launched to facilitate Member States, mainly without research reactors, access to research reactor infrastructure and options to carry out nuclear research and development as well as build capacity. The ICERR is intended to help Member States gain timely access to relevant nuclear infrastructure based on RRs to achieve their capacity building and R&D objectives⁶⁵.

7.5.2. IAEA Safety Standards and Nuclear Security Guidance and other Publications

The two Codes of Conduct provides guidance for management of RRs safety and RSs safety and security, but they do not provide detailed technical guidance. Technical guidance is provided in the Safety Standards and other guidance and other technical documents. Under the terms of its Statute⁶⁶, the Agency is authorized to establish or adopt standards of safety for the protection of health, life and property; and to provide for the application of these standards to its own operations as well as to other operations and, at the request of the parties, to operations under any bilateral or multilateral arrangement, or, at the request of a State, to any of that State’s activities in the field of atomic energy. Under the Nuclear Safety Standards (NUSS) Programme, which was the initial phase of the IAEA’s normative activity from 1974 through to the late 1990s, the IAEA did use the term ‘code’ for some texts similar in content to the guides category that give practical advice on how to implement the technical standards⁶⁷. Today, there exists a Safety Standards Series categorized as: Safety Fundamentals; Safety Requirements; and Safety Guides. The Safety Fundamentals, SF-1 (2006) [25] establishes the

65 Currently, there are seven IAEA-designated ICERRs: The Institute for Nuclear Research in Romania, the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI), the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), the Russian Research Institute of Atomic Reactors State Scientific Centre (RIAR), the Belgian Nuclear Research Centre (SCK CEN), and both Idaho National Laboratory (INL) and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in the United States.

66 Statute of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), 23 October 1956 (as amended up to 23 February 1989).

67 Three International Atomic Energy Agency Codes, International Nuclear Law: History, Evolution and Outlook, 10th Anniversary of the International School of Nuclear Law, NEA No. 6934, OECD 2010.

fundamental safety objective and ten fundamental safety principles that provide the basis for requirements and measures to protect people and the environment from harmful effects of ionizing radiation and for the safety of facilities and activities that give rise to radiation risks.

Specific safety requirements, SSR-3 (2016), have been established for all areas of safety for RRs, with particular emphasis on requirements for design and operation [23]. Eleven safety guides covering all technical areas for RRs have been also published during 2006–2015 and are all currently under revision to incorporate the lessons learned from the Fukushima accident.

Two were approved for publication in 2020, and the remaining are expected to be approved in 2021. Supporting the safety standards are safety publications named Safety Reports and Technical Documents (TECDOC).

The arrangements provided between the IAEA Secretariat, IAEA Member States and/or Parties to one or both of the Emergency Conventions, relevant international intergovernmental organizations (hereinafter referred to as ‘international organizations’) and other States for facilitating the implementation of these Conventions — specifically concerning those articles that are operational in nature — are documented in the Operations Manual for Incident and Emergency Communication (EPR–IEComm). In addition, the IAEA established the Response and Assistance Network (RANET) in 2000 as the Operational tool to implement the Assistance Convention (EPR-RANET 2018).

Since 2006, the IAEA has developed the Nuclear Security Series (NSS), a set of publications which address nuclear security issues relating to the prevention and detection of, and response to, theft, sabotage, unauthorized access and illegal transfer or other malicious acts involving nuclear material and other radioactive substances and their associated facilities. Similar to the Safety Standards Series, the primary publication of the NSS is a fundamentals-level document which provides the objective and essential elements for a State’s nuclear security regime.

Several publications in the NSS deal with the security of sealed RSs⁶⁸ and RRs⁶⁹. The IAEA Nuclear Energy Series comprises reports designed to encourage and assist R&D on, and application of, nuclear energy for peaceful uses. Some of the publications in this series address research reactors [24,26]. Finally, it is noted that there is an increasing recognition in Member States of the need for effective management of the interface between safety and security in all RRs activities throughout the life cycle of a facility. In 2016, guidance on the management of the interface was published as part of the IAEA TECDOC Series⁷⁰.

68 For example, NSS 14: Nuclear Security Recommendations on Radioactive Material and Associated Facilities;

NSS 15: Nuclear Security Recommendations on Nuclear and Other Radioactive Material out of Regulatory Control; NSS 5: Identification of and Measures for the Detection of in International Mail Transported by Radioactive Sources and Devices Nuclear and Other Radioactive Material Public Postal Operators Border Monitoring Equipment.

69 The existing IAEA Nuclear Security Series (NSS) publications did not provide specific guidance for RRs and Related Facilities (RRRF). In 2016, the IAEA published Nuclear Security Management for Research Reactors and Related Facilities (IAEA, Vienna (2016)). This publication builds on the recommendations of NSS publications No. 13 Nuclear Security Recommendations on Physical Protection of Nuclear Material and Nuclear Facilities (INFCIRC/225/Rev5) and No.14 Nuclear Security Recommendations on Radioactive Materials and Associated Facilities. This publication is intended to provide a single source guidance to assist those responsible for the implementation of nuclear security measures at a RRRF in developing and maintaining an effective and comprehensive programme covering all aspects of nuclear security (for all nuclear and other radioactive material and the related facilities) on the site.

70 IAEA, Management of the Interface between Nuclear Safety and Security for Research Reactors, IAEA-TECDOC-1801, IAEA, Vienna (2016).

7.5.3. IAEA Peer Reviews and Advisory Services

The IAEA provides for the application of the safety standards and security recommendations, which in respect of the safety standards are carried-out further to an express Statutory basis (Article II.A.6). The Agency assists MSs by reviewing and assessing the legal and governmental infrastructure, the legislative and regulatory frameworks, and the safety of RRs and the safety and security of RSs. Peer reviews and advisory services have been particularly helpful in identifying the strengths and weaknesses of national infrastructures for safety and security of RSs and RRs.

The upon request Integrated Regulatory Review Service (IRRS) is a peer review service designed to strengthen and enhance the effectiveness of national regulatory infrastructure for nuclear, radiation, radioactive waste and transport safety and the security of radioactive sources⁷¹. IRRS teams evaluate a State’s regulatory infrastructure for safety against IAEA safety standards. SARIS is available for Member States to facilitate the self-assessment of national regulatory infrastructure for nuclear and radiation safety.

The IAEA has been sending missions to review the safety of RRs in MSs since 1972. Some of the reviews have been conducted pursuant to the IAEA’s functions and responsibilities regarding RRs that are operated within the framework of Project and Supply Agreements (PSAs) between MSs and the IAEA. Other reviews, like IRRS and INSARR (Integrated Nuclear Safety Assessment of Research Reactor)⁷² are conducted upon request of MSs. The objective of the INSARR service is to conduct a comprehensive safety review of the RR facility.

It includes a pre-INSARR to plan the review, the INSARR mission itself and a follow-up INSARR to assess progress on the implementation of the recommendations. The INSARR reviews are based on the provisions of the 2004 RRs CoC and relevant IAEA safety standards, in particular, SSR-3 (2016) [23] and GSR Part 1 (Rev.1) (2015) [14]. As part of the INSARR service, the IAEA developed guidelines in 2018 for MSs, regulatory bodies and operating organizations to perform self-assessment of their application of the provisions of the 2004 RRs CoC⁷³. The publication includes a mapping of safety requirements to the provisions of the Code to assist States, regulatory bodies and operating organizations to identify areas needing improvements and formulate an action plan to strengthen application of the Code. These self-assessments have also typically been done by MSs in preparation for the triennial international meetings on application of the 2004 RRs CoC. The enhancement of the efficiency and effectiveness of the INSARR has been acknowledged by the General Conference and international conferences⁷⁴.

Initiated in 2012, the upon request Operational and Maintenance Assessment for Research Reactors (OMARR) review mission is designed to assist Member States in improving the operational and maintenance (O&M) practices of RRs⁷⁵. The main objective of an OMARR

71IRRS missions fall into only two categories: Reduced Scope and Full Scope, both follow the same process defined in the IRRS Guidelines: preparatory meeting, self-assessment phase, conduct of the mission, and follow-up mission after 24 to 48 months of main IRRS mission. See IAEA, Integrated Regulatory Review Service Guidelines, Services Series No. 37, IAEA, Vienna (2018).

72 IAEA, Guidelines for the Review of Research Reactor Safety: Revised Edition, IAEA Services Series 25, IAEA, Vienna (2013).

73 IAEA, Guidelines for Self-assessment of Research Reactor Safety, Services Series No. 35, IAEA, Vienna (2018).

74 IAEA, Conclusions and Recommendations, International Conference on Research Reactors: Addressing Challenges and Opportunities to Ensure Effectiveness and Sustainability, 25–29 November 2019, Buenos Aires, Argentina, STI/PUB/1927 (2020).

75 The OMARR Mission addresses the topical areas described in IAEA Nuclear Energy Series No. NP-T-5.4.

mission is to conduct an O&M review of a research reactor facility. Planning and conduct of OMARR is coordinated with INSARR as to avoid duplication, and to ensure complementarity for maximizing the benefits to recipient research reactor organizations.

It is also highlighted that the 2004 RRs CoC is included within the context of the IAEA Milestones Approach for a RR project, pursuant to which States are expected to implement the provisions of the Code[24]. The IAEA RR Milestones Approach helps countries effectively and holistically develop their research reactor programmes so they can safely and reliably utilize their research reactors. The RR Milestones Approach is supported by the upon request INIR-RR review launched in 2018 and been implemented in Nigeria and Viet Nam⁷⁶. Member States planning or implementing new programmes are encouraged to benefit from INIR-RR review⁷⁷.