Los cuatro pilares de la educación para el siglo XXI

and respond to a broad variety of concerns.

More information is available on the Nuclear Communicator’s Toolbox section on the IAEA website.

4.6. APPLICATION OF GRADED APPROACH TO OTHER REGULATORY ACTIVITIES

4.6.1. Technical and administrative support 4.6.1.1. Administrative functions

The organizational structure of the regulatory body includes departments and units that may be further divided into specific small structures to support the regulatory functions. The risk based graded approach applied to the regulatory functions is automatically reflected within the organization of the regulatory body and affects the administrative functions and the number and size of the departments and units. The recruitment and training of regulatory staff, as well as the knowledge management, are administrative activities in which the graded approach may be reflected.

Irrespective of the organizational structure, the regulatory body needs to have units or individuals dedicated to various administrative activities supporting the routine operations of the regulatory body (e.g. finance, management of documents and records, purchasing and control of equipment).

The regulatory body may employ its own administrative staff to carry out the administrative functions, or it may rely on the administrative staff of a parent organization to carry out these functions (if the regulatory body is part of a bigger organization, e.g. a government ministry), or it may need to subcontract some of these functions to an external organization.

The application of the graded approach in administrative functions will optimize the allocation of human resources. The number and the size of the units as well as the number of individuals that perform administrative tasks primarily depends on the size of the regulatory programme.

29 4.6.1.2. Legal support

The regulatory body often needs legal support for performing some functions, such as the drafting of legislation, regulations and guidance and their review for compatibility with other relevant laws. Legal support is also needed in the authorization process and proposed enforcement actions. The application of a graded approach to the provision of legal support needs to consider the risks associated with the existing facilities and activities to be regulated (including potential future practices), in accordance with the policy and strategy of the State.

Legal support can be in-house or provided by another organization (e.g. a relevant government ministry). A graded approach can be also followed in choosing among those options, depending on the size of the regulatory programme and the available resources.

4.6.1.3. External expert support

The regulatory body may choose to seek advice or assistance from an external expert support organization in the technical or functional areas necessary to discharge its responsibilities.

External expert support can be provided by legal organizations, standards organizations, certified testing and analytical services and advisory bodies. The regulatory body may choose to formulate a dedicated process by which the external expert support is sought and provided in accordance with the policy of the regulatory body.

The graded approach in the provision of external expert support can be applied to the following:

(a) The level of expertise necessary to perform the work;

(b) The deliverables expected from the external experts;

(c) The expected time frames.

Administrative and technical support functions need to be represented in the processes covered by the regulatory body’s management system in which the graded approach is addressed.

Recommendations on using technical and administrative support are provided in GSG-12 [3].

4.6.2. Transport of radioactive material

Requirements for the transport of radioactive material (by all modes on land, water, or air) are established in IAEA Safety Standards Series No. SSR-6 (Rev. 1), Regulations for the Safe Transport of Radioactive Material [13]. In SSR-6 (Rev. 1) [13], a graded approach is applied on the basis of three different conditions of transport, as follows:

(a) Routine conditions of transport (incident free);

(b) Normal conditions of transport (minor mishaps);

(c) Accident conditions of transport.

The application of the graded approach in the transport of radioactive material needs to be based on the nature of transport activities in the State and on the consequences of a failure of the package to meet the requirements established in SSR-6 (Rev. 1), especially in relation to contents limits for packages and conveyances and in the performance standards applied to package designs. Implicitly, this means that in developing national transport regulations based on SSR-6 (Rev. 1) [13], the graded approach is applied by basing these regulations on the transport activities within the country (e.g. there is no need to include in national regulations

the transport of fissile material if fissile material is not transported in the country or not foreseen to be transported in the near future).

In this regard, the competent authority for the transport of radioactive material may at least include in the core processes the following:

− Formulating regulations based on the package type, conveyances and package designs;

− Classifying packages based on packaging components;

− Reviewing the relevant documentation;

− Drafting an inspection plan based on risk analysis taking into account the consequences of failure and the transport plan of the carrier.

More guidance on transport activities and the application of the graded approach is given in Annex IX of Ref. [9].

4.6.3. Research and development

Regulatory activities rely on state of the art scientific and technical knowledge obtained from national and international research and development programmes. In this context, research and development is the supporting function of the regulatory body which is used to assess and evaluate the technical basis of the regulatory decisions.

In applying the graded approach in research and development the following, inter alia, may be considered:

− National policy and strategy for safety;

− National priorities in research and development related to the radiation safety;

− Specific national needs for regulating safety;

− Relevant safety areas discussed in national and international fora;

− New technological developments;

− Operating experience;

− Unresolved issues on safety.

The application of a graded approach in research and development may be reflected in the resources devoted such as the number of staff involved, time frame, training programme, administrative burden, and the infrastructure to be used.

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