Safety Case Toolkit

Standards and Guidance

There is a wealth of Standards and Guidance available via the various International and National advisory and regulating bodies.

For over 50 years the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has developed a safety standards programme. More than 200 safety standards have been published which reflect an international consensus on what constitutes a high level of safety for protecting people and the environment.

While regulating safety is a national responsibility, international standards and harmonised approaches to safety promote consistency and help to provide assurance that nuclear and radiological related technologies are operated safely. The IAEA is required by Statute to promote international cooperation. The IAEA Safety Standards provide a robust framework of fundamental principles, requirements and guidance to ensure safety. They are applicable, as relevant, throughout the entire lifetime of facilities and activities.

The principal users of the IAEA Safety Standards are regulatory bodies and organisations that design, manufacture and operate nuclear facilities. The IAEA Safety Standards are not binding and the guidance is implemented in different ways in different countries. In the UK, the IAEA Safety Standards were used to benchmark the latest review of the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) Safety Assessment Principles for Nuclear Facilities (SAPs) in the continuing review of the ONR Technical Assessment Guides (ONR TAGs). As well as being used to benchmark the SAPs, the Safety Standards were also used in deriving the Western European Nuclear Regulators Association (WENRA) reference levels, which are published on the WENRA website (http://www.wenra.org/).

Additional Information & Guidance