Maintenance is a core activity that ensures the safe, reliable, and cost-effective operation of nuclear power plants throughout their expected lifetimes. This publication collates knowledge and insights from experts from various Member States and identifies general good practices — rather than specific examples — that maintenance managers and personnel can adopt to promote consistently high performance in maintenance. It provides guidance to help navigate some common challenges, such as retaining a highly skilled and committed workforce, optimizing maintenance programmes and efficiently overseeing suppliers and additional staff. It also examines the fundamental aspects of maintenance, such as managerial approach to conducting maintenance activities; the planning and control of maintenance activities with a focus on contractor oversight; the management of documentation and personnel skills; the use of key performance indicators; and the conduct of benchmarks.

The Regional Cooperative Agreement for Research, Development, and Training Related to Nuclear Science and Technology for Asia and the Pacific (RCA) was established in 1972 and has since benefited from the IAEA Technical Cooperation (TC) programme. Highlighting the socio-economic impact of the RCA in the region is crucial. Therefore, National RCA Representatives have endorsed an initiative to conduct a social and economic impact assessment of the RCA programme supported under the IAEA TC programme from 2000 to 2023. The results of these assessments will be published and disseminated to RCA State Parties, relevant stakeholders, and the public. This report is one of the planned four reports in the areas of air quality monitoring, food safety, groundwater and nuclear medicine.

Electrostatic accelerators contribute significantly to activities within various fields of work including basic research, environmental monitoring, climate change, water and air quality, forensics, cultural heritage, agriculture, and development of advanced materials for energy production via fission or fusion. Due to an increase in the analytical as well as irradiation capabilities of electrostatic accelerators, there has been a rapid growth in interest from the industrial sector. Different accelerators have their own physical and technological characteristics, and therefore are targeting specific application areas. This publication provides practical guidance, across a range of functions, on low energy electrostatic accelerator operations and maintenance as well as some considerations for safety-related issues. The intended audience of this publication includes professionals involved in the operation and maintenance of electrostatic accelerators, scientists of different disciplines using electrostatic accelerators for interdisciplinary research applications, and lecturers focusing on physics and engineering aspects in the operation of electrostatic accelerators.

This publication contains the latest information on coated particle fuel technologies and may be used as a baseline reference to support the fuel technologies of high temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) small modular reactors (SMRs). The HTGR concept is considered a promising nuclear reactor technology due to its inherent safety and operational features. A typical example of its unique core design is the inert, single-phase coolant (helium gas) coupled with a high-temperature, high-heat capacity moderator (graphite), which allows for a greater response time to core heat up accidents. As HTGRs have the potential to supply high temperature process heat, many other applications such as hydrogen production and electricity generation are also viable. Coated particle fuel technology research programmes have been pursued in several Member States, including the design, manufacturing, characterization, irradiation behaviour and behaviour prediction, accident tests and simulations. This TECDOC is a resource for researchers and for nuclear power plant engineers and operators, fuel technology engineers and designers, and material science engineers.

This publication shares the experience gained in the Fukushima Prefecture on environmental transfer data from Japan after the release of radionuclides to the environment from the Fukushima Daiichi NPP (FDNPP). It provides a compilation and analyses of the radioecological information obtained during the cooperation between the IAEA and Fukushima Prefecture between 2012 and 2022. In particular, it examines the behaviour of radiocaesium in freshwater ecosystems and the effectiveness of decontamination and remediation, providing a comparison with global experience. This information is useful for informing the management of areas affected by enhanced levels of radiocaesium after an accidental release from a nuclear facility.

Between 1979 and 2011, three severe nuclear power plant (NPP) accidents occurred at Three Mile Island (TMI, USA), Chornobyl (ChNPP, Ukraine), and Fukushima Daiichi (IF, Japan), resulting in melted reactor cores. Additionally, PAKs NPP Unit 2 (Hungary) experienced a loss of cooling accident in 2003 during the cleaning of irradiated fuel. The accidents at TMI and PAKs have been remediated to the extent that the material is either in monitored safe storage or is packaged pending processing. ChNPP Unit 4, which was destroyed during the accident, was finally stabilized in 2016 with the installation of new safe containment. The decommissioning of IF NPP remains a major challenge as three of the first-generation reactor cores suffered meltdown. In 2015, the Coordinated Research Project on the management of severely damaged spent fuel and corium was established. This publication examines the efforts of participating Member States in the characterization, recovery, and management of fuel containing materials (fuel assemblies, fuel debris, corium and melted corium-concrete interaction products) to support future decommissioning and environmental remediation activities. It also provides an overview of the loss of cooling accidents and insights into the evolution of corium and fuel debris in storage conditions, which will support ongoing decision-making on the management of these materials.

This publication examines the benefits and challenges of recovering uranium from phosphate ores as an alternative to conventional uranium mining. It considers the low cost of uranium extraction from phosphate ores, its potential profitability and discusses the relative speed of equipping fertilizer plants with uranium recovery units (i.e. two to three years), compared with conventional uranium mines, which can take ten years or longer to develop. These issues are examined in detail, alongside supply security and environmental concerns. This TECDOC is intended for policy makers working on uranium supply security; mining and mineral processing experts working on unconventional uranium recovery and/or solvent extraction; and for researchers working on uranium concentrations in fertilizers and potential natural uranium accumulation in agricultural soils.

This TECDOC provides practical guidance to Member States interested in embarking on new nuclear programmes. It contains good practices from capacity-building training programmes implemented by the IAEA and several experienced Member States, and captures lessons learned from current practices and experiences. As a handbook, it is intended to support managers and technical personnel within regulatory bodies and operating organizations in their preparation for developing their own capacity-building programmes for regulatory safety reviews.

Nuclear power plants (NPPs) are designed to ensure minimal waste arising during operation, and waste management processes further ensure that radioactive waste is managed safely and cost effectively. Although safety requirements for waste management need to be fulfilled unconditionally, the implementation of cost-efficient processes depends on the individual radioactive waste management (RWM) and spent fuel (SF) management policies adopted in a particular Member State. This publication provides end-users with useful technical information regarding waste minimization at NPP operations and examines typical waste inventories and minimization methodologies. It additionally explores solutions for optimizing the minimization of waste and evaluating RWM practices.

Regulatory enforcement is a core regulatory function and an important aspect of the regulatory oversight of nuclear facilities and activities. IAEA Safety Standards Series Nos. GSR Part I (Rev. 1) and GSG-13 provide requirements and recommendations for establishing and implementing enforcement policy. However, the lessons identified from various IAEA expert missions, peer reviews and regulatory conferences have revealed inconsistencies in the understanding, development and implementation of effective enforcement policies by regulatory bodies, highlighting the need for specific guidance on regulatory enforcement. The objective of this TECDOC is to assist regulatory bodies in developing and implementing an enforcement policy and process in line with the IAEA safety standards. It includes practical guidance from regulatory bodies with relevant experience and provides recommendations for enhancing enforcement actions in line with effectiveness, efficiency, and consistency. Additionally, it provides methods for evaluating the significance of non-compliances using a graded approach and applying the appropriate enforcement actions. This publication is intended for regulatory bodies, technical support organizations and competent authorities responsible for the oversight of nuclear facilities and activities.

This TECDOC offers practical guidance on implementing a graded approach to the Systematic Approach to Training (SAT) for personnel at nuclear facilities. A graded approach to SAT benefits nuclear facilities by raising the quality and effectiveness of training, which in turn makes a significant contribution to safety and performance. This TECDOC is intended for managers and specialists associated with training and personnel in nuclear facilities and regulatory organizations, as a supplement to IAEA Nuclear Energy Series No. NG-T-2.8, Systematic Approach to Training for Nuclear Facility Personnel: Processes, Methodology and Practices.