根据国际原子能机构核协调统一和标准化倡议最近的会议，全球为统一不同类型小型模块堆技术及其监管方案所做的努力正在持续取得重大进展。
根据国际原子能机构核协调统一和标准化倡议最近的会议，全球为统一不同类型小型模块堆技术及其监管方案所做的努力正在持续取得重大进展。
在全球范围内部署先进堆，特别是小型模块堆，需要一种能在若干国家获得许可的标准化设计，从而实现快速和高效部署，并使开发商实现规模经济，由此核协调统一和标准化倡议应运而生。协调统一的监管方案对于快速、安全地部署小型模块堆也至关重要。
核协调统一和标准化倡议第三次全体会议于本周在维也纳召开，会议在原子能机构小型模块堆及其应用国际会议开幕前举行，总结了迄今为止取得的进展，并就下一阶段的建议方向进行了讨论。
原子能机构总干事拉斐尔·马里亚诺·格罗西宣布本次年度会议开幕。他说：“几乎每天都有令人振奋的消息传来，比如某家公司达成了协议，或者有人说将在小型模块堆领域开展重要且激动人心的项目。核协调统一和标准化倡议关注的是头条新闻背后的内容，是期望背后的现实。”
总干事补充说，小型模块堆既是“市场所需，也是地球所需。”
格罗西先生还补充道：“全球部署小型模块堆需要一定程度的监管趋同。我们并不是追求完全一致，因为这是不可能的，但如果没有一定程度的具体协作，我们就无法利用其他人的成果，那么模块化和灵活性的商业模式就无法发挥作用。”
原子能机构核电司司长艾琳·德克卢瓦索解释了该项目的愿景，即“在确保安全可靠的同时简化核电生产”。
她补充道：“我们正在为小型模块堆项目铺平道路，使其部署更快捷、更简便、更经济。”
核协调统一和标准化倡议的工业轨道有来自超过30个国家的200多名参与者，围绕四个主要协调领域开展工作，包括最终用户要求和合作开发用于监测先进核反应堆的安全和性能的计算机代码（实验和代码验证共享网络）。
工业轨道的短期目标是规划多个途径，缩短供应商和客户所花费的时间并降低成本；促进形成监管审批的共同方案；并总结小型模块堆部署模式的经验教训；长期目标是让工业、最终用户和各国为大规模部署小型模块堆做好准备。
原子能机构核装置安全司司长安娜·哈伊杜克·布拉德福德阐述了该倡议第二轨道的目标。“核协调统一和标准化倡议监管轨道的长期目标是制定一个全球先进堆监管审查框架。这是一个雄心勃勃的目标。”
实现这一目标的步骤包括在监管机构之间建立高度信任，并了解不同国家监管框架的共性和差异。
布拉德福德补充道，核协调统一和标准化倡议一直与国家监管机构密切合作，同时“始终确保成员国保持自身的主权和决策权。”
“此外，我们设想成立一个专门的小型模块堆核安保工作组，这将为成员国提供另一种重要资源。”
数十个国家还就核协调统一和标准化倡议迄今的进展和未来的计划发表了看法。各方普遍认为第一阶段所做的工作很有价值，并为第二阶段规划了方向，提出了许多议题，以供继续考虑。
阿拉伯联合酋长国联邦核监管局局长Christer Viktorsson说：“显然，这一倡议正在产生影响，已经为实现协调统一和标准化提供了动力。第二阶段当然应侧重于落实第一阶段的项目”
英国核监管办公室的Paul Fyfe赞同说：“行业和监管机构之间的合作与协作是关键。英国核监管办公室大力支持第二阶段的工作。这项工作的落实实属必要。”
美国核能研究所新核能执行主任Marcus Nichol也赞同道：“我们赞同大家阐述的愿景，既包括促进工业轨道，也包括推动形成监管框架和减少不必要的设计变更，因此我们对此表示赞赏。对第二阶段的所有建议都没错，所有这些方面都会有价值。”
监管机构和行业的代表就一系列其他问题发表了意见，包括保障问题、安全和安保问题、与启动核电国家共享信息、保密问题、避免重复工作、监管机构与设计者及营运者之间的协作、选择最佳优先事项以及确保咨询技术专家。
该倡议现已进入下一阶段，即落实工作组提出的诸多建议。
第二阶段的重点是提供工具，促进更好地了解监管的共性和差异，研究特定技术的用户要求，并探讨为长周期项目审批提供便利所需的条件。
“The global deployment of SMRs will need a degree of regulatory convergence,” added Mr Grossi. “We’re not aiming at unison, as it’s impossible, but without some degrees of concrete collaboration where we can leverage what others are doing, the business model of modularity and flexibility is simply not going to work.”
Aline des Cloizeaux, Director, Division of Nuclear Power of the IAEA, explained the vision of the project is to “to make nuclear simpler while keeping it safe and secure”.
She added: “We are paving the way for SMR projects that are faster, simpler and more economical to deploy.”
The industry track of NHSI has had more than 200 contributors from over 30 countries and has worked in four main areas of harmonization, including end user requirements, and collaboration on computer codes for monitoring the safety and performance of advanced nuclear reactors (NEXSHARE).
The short-term goals are to map pathways and reduce timelines and costs to both vendors and customers; to facilitate common approaches for regulatory approvals; and to gather lessons learned from SMR deployment models – with the long-term goal of preparing industry, end-users and countries for large-scale SMR deployment.
Anna Hajduk Bradford, Director of the IAEA’s Division of Nuclear Installation Safety, explained the goals of the second track of the initiative. “The long-term aspiration of the NHSI regulatory track is the development of a global framework for regulatory reviews of advanced reactors. This is an ambitious goal.”
Steps towards that goal include building a high level of trust among regulatory bodies and an understanding of commonalities and differences among regulatory frameworks in different countries.
NHSI has been working closely with national regulators while “always ensuring the member states’ keep their own sovereignty and decision making,” Bradford added.
“In addition, we envisage the establishment of a dedicated working group on nuclear security of SMRs, which will serve as another important resource for Member States.”
Dozens of countries also gave their thoughts on NHSI’s progress so far and plans for the future. There was widespread agreement on the value of the work done in the first phase, and the direction planned for the second phase, with many topics raised for ongoing consideration.
Christer Viktorsson, Director General, Federal Authority For Nuclear Regulation (FANR), United Arab Emirates said: “It is clear this initiative is having an effect, it is already creating momentum for working towards harmonization and standardization. It’s clear that Phase II should focus on the implementation of projects from Phase I.”
Paul Fyfe from the United Kingdom’s Office For Nuclear Regulation (ONR) agreed: “Cooperation and collaboration between industry and regulators is key. The UK ONR strongly supports Phase II. There’s a real need for this work to be done.”
Marcus Nichol Executive Director for New Nuclear from the United States’ Nuclear Energy Institute agreed: “We share your visions that you articulated for both the industry track and to facilitate the regulatory frameworks and reduce unnecessary design changes, so we appreciate that. All of the proposals for Phase II are on the right track, all of those areas will be valuable.”
Representatives from regulators and industry spoke on a range of other questions relating to safeguards; safety and security issues; information sharing with newcomer countries; confidentiality; avoiding duplication of work; collaboration between regulators, designers and operators; choosing the best priorities; and ensuring technical experts are consulted.
NHSI is now moving to the next phase, which will be to implement many of the recommendations the working groups have come up with.
Phase II will also focus on providing tools to help understand regulatory commonalities and differences better, it will examine technology-specific user requirements and explore what is needed to facilitate the approval of what is known as long-lead items.