Regulatory Inspection of NiRR 1

Abstract

REGULATORY INSPECTION OF NiRR-1 The NIRR-1 is covered by the Project and Supply Agreement INFCIRC/526-October 1996, between the IAEA , the Governments of the Republic of Nigeria and the People’s Republic of China. NIRR-1 is operated by the Centre for Energy Research and Training (CERT); Ahmadu Bello University and belongs to the Nigerian Atomic Energy Commission (NAEC). CERT is about three hundred kilometres north of Abuja, the capital city of Nigeria. Therefore Inspection is an examination, observation, measurement or test undertaken by the Regulatory Authority to assess structures, systems, components and materials, as well as operational activities, processes, procedures and personnel competence.

This seminar discusses the legal basis for inspection which is to regulate the safe promotion of nuclear research and development and the application of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, Section 15(2) of the Act… Shall inspect the premises to which the application relates and carryout such other investigations as will assist the Authority in arriving at a decision in the matter, Section 37(2)(a-d) also gives the Inspector the authority to carryout inspection without any form of hindrances from the operator. This types of inspection are announced and unannounced inspection.

The objectives of the inspection is to provide a high level of assurance that activities performed by the operator at all stages of authorization process were executed safely and meet the safety objectives and license condition, there must be enough personnel who have the necessary competences for the efficient and safe performance of their respective duties, and deficiencies and abnormal condition are identified and promptly evaluated and remedied by the operator are duly reported to the regulatory body as required . Meanwhile the major areas to be examined during safety inspection are Administrative, Nuclear safety, Radiation Protection and other safety issue.

The inspector should verify that procedures for experiments exist and are used in care of experiments with major significance to safety, it should be verified that they have followed a formal licensing process including commissioning. The Inspector should verify that procedures for reactor modification exist and are used. It should be verified that completed modifications have been properly documented and that the relevant parts of the safety analysis report have been updated. The inspectors must verify that they have waste management, physical security and surveillance and record keeping. The seminar recommended that systematic training and retraining of Inspector in different area of reactor safety and commitment should be made on the code of conduct on the safety of research reactor. Seminar presented by Saiyadi sulaiman, and et al