NSSC Chair to Attend IAEA General Conference

[Financial News] Choi Won-ho, chair of the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission (NSSC), will attend the 70th General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which will be held in Vienna, Austria, from the 14th to the 18th. He will discuss nuclear safety regulatory issues with the international community. The IAEA General Conference is held every September, and representatives from 181 member states are expected to attend this year’s meeting.
During the conference, Choi will also attend the 58th meeting of the International Nuclear Regulators Association (INRA). He plans to discuss regulatory issues in each country with the heads of nuclear regulatory bodies from nine countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom and Japan, and exchange views on INRA’s key achievements to date and its future role as the association marks its 30th anniversary.
Choi will also hold bilateral meetings during the conference with the United Arab Emirates’ Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation (FANR), the Czech Republic’s State Office for Nuclear Safety (SÚJB), and Singapore’s National Environment Agency (NEA) to discuss ways to strengthen cooperation.
First, with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which operates four Korean APR1400 nuclear reactors, he plans to share key safety issues and regulatory experience related to the same reactor design. As both countries are preparing to introduce next-generation nuclear technologies, they will also explore expanding regulatory cooperation into new technology areas, including small modular reactors (SMRs) and artificial intelligence (AI).
With the Czech Republic, where a South Korean company has won a contract to build a new nuclear power plant, the discussions will focus on APR1000 safety regulation cooperation. The NSSC plans to share the current status of its review of the APR1000 standard design approval and discuss ways to strengthen cooperation, including continued information exchanges between the two countries’ regulatory authorities during the licensing process for the Dukovany project.
With Singapore, which has recently been considering the introduction of nuclear power, Choi will share the status of South Korea’s efforts to establish an SMR regulatory framework and discuss future cooperation.
Choi said, "As the nuclear regulatory environment is changing rapidly, cooperation among regulatory authorities is becoming increasingly important to ensure the safe use of new technologies." He added, "While actively sharing South Korea’s safety regulatory experience with the international community, we will work more closely with major countries on emerging regulatory issues involving small modular reactors (SMRs), artificial intelligence (AI), and other technologies."
[email protected] Yeon Ji-an Reporter