FANR shares nuclear regulatory experience with US delegations

The Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation, FANR, has shared its experiences with two visiting US delegations on establishing a nuclear regulatory framework in the United Arab Emirates.

Releasing the details of the visits, FANR said that yesterday it hosted a 10-member group of state lawmakers, which was organised by the National Conference of State Legislatures, NCSL, and a delegation of nuclear energy experts yesterday, which was organised by the Nuclear Energy Institute, NEI, a leading organisation representing the US nuclear industry, and the US-UAE Business Council, a body dedicated to advancing bilateral commercial relations between the United States and the UAE.

The NEI group comprised 17 experts including officials from Westinghouse Electric Company, Bechtel Power Corporation, Cameco Inc. and Exelon Generation.

FANR Director-General, Christer Viktorsson, met the delegations with FANR's Deputy Director-General for Administration, Mohamed Sultan Al Zaabi, and acting Deputy Director-General for Operations, Ian Grant, in attendance. The talks focused on FANR's activities to assess the UAE's nuclear power plant now under construction at Barakah in the Western Region of Abu Dhabi.

FANR is currently reviewing a licence application from the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation to operate the first two reactors at the site. FANR officials also described in the meetings the full scope of FANR's programmes to ensure the safe, secure and peaceful nature of all nuclear and radiation-related activities in the UAE.

"FANR is committed to complete transparency and international cooperation, so these visits were excellent opportunities for us to describe our accomplishments and to listen to these groups of distinguished state lawmakers and nuclear energy specialists," said Viktorsson.

The UAE has established extensive relationships with nations around the world, including the United States, where FANR has recently renewed its detailed cooperation agreement with the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, NRC. The agreement calls on the two national nuclear regulators to exchange technical information, cooperate in nuclear safety research and enable FANR staff to train with their US NRC counterparts. FANR also works closely with US technical support organisations and the US Department of Energy.

"As I live and work in a US state with nuclear power, I am very impressed by FANR's efforts to establish world-class nuclear regulations to ensure the safety and security of the UAE's nuclear energy programme," said Tim Moore, Speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives and leader of the NCSL delegation.