NUCLEAR COOPERATION | CORDEL WORKSHOP
Accelerating nuclear deployment
CORDEL:
The 5th CORDEL Regional Workshop highlights how learning from projects like Barakah can help to deliver best practice in collaborative nuclear development. NEI spoke with Allan Carson, Senior Programme Lead – Safety & Licensing at World Nuclear Association to explore some of the key aims and objectives
THE 5TH COOPERATION IN REACTOR Design Evaluation and Licensing (CORDEL) Regional Workshop was held under the banner theme: Accelerating nuclear deployment through international cooperation and was designed to provide insights into how the entire nuclear sector, including governments, regulators, reactor vendors, and the supply chain, will have to develop and work together to support the necessary expansion of nuclear power, as well as the role that international organisations can play to support that growth..
Q: How can events like the CORDEL programme help nuclear growth goals to be achieved? A: World Nuclear Association’s mission is to facilitate the growth of the nuclear sector, a key aspect of this is by connecting players across the value chain. So, events like the CORDEL workshop are vital forums for connecting and enabling international collaboration, bringing industry and regulators together to focus on goals and the barriers to achieve them. In the context of the goal to triple global nuclear capacity,
this requires a rapid increase in reactor deployment – an essential component of that rapid deployment is enhancing regulatory alignment to facilitate regulatory efficiency speed up the processes and increase certainty. Connecting industry and regulators helps to share knowledge and best practices, as well as fostering an enabling environment to new technology.
Q: The workshop will highlight lessons learned and best practices from the Barakah NPP project. Please outline some of the key approaches that illustrate best practice. A: The Barakah project has been a huge success, going from initial policy for a reactor programme in 2009, to bringing four units online in 15 years. Once the 4th unit enters commercial operation (expected later this year), Barakah will be the 7th largest nuclear power plant in the world, providing up to 25% of the country’s electricity needs for the next 60 years. The key aspects that made this project a success are strong and committed leadership from government downwards, the meticulous planning phase to select the right technology, suppliers, and international partners, as well as broader international collaboration and knowledge transfer between national regulators and industry partners. While sticking with a proven design helped ensure a smooth regulatory compliance process. The wider project management, public engagement campaign, and developing a local skilled workforce and supply chain were important aspects too.
Q: How might those approaches be deployed in other regions and countries? A: The first thing is having clear policy and vision with a strong committed leadership, like the UAE had to implement a nuclear power programme. Newcomer countries will need to seek support from each other and more experienced
Above: Development of Barakah NPP could serve as a model for industry cooperation 28 | June 2024 |
www.neimagazine.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49
