U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Office of Public Affairs, Region IV

Walnut Creek Field Office

1450 Maria Lane, Walnut Creek, CA 94596-5378

CONTACT: Mark Hammond Jan. 6, 1998

Office: (510) 975-0254 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Home: (415) 674-1024

RIV 98-01

NRC CHAIRMAN JACKSON AND INTERNATIONAL NUCLEAR REGULATORS

SCHEDULE NEWS CONFERENCE IN WALNUT CREEK

Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson, Chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, will

hold a news conference this week in Walnut Creek, California, during a meeting of top officials

of the nuclear regulatory agencies of Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Spain, Sweden, the

United Kingdom and the United States.

The news conference will be at 5:15 p.m. Thursday, January 8, at the NRC’s Region IV

Field Office in Walnut Creek. The NRC office is located at 1450 Maria Lane, in the Creekside

Oaks office park, off Newell Avenue between Broadway and South Main Street in downtown

Walnut Creek. Chairman Jackson will make some brief introductory remarks, and then will be

available, along with the other INRA members, for questions from the media.

The news conference will take place on the first day of a meeting of the International

Nuclear Regulators Association (INRA). The Association was created in May 1997 in an effort

to enhance international cooperation and communications of a high policy level among nuclear

regulators, and thereby improve nuclear safety and the regulation of nuclear reactors and

materials worldwide. Dr. Jackson is the INRA Chairman.

Besides the meeting at the NRC’s Walnut Creek office, officials will also visit two U.S.

Department of Energy (DOE) facilities: the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in

Livermore, California, and Yucca Mountain in Nevada, the site northwest of Las Vegas being

evaluated for its suitability by DOE as a permanent geologic repository for the spent fuel

generated in U.S. commercial nuclear reactors. NRC would be the licensing agency for the

repository and has been monitoring DOE’s studies at Yucca Mountain. NRC has begun

identifying key technical issues associated with the licensing of a geologic repository at that

site.

During the meeting, top regulators will continue discussions, begun at the INRA’s

inaugural meeting last May in Paris, on national trends in electric generation and their effect on

nuclear safety. It will also focus on how national regulatory approaches impact nuclear safety

and the identification of key elements in nuclear safety regulation worldwide.
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The INRA meets twice a year. Besides Dr. Jackson, INRA members are:

Canada--Dr. Agnes Bishop, President and Chief Executive Officer, Atomic Energy

Control Board.

France--Andre-Claude Lacoste, Director, Directorate for the Safety of Nuclear

Installations.

Germany--Gerald Hennenhofer, Director-General for Nuclear Safety, Federal

Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety

Japan--Yasumasa Togo, Chairman, Nuclear Safety Commission Tomihiro Taniguchi,

Deputy Director-General, Ministry of International Trade and Industry

Spain--Dr. Juan Manuel Kindelan, President, Council for Nuclear Safety

Sweden--Lars Hogberg, Director-General, Nuclear Power Inspectorate

United Kingdom--Dr. Sam A. Harbison, Director and Chief Inspector, Nuclear

Installations Inspectorate, Health and Safety Executive

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