NRC ANNOUNCES AVAILABILITY OF THE IAEA’S INTEGRATED REGULATORY 

REVIEW SERVICE FINAL REPORT ON NRC NUCLEAR REACTOR PROGRAM

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has received a final report on the agency’s 

operating reactor program evaluated by a team of experts organized by the International Atomic 

Energy Agency (IAEA). The IAEA Integrated Regulatory Review Service (IRRS) team assessed 

the U.S. regulatory infrastructure against international safety standards and good practices. 

Results indicate that the NRC has a well-established national policy and strategy for nuclear 

safety. The report also has recommendations and suggestions for improvement that NRC will 

review and will then determine what actions the agency should take. Within approximately 24 

months, the IAEA will send a follow-up IRRS team to review the NRC’s actions.

“The IRRS report confirms our strong approach to ensuring the safety of nuclear power 

plants in the United States,” said NRC Chairman Gregory B. Jaczko. “This report is the 

culmination of several years of work by our staff and the IRRS team who conducted the 

evaluation. The team’s positive findings about our safety program are gratifying and their 

suggestions for additional improvements are informative and will be carefully considered. I am 

proud of the NRC staff’s support of this important IRRS mission and their ongoing commitment 

to making us the strongest and most effective regulator possible.” 

The final IRRS report and the NRC’s IRRS activities are outlined and available on the 

NRC website at http://www.nrc.gov/public-involve/conference-symposia/irrs-missionreview.html.

The review process began in 2007 when the NRC requested this regulatory peer review to 

demonstrate its strong commitment to nuclear safety, continuous improvement, critical selfassessment and information-sharing with the international community. The review is carried out 

in three phases: 1) a self assessment (conducted in 2007 and 2009); 2) a peer review onsite

(October 17–29, 2010); and 3) a follow-up peer review (18-24 months following the peer 

review).

As the host regulator, the NRC began phase two in October 2010 by providing to the 

IRRS team a detailed self-assessment of 10 core subject areas covering U.S. nuclear reactor 

safety regulations and their relationship to IAEA safety standards. The IRRS team provided an 

independent peer review of the self-assessment, interviewed NRC staff, examined documents 

and observed NRC inspectors conducting inspection activities. The team drafted a report 

NRC NEWS

U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

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No. 11-038 March 9, 2011
outlining its observations and recommendations at the conclusion of the visit, and provided the 

final report this month. 

The IAEA has conducted IRRS missions in several countries, including Romania, United 

Kingdom, France, Australia, Japan, Mexico and Canada. More information on the IRRS program 

is available on the IAEA website at: http://www-ns.iaea.org/reviews/rs-reviews.htm.

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