Rostechnadzor Deputy Chairman takes part in fourth plenary meeting of IAEA Nuclear Harmonization and Standardization Initiative

On December 5, 2025, Alexey Ferapontov, Deputy Chairman of the Federal Environmental, Industrial and Nuclear Supervision Service, participated in the fourth plenary meeting of the IAEA Nuclear Harmonization and Standardization Initiative (NHSI) in Vienna, Austria. The participants included senior representatives of nuclear and radiation safety regulatory bodies, the nuclear industry of IAEA Member States, and various international organizations.

The meeting was devoted to summing up the interim results within the second phase of the NHSI (launched in early 2025; completion is planned for late 2026) and discussing strategic aspects of further activities in order to achieve the set objectives of promoting the safe deployment of small modular reactors (SMRs) and other advanced reactor technologies, taking into account high safety standards.

In accordance with the meeting agenda, IAEA experts presented general information on the progress of the NHSI’s second phase within all working groups of the regulatory and industry tracks (members include representatives of Rostechnadzor and the Scientific and Technical Center for Nuclear and Radiation Safety).

Discussing strategic aspects of future activities, Alexey Ferapontov noted that the practical development of approaches to conducting joint (multinational) safety reviews, developed during the initial phase of pilot reactor design assessments, is undoubtedly significant for the NHSI’s future activities. National experience in conducting safety reviews for advanced designs, as well as other types of multinational assessments and international cooperation, should also be taken into account.

The EAGLES-300 small modular reactor with lead coolant, with a capacity of approximately 300 MWe, has been selected as the pilot project. It is being developed by the EAGLES consortium, which was established in June of this year. It includes the Belgian nuclear research center SCK-CEN, the Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development ENEA, the Italian company Ansaldo Nucleare, and the Romanian state organization for the coordination of nuclear research and development RATEN. The consortium’s goal is to deliver the first demonstration model by 2035.

Additionally, the Deputy Chairman of Rostechnadzor proposed to include in the future the work program multinational pre-licensing activities in relation to projects with widespread light-water reactor technology, including the Russian RITM-200, which is in high demand, primarily among nuclear newcomers.

A separate section was focused on the discussion of work to establish a “Global Framework for Advanced Reactor Reviews” (GFARR). The main objectives of the GFARR are to ensure uniformity of approaches to reactor design safety assessments by different national regulators, minimize duplication of effort, and reduce the licensing time for new nuclear power plants, including those with advanced reactors.

The participants confirmed the importance of taking into account not only the provisions of current IAEA documents, but also the significant diversity of national safety regulations.

For reference:

On June 23-24, 2022, a kickoff meeting was held in Vienna to discuss the implementation of IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi’s Nuclear Harmonization and Standardization Initiative. Its goal is to accelerate and simplify the introduction of new reactor technologies while meeting high safety standards. Implementation of the Initiative is organized into two separate tracks, one involving regulators and the other involving representatives of the nuclear industry.

The initial phase of the Initiative was completed in 2024 with the preparation of a series of TECDOCs detailing approaches for conducting multinational safety assessments (reviews), including at the early stages of advanced reactor projects (multinational pre-licensing assessment), and the next phase of the Initiative was launched at the third plenary meeting on 21 October 2024.

As part of the second phase of the regulatory track, the work involving Rostechnadzor and the Scientific and Technical Center for Nuclear and Radiation Safety included the following five topics:

- development of practical guidelines for cooperation;

- development of a database on regulatory and cooperation issues in the field of small modular reactor (SMR) safety;

- practical application of approaches to multinational pre-licensing safety assessments (EAGLES-300) within a pilot project;

- development of a step-by-step plan to create a global framework for exchanging experience of safety assessments among regulators;

- development of practical guidelines and tools on nuclear security issues for SMRs.