In the absence of a high level of technical competence and sufficient operat­ing experience, it is not feasible to develop a full set of national safety standards for an NPP before the licensing process gets started. Safety stan­dards relevant to siting of the NPP and to general safety criteria may be nationally developed from IAEA models and made appropriate to the national conditions and requirements. Other more technological standards, like those of the IAEA and of the NPP vendor’s country, could be appro­priately used during the detailed design safety review process. However, the safety standards required for commissioning and then for operation of the NPP should be developed before commissioning work starts. This can be done based on the knowledge of the NPP design acquired from the design safety review and with appropriate technical assistance from the ER.

The full set of national safety standards could be developed after gaining a few years of operating experience when the national experts would have also acquired a good level of technical competence.