Development process for the standards

Safety standards committees exist for the preparation and review of the IAEA safety standards; they cover nuclear safety, radiation safety, radioactive waste safety and the safe transport of radioactive material (IAEA, 2011b). A Commission on Safety Standards (CSS) oversees the entire safety standards programme. All IAEA member states may nominate experts for the safety standards committees and may provide comments on draft standards. The membership of the CSS is appointed by the Director General of the IAEA and includes senior government officials having responsibility for establishing national standards.

Some standards are developed in cooperation with other bodies in the United Nations system or other specialized agencies, including the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the International Labour Organization, the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency, the Pan American Health Organization and the World Health Organization. The safety standards are kept up to date: five years after publication they are reviewed to determine whether revision is necessary.

The IAEA Safety Standards Series has three categories:

1 Safety Fundamentals — These present the objectives, concepts and principles of protection and safety and provide the basis for the safety requirements.

2 Safety Requirements — These establish the requirements that must be met to ensure the protection of people and the environment, both now and in the future. The requirements, which are expressed as ‘shall’ statements, are governed by the objectives, concepts and principles of the Safety Fundamentals. If they are not met, measures must be taken to reach or restore the required level of safety. The Safety Requirements use regulatory language to enable them to be incorporated into national laws and regulations.

3 Safety Guides — These provide recommendations and guidance on how to comply with the Safety Requirements. Recommendations in the Safety Guides are expressed as ‘should’ statements. The Safety Guides present international good practices. Each Safety Requirements publication is supplemented by a number of Safety Guides, which can be used in developing national regulatory guides.

For Safety Fundamentals and Safety Requirements, the drafts endorsed by the CSS are submitted to the IAEA Board of Governors for approval for publication. The membership of the IAEA Board of Governors is drawn from the governments of IAEA member states. Through this process it is intended that the standards achieve a global consensus.