From April 25 to May 18, 2017, four important international events were held with the participation of the managers and specialists of Gosatomnadzor

The spring plenary meeting of the Western European Nuclear Regulators Association (WENRA) was held in Bern (Switzerland) on April 26-27, 2017.
In Isfahan (Iran), on May 2-3, 2017, the Belarusian delegation participated as observers in the meeting of the 24^th Annual Forum of Regulatory Authorities of Countries Operating the Water-Water Power Reactors (WWER).
In Minsk, on May 2-5, 2017, a training seminar “Inspections and control over the implementation of the regulatory requirements in the field of physical protection of ionizing radiation sources” was held under the Global Material Safety Program with the support of the US Department of Energy.
On May 16-18, 2017, the National Seminar on the preparation of IAEA IPPAS mission (International Physical Protection Advisory Service) was organized and successfully conducted on the basis of Gosatomnadzor.

The spring plenary meeting of the Western European Nuclear Regulators Association (WENRA) was held in Bern (Switzerland) on April 26-27, 2017, during which the information was presented on topical issues of nuclear safety management, among other things the leaders of WENRA working groups informed about the events, activities and proposals of the working group on waste and decommissioning of nuclear facilities and the working group on harmonization of requirements for reactor installations.

In the course of the meeting, the representatives of Gosatomnadzor discussed with the heads of a number of regulatory bodies from West Europe countries the issues of carrying out stress-tests of the Belarusian NPP and the potential readiness of the specialists from certain European countries to participate in the implementation of the new EU international technical assistance project for the regulatory body of the Republic of Belarus.

The participants of the WENRA forum were also informed of the relevant information about the nuclear and radiation safety regulation in the Republic of Belarus.

In Isfahan (Iran), on May 2-3, 2017, the Belarusian delegation participated as observers in the meeting of the 24^th Annual Forum of Regulatory Authorities of Countries Operating the Water-Water Power Reactors (WWER).

The forum discussions included the presentation of working groups on reactor physics, management of equipment ageing, and also country reports from Bulgaria, China, the Czech Republic, Finland, Hungary, India, Germany, Russia, Iran, and Ukraine. Belarus presented the information on the regulation of nuclear and radiation safety in the Republic of Belarus and approaches to managing of NPP equipment ageing.

The next anniversary 25^th meeting of the WWER Forum is scheduled to be held in 2018 in the Republic of Belarus.

In Minsk, on May 2-5, 2017, a training seminar “Inspections and control over the implementation of the regulatory requirements in the field of physical protection of ionizing radiation sources” was held under the Global Material Safety Program with the support of the US Department of Energy.

In the course of the seminar, the participants from MES (Gosatomnadzor, Institute of Advanced Training and Retraining, University of Civil Protection), the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Belarusian State University studied the methodology of course design for the training of inspectors in the field of physical protection of ionizing radiation sources based on the experience of specialists from the Pacific Northwest Laboratory of the US Department of Energy.

On May 16-18, 2017, the National Seminar on the preparation of IAEA IPPAS mission (International Physical Protection Advisory Service) was organized and successfully conducted on the basis of Gosatomnadzor.

The seminar was held under the guidance of international experts from IAEA, Bulgaria and Great Britain.

34 representatives from the Ministry of Emergency Situations, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Energy, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Transport, the Operational and Analytical Center under the President of Belarus, National Academy of Sciences, State Border Committee, State Military Industrial Committee, The Investigative Committee, and the Belarusian NPP participated in the seminar.

The issues on the IAEA activity in the field of nuclear security, the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material and the amendment to the Convention on Physical Protection of 2005 were considered and discussed.

The most attention was paid to the preparation procedure, organization and conduct of the IPPAS mission, taking into consideration the experience of the countries that hosted the IPPAS mission and the challenges in the preparation phase.

For additional information, please contact Oleg Sobolev, the Head of the Sub-division of Communications and Public Information of Gosatomnadzor, tel. (8-017) 200-92-16