National Atomic Energy Agency

During the IRRS follow-up mission, a dozen or so experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency will return to Poland to review the progress made in implementing the recommendations and suggestions provided during the international review conducted in 2023. The ongoing two-day meeting in Warsaw is primarily intended to discuss substantive and organizational preparations ahead of the spring evaluation.

Among those who met at the PAA headquarters were Mike King from the U.S. nuclear regulatory authority, the mission chair; Wendy Su — an expert from the Singaporean regulatory authority who will serve as vice-chair of the IRRS follow-up mission; and members from the International Atomic Energy Agency who are supporting the organization of the verification mission. The Polish side was represented by officials from the National Atomic Energy Agency, the Ministry of Energy, the Ministry of Health, the Chief Sanitary Inspectorate, the National Center for Radiological Protection, and the Civil Aviation Authority. The President of the PAA served as host.

“I must admit that these have been three extremely busy years,” noted PAA President Andrzej Głowacki at the start of the meeting. “This is due not only to the extensive efforts to implement the recommendations and suggestions resulting from the IRRS mission, but also—in a broader sense—to the significant changes taking place in Poland as a country implementing a nuclear power program,” added the PAA President.

As the head of Poland’s nuclear regulatory authority pointed out, issues of nuclear safety and radiation protection in Poland are becoming increasingly important, and the project to build a nuclear power plant is moving into its next phases. The National Atomic Energy Agency has already begun reviewing the application for a license to construct a nuclear power plant. This is an extensive set of documents comprising over 40,000 pages. “A project of this scale requires appropriate flexibility, expertise, and efficient communication and cooperation among all parties involved,” noted President Andrzej Głowacki. He reported that over the past three years, the PAA has expanded in terms of personnel, expertise, and infrastructure. Never before has the PAA team been so diverse in terms of expertise or so large—the Agency currently employs nearly 200 staff members. As President Andrzej Głowacki noted, the implementation of the IRRS mission’s recommendations and suggestions has created many opportunities for reflection and discussion regarding our legal framework and organizational solutions.

The International Atomic Energy Agency’s Integrated Regulatory Review Service (IRRS) team conducted a 12-day mission in Poland in September 2023. Foreign experts concluded that the National Atomic Energy Agency is a competent regulatory authority. The full mission report is available on the PAA website: https://www.gov.pl/web/paa/przeglad-irrs