1. Overview of Regulatory Cooperation Forum (RCF) Activities RCF Plenary
22 September 2017
Vienna, Austria
Jean-Luc Lachaume
RCF Chairman
Deputy Director-General of ASN, France
Welcome note!

2. Regulatory Cooperation Forum (RCF)
Content
RCF background
Current activities
Coordination
RCF support mechanism
Mapping matrix
Conclusion

3. 1. RCF background I1
Regulatory Cooperation Forum (RCF) was established in June 2010.
RCF objectives
To promote collaboration and cooperation among RCF members to improve coordination of support to regulatory infrastructure development for regulators in embarking countries.
To contribute to achieving and sustaining a high level of nuclear safety, consistent with the IAEA Safety Standards and Guidance.
To optimize resources among RCF members and avoid unnecessary support duplication through improved coordination.
RCF new Chairman and new Vice Chairman since 22 Sepetember 2017
Mr Bismark Mzubanzi Tyobeka, Chief Executive Officer, NNR, South Africa
Mr Nader Mamish, Director, Office of International Programs, NRC, USA
At the 2009 Conference on “Effective Nuclear Regulatory Systems” in Cape Town, South Africa, regulatory bodies of Member States agreed to establish a regulator-to-regulator forum to improve collaboration and coordination for regulatory capacity building among Member States with established nuclear power programmes and those considering the introduction or expansion of such programmes. In June 2010, the Regulatory Cooperation Forum (RCF) was established. The IAEA was invited to provide the Secretariat to the RCF.

4. RCF implementation framework
1. RCF background I2
29 RCF members
- 12 providers: Canada, China, Finland, France, Japan, Korea, Pakistan, Russia,
UK, USA, EC and IAEA
- 14 recipients: Jordan (2010 active), Viet Nam (2012 active), Poland (2014 active),
Belarus (2014 active), Bangladesh, Chile, Egypt, Iran, Nigeria,
South Africa, Sudan, UAE, Ghana (2017 active) and
Morocco (2017 active)
- 3 observers: Germany, Kenya and OECD/NEA
RCF Activities
Steering Committee: Annual meeting mainly on policy-related issues
Support Meeting: Annual meeting on updating Action Plans of support activities
Plenary Meeting: Annual meeting in margin of the IAEA General Conference
Support activities: Workshops and others based on Action Plans, and working group meetings upon necessity
RCF implementation framework
Support activities: Including Workshops based on Action Plans and working group meetings (if necessary ).
- Extra-budgetary funding from Japan and USA
- 2 CFEs from Japan and US

5. 2. Current activities I1
RCF Plenary in September 2016 in Vienna: around 70 participants, exchange-experience on independence of a regulatory body and regulatory approach (prescriptive versus performance-based).
RCF Workshop on Regulatory Control in November 2016 in Vienna: 13 participants from 8 RCF recipient countries – Bangladesh, Belarus, Jordan, Kenya, Nigeria, Poland, Sudan and Viet Nam.
RCF meeting with PAA, Poland in February 2017 in Warsaw:
identified 8 RCF support activity plans, and generis design assessment
exercise has been organized under IAEA TC ( ).
RCF meeting with VARANS, Viet Nam in March 2017 in Vienna: Keeping involved in RCF as active recipient, because national nuclear power program has been under consideration.

6. 2. Current activities I2
RCF regulatory control workshop on licensing in July 2017 in Vienna, including Zwentendorf NPP walk-down: 19 participants from 11 RCF recipient countries – Bangladesh, Belarus, Chile, Egypt, Ghana, Iran, Jordan, Nigeria, Poland, Sudan and Viet Nam.
RCF meeting with GAN, Belarus in July 2017 in Minsk: identified 6 RCF support activity plans.
RCF meeting with EMRC, Jordan in August 2017 in Amman: identified 3 RCF support activity plans.
China: became a RCF Steering Committee member in June Now 12 members in total.
Ghana and Morocco: became RCF active recipient countries in June
2017. Now 6 active recipient countries in total.

7. 3. Coordination IAEA TC Coordination by RCF
Regional support frameworks:
ANNuR (Arab Network of Nuclear Regulators)
FNRBA (Forum for Nuclear Regulators in Africa)
ANSN (Asian Nuclear Safety Network)
Support activity plans approved by each Steering Committee
RCF meeting with each RCF active recipient country once a year, using a mapping matrix
IWP (integrated work plan) developed by IAEA-TC
IAEA TC
Coordination by RCF
Bilateral cooperation agreement/partnership:
EC, Vender countries and other countries
Support plans developed
RCF action plan updated and shared with all RCF members and others

8. 4. RCF support mechanism RCF providers RCF active recipients
In line with RCF action plan coordinated with other support frameworks
RCF providers
RCF active recipients
Expect to share knowledge and experience in regulatory infrastructure development
RCF active recipient
(Phase 3)
RCF active recipients in Phase 2
RCF recipients
(+ ANNuR and FNRBA recipients in collaboration)
IAEA
as RCF secretary
e.g., RCF workshops on regulatory control in 2016 and 2017, licensing process in 2017

9. 5. Mapping matrix I1
Mapping matrix allows for the systematic identification of necessary support activity plans, using SSG-16 "Establishing the Safety Infrastructure for a Nuclear Power Programme“ (200 actions for regulator, central government and operator) as a template, together with the results (recommendations and suggestions) of IAEA review missions (IRRS and INIR) and through a periodical face-to-face meeting with each RCF recipient country.
Mapping matrix, updated annually, allows to see a holistic picture of all support activity plans and review mission results in an easy-to-understand matrix which corresponds to the complex challenge of regulatory infrastructure development.

10. 5. Mapping matrix I2
RCF crafted the following mapping matrices so far:
Current 6 active recipients
Belarus, Jordan, Poland, Viet Nam, Ghana and Morocco
+ Bangladesh and Sudan as the candidate of active recipient countries
Other support frameworks
ANNuR (Arab regulators) *
FNRBA (African regulators) *
ANSN (Asian regulators)
TSOF (technical support organization forum)
*Safety-Security Matrix for ANNuR and FNRBA, based on SSG-16 and Nuclear Security Series No.19 "Establishing the Nuclear Security Infrastructure for a Nuclear Power Programme"

11. 5. Mapping matrix for Country X

12. 6. Conclusion
RCF underlines “coordination” for its active recipient countries to develop more effective support activity plans and avoid unnecessary duplication of support activities, using a mapping matrix, and ensure that regulatory infrastructure development is consistent with the IAEA Safety Standards.
RCF active recipient country in Phase 3, getting ready for operation of the first nuclear reactor, is expected to share knowledge and experience in regulatory infrastructure development with other RCF active recipient countries in the near future.
Collaborative activities with other support frameworks (e.g., ANNuR and FNRBA) are expected to continue in an effective and efficient way.