Regional Basic Professional Training Course in Korea

Safety Requirements; and,
Safety Guides.
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3. Basic Principles Of Nuclear Safety
Safety Fundamentals documents are the ”policy documents“ of the IAEA Safety
Standards Series. They state the basic objectives, concepts and principles involved in
ensuring protection and safety in the development and application of atomic energy for
peaceful purposes. They state the rationale for actions necessary in meeting Safety
Requirements, but do not provide technical details nor go into the application of
principles. IAEA efforts to combine these documents into one Safety Fundamentals
document that will cover all these areas are well underway.
The Safety Requirements deal with the basic requirements that must be met in order to
ensure the safety of particular activities. These requirements are governed by the basic
objectives, concepts and principles presented in the Safety Fundamentals documents. The
written style (with “shall” statements) is that of regulatory documents so that States may
adopt the Safety Requirements as national regulations at their own discretion.
The Safety Guides documents contain recommendations (with “should” statements),
based on international experience, regarding measures to ensure that the Safety
Requirements are met. But unless alternative equivalent measures are implemented, the
”should“ statements in practice become “shall” requirements, because they are indicative
of the level of safety to be achieved through the recommended measures. Again, the style
of the Safety Guides is such that States can adopt them at their own discretion as national
regulatory guidance material.
IAEA safety standards have been developed on the basis of international consensus, and
as such, they reflect very widely accepted safety levels. One could say that they present
some kind of internationally acceptable level. However, they do not necessarily reflect