Regional Basic Professional Training Course in Korea

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3. Basic Principles Of Nuclear Safety
A national commitment to safety as the fundamental requirement for a nuclear
program.
Independent of those features, there are differences in the history, development, current
structure and scope of responsibilities of various national nuclear regulatory bodies. It is
the responsibility of the national nuclear regulatory body to indicate in what specific way
the fundamental safety objectives and technical and policy challenges can be met on the
basis of national and/or international safety standards.
To establish a clear regulatory guidance, the national authority commonly uses the whole
spectrum of possibilities that are included in the national legal framework pyramid. That
means, in accordance with the hierarchical structure of the IAEA Safety Standards ‐
consisting of Safety Fundamentals, Safety Requirements and Safety Guides ‐ the
authority will develop ordinances, regulations, guidelines or recommendations,
depending on the subject which is treated. These ordinances, regulations, guidelines or
recommendations usually have different addressees. They could be mandatory for
everyone, they could be mandatory only for the administration or they could be just
recommendations of a group of experts with a non‐mandatory nature. Nevertheless, these
recommendations are of great practical importance, as the authorities usually demand the
proof of their fulfillment within the scope of the safety assessment.
These different documents are established in different procedures. They could be enacted
by the government, promulgated by the authority or as internal assessment guidance
issued by the authority. Depending on the kind of document the preparation takes place
with or without the participation of the interested parties and / or public.
Safety standards and the way in which they are treated are part of the safety culture of a
country. The approaches vary, but three general types can be observed. They are