Source: Jim Conca, Forbes, September 30, 2019
Canadian and United States nuclear regulators have signed a first-of-a-kind Memorandum of Cooperation that will see our two countries collaborate on the technical reviews of advanced reactor and small modular reactor technologies.
Kristine Svinicki, Chair of the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and Rumina Velshi, President and CEO of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, signed the MOC in Ottawa that is specifically designed “to increase regulatory effectiveness through collaborative work on the technical reviews of advanced reactor and small modular reactor technologies.”
Svinicki and Velshi announced in June that the agencies would begin exploring enhanced bilateral cooperation through joint regulatory reviews of developing nuclear technologies, including advanced reactors and small modular reactors. The MOC calls for the agencies to work under a previously established steering committee to begin developing the infra- structure needed to share and evaluate cooperative opportunities and best practices in the analysis of advanced reactor and SMR designs.
This development comes on the heels of other nuclear developments in the political world and an apparent uptick in nuclear power worldwide as an essential component of addressing global issues of energy and climate.