IAEA Safety Standards Series No. – serie

Each package used for the transport of radioactive material must demonstrate compliance with the IAEA Regulations for the Safe Transport of Radioactive Material, IAEA Safety Standards Series No. SSR-6, particularly for international shipments. This new safety guide provides recommendations to support compliance with the requirement related to the ageing of transport packages, specifically addressing ageing management and maintenance. The guide applies to all package types containing radioactive material–including excepted packages, Type IP-1, IP-2, and IP-3, Type A, Type B(U), Type B(M), and Type C packages, as well as those containing fissile material or uranium hexafluoride (UF6). It covers all activities throughout the service life of transport packages where ageing management and maintenance should be considered. A graded approach is used, tailored to the type of package and its intended use e.g. single transport, repeated use, or shipment after storage. Effective ageing management helps prevent degradation that could compromise package integrity, while regular maintenance ensures ongoing compliance with safety standards. These practices not only reduce the risk of incidents during transport but also support the long-term sustainability of transport activities, protect workers and the public, and reinforce confidence in regulatory compliance and operational excellence. This safety guide offers practical recommendations to support consistent and effective implementation, helping stakeholders strengthen the safety and reliability of transport operations involving radioactive material throughout the service life of packages.

This comprehensive guide updates the 2005 safety guide, providing recommendations for designing and implementing monitoring programs to verify the level of protection for the public and the environment across planned, emergency and existing exposure situations. Intended for governments, regulatory bodies, operating organizations and other interested parties, this publication provides essential guidance on establishing responsibilities for monitoring under the national regulatory frameworks, designing and implementing monitoring programmes and strategies, and interpreting and reporting monitoring results. It offers practical insights and structured approaches to support effective assessment, management and control of public and environmental radiation exposures through the establishment of national monitoring infrastructures.

This revised Safety Guide assists Member State regulatory authorities and nuclear installation operators to comply with the IAEA safety requirements for evaluating and characterizing potential nuclear installation sites. It is applicable to all nuclear installations and combines current guidance with updated Agency requirements and the latest techniques for radiological impact assessments. This revision includes lessons learned from experience at nuclear installations and provides recommendations for assessing environmental impacts using a graded approach, particularly through groundwater transport.

This Safety Guide offers advice for meeting the requirements set out in GSR Part 2, Leadership and Management for Safety. It is designed to support operating organizations, regulatory authorities, and other governmental bodies in applying these requirements effectively. The guidance is also relevant to a broader range of organizations that contribute to safety, including technical support organizations, technical service providers, and entities within the supply chain.

Probabilistic safety assessments (PSAs) are recognized as an important tool for assessing the level of safety for nuclear power plants (NPPs). In particular, the Level 2 PSA for NPPs provides key insights about the potential radioactive releases that could affect the workers, the public and the environment following a severe accident. The purpose of this Specific Safety Guide is to provide an updated internationally accepted methodology for the development of a high-quality Level 2 PSA for NPPs. The revised Specific Safety Guide is intended for use by designers, operating organizations, technical support organizations and regulatory bodies in the development, application and independent review of Level 2 PSAs. The revised Safety Guide is also intended for use in connection with both the review for authorization (licensing) of the construction and the operation of new NPPs and the safety re-evaluation of existing NPPs during periodic safety reviews and modifications.

This Safety Guide provides recommendations on how to meet the applicable safety requirements in relation to the design aspects of new nuclear installations subjected to seismic hazard. These recommendations focus on the consistent application of methods and procedures, in accordance with best practice, for seismic analysis, design, testing and qualification of structures, systems and components. New recommendations include applications of seismic isolation systems, the seismic margin to be achieved by the design and application of the graded approach. This Safety Guide is intended for use by organizations involved in the seismic design of nuclear installations, in analysis, verification and review, and in the provision of technical support, as well as by regulatory bodies.

The recommendations provided in this Safety Guide are aimed primarily at operating organizations of nuclear power plants and regulatory bodies. It covers the concept of operational limits and conditions (OLCs), their content as applicable to nuclear power plants, and the responsibilities of the operating organization for their establishment, modification, compliance and documentation. Operating procedures (including emergency operating procedures and severe accident management guidelines) to support the implementation of the OLCs and to ensure their observance are also within the scope of this Safety Guide.

There is a general agreement that auxiliary and supporting systems play an important role in the safe operation of a nuclear power plant. There is, however, no clear definition of such systems. The purpose of this publication is to propose a stepwise definition of auxiliary systems and supporting systems for nuclear power plants with water cooled reactors, to describe the general design concepts and design recommendations that are common to these systems, and to provide recommendations on specific design considerations for a selection of auxiliary and supporting systems.

This Safety Guide provides recommendations on the necessary characteristics of electrical power systems for nuclear power plants, and of the processes for developing these systems, in order to meet the safety requirements of IAEA Safety Standards Series No. SSR-2/1 (Rev. 1). It reflects the changes that have been made to SSR-2/1, in particular to Requirement 68 on emergency power supply.

This publication provides guidance and recommendations on arrangements to be made at the preparedness stage, as part of overall emergency preparedness, for emergencies involving the transport of radioactive material. The guidance and recommendations in this Safety Guide are aimed at any State and its government, and at regulatory bodies and other response organizations, including consignors, carriers and consignees. It supports the implementation of the requirements established in IAEA Safety Standards Series No. GSR Part 7 for such emergencies, irrespective of their cause, and the IAEA Transport Regulations, IAEA Safety Standards Series No. SSR-6 (Rev. 1).

Internal hazards have to be considered in the design of items important to safety in a nuclear power plant. The objective is to provide appropriate features to prevent internal hazards and mitigate their effects to ensure that safety is not compromised. This Safety Guide provides recommendations to regulatory bodies, nuclear power plant designers and licensees on hazard assessment (including for combinations of hazards) and design concepts for protection against internal hazards in nuclear power plants, in order to meet the requirements established in IAEA Safety Standards Series No. SSR 2/1 (Rev. 1), Safety of Nuclear Power Plants: Design. The following internal hazards are reviewed in this Safety Guide: fires, explosions, missiles, pipe breaks, flooding, collapse of structures and falling objects with a focus on heavy load drop, electromagnetic interference and release of hazardous substances originating from within the site boundary.

This Safety Guide provides recommendations and guidance on how to plan and perform monitoring and surveillance programmes for disposal facilities for radioactive waste. The Safety Guide considers monitoring and surveillance for near surface disposal facilities, for geological disposal facilities and for facilities for the disposal of waste from mining and from mineral processing. The publication provides recommendations on how to use results from the monitoring and surveillance of radioactive waste disposal facilities over their entire lifetime. It covers the different objectives of monitoring and surveillance for the different periods of the lifetime of disposal facilities, from the initiation of work on a candidate site to the period after closure of the disposal facility.

This Safety Guide provides practical guidance and recommendations on ageing management for research reactors, to meet the relevant requirements of IAEA Safety Standards Series No. SSR-3, Safety of Research Reactors. It is intended for use by operating organizations in establishing, implementing and improving ageing management programmes for research reactors, and by regulatory bodies in verifying that ageing of research reactors is being effectively managed. The Safety Guide focuses on managing the physical ageing of systems, structures and components important to safety, and also provides guidance on safety aspects of managing obsolescence. This Safety Guide is a revision of IAEA Safety Standards Series No. SSG-10, which it supersedes.

This publication provides specific recommendations on research reactor instrumentation and control systems and software important to safety, including instrumentation and control system architecture and associated components, from sensors to actuators, operator interfaces and auxiliary equipment, to meet the relevant requirements of IAEA Safety Standards Series No. SSR-3, Safety of Research Reactors. The recommendations and guidance apply to both the design and configuration management of instrumentation and control systems for new research reactors and the modernization of the instrumentation and control systems at existing research reactor facilities. In addition, this Safety Guide provides recommendations and guidance on human factors engineering and human-machine interfaces, and for computer based systems and software for use in instrumentation and control systems important to safety. This Safety Guide is a revision of IAEA Safety Standards Series No. SSG-37, which it supersedes.

The transport of radioactive material is an essential activity worldwide. To ensure the protection and safety of people, property and the environment, appropriate regulations for the safe transport of radioactive material, both at the national level and at the international level, are necessary. Competent authorities regulate the transport of radioactive material through the application of national regulations, which should be consistent with relevant international regulations. This Safety Guide provides recommendations on actions that competent authorities should take to ensure compliance with the applicable regulations for the safe transport of radioactive material.

This Safety Guide provides specific recommendations on establishing a programme and organization for commissioning of research reactors to meet the relevant requirements of IAEA Safety Standards Series No. SSR-3, Safety of Research Reactors. It covers the commissioning stages, procedures, reports and documentation and provides guidance for commissioning of new experimental devices and modifications. The recommendations in this publication are intended for use by operating organizations of research reactors, regulatory bodies and other relevant organizations involved in a research reactor project. This Safety Guide is a revision of IAEA Safety Standards Series No. NS-G-4.1, which it supersedes.

This Safety Guide provides specific recommendations on the maintenance, periodic testing and inspection of research reactors to meet the relevant requirements of IAEA Safety Standards Series No. SSR-3, Safety of Research Reactors. It provides guidance on design considerations and recommends good practices in implementing the programme and establishing the organization and responsibilities for maintenance, periodic testing and inspection as well as for the selection, training and qualification of personnel. Procedures, administrative controls and maintenance facilities are also covered as well as procurement and storage of spare parts and components, and testing and inspection methods and techniques used for maintenance, periodic testing and inspection. The recommendations provided in this Safety Guide are aimed at operating organizations of research reactors, regulatory bodies and other organizations involved in a research reactor project. This Safety Guide is a revision of IAEA Safety Standards Series No. NS-G-4.2, which it supersedes.

This Safety Guide provides specific recommendations on core management and fuel handling for research reactors, including handling and storage of fresh fuel, irradiated fuel, core components and neutron sources, to meet the relevant requirements of IAEA Safety Standards Series No. SSR-3, Safety of Research Reactors. The recommendations in this publication are intended for use by operating organizations of research reactors, regulatory bodies and other relevant organizations involved in a research reactor project. This Safety Guide is a revision of lAEA Safety Standards Series No. NS-G-4.3, which it supersedes.

This Safety Guide is a revision of IAEA Safety Standards Series No. NS-G-4.4, which it supersedes. The revised version provides specific recommendations on developing, formulating and presenting the operational limits and conditions as well as the operating procedures for research reactors, to meet the relevant requirements of IAEA Safety Standards Series No. SSR-3, Safety of Research Reactors. The recommendations in this publication are intended for use by operating organizations of research reactors, regulatory bodies and other relevant organizations involved in a research reactor project.

This Safety Guide provides recommendations on radiation protection and radioactive waste management in the design and operation of research reactors, to meet the relevant requirements of IAEA Safety Standards Series No. SSR-3, Safety of Research Reactors. It identifies important components that should be considered at the design stage with regard to facilitating radiation protection and radioactive waste management. It also recommends good practices in implementing operational radiation protection and radioactive waste management programmes, and in their optimization. This Safety Guide is a revision of IAEA Safety Standards Series No. NS-G-4.6, which it supersedes.

This Safety Guide provides recommendations and guidance on achieving and demonstrating compliance with IAEA Safety Standards Series No. SSR-6 (Rev. 1), Regulations for the Safe Transport of Radioactive Material (2018 Edition), which establishes the requirements to be applied to the national and international transport of radioactive material. Transport is deemed to comprise all operations and conditions associated with and involved in the movement of radioactive material, including the design, fabrication and maintenance of packaging, and the preparation, consigning, handling, carriage, storage in transit, shipment after storage and receipt at the final destination of packages. The Advisory Material is not a stand-alone text. It is to be used concurrently as a companion to the IAEA Safety Standards Series No. SSR-6 (Rev. 1) and each paragraph of this guide is numbered correspondingly to the paragraph of the Regulations to which it most directly relates.

Aimed primarily at operating organizations of nuclear power plants and regulatory bodies, this Safety Guide covers the safety objective of core management and the basic tasks of the core management programme. The receipt of fresh fuel, storage and handling of fuel assemblies and core components, the loading and unloading of fuel assemblies and core components, and the insertion and removal of other reactor materials are within the scope of this Safety Guide. The publication also covers the preparations for the dispatch of irradiated fuel from the site.

This Safety Guide provides recommendations on how to meet the requirements established in IAEA Safety Standards Series No. SSR-2/1 (Rev. 1) in relation to the reactor coolant system and associated systems for nuclear power plants. It is a revision of IAEA Safety Standards Series No. NS-G-1.9, which it supersedes. The publication takes into account developments, experience and practices in the design of nuclear power plants throughout their lifetime. It references and considers other IAEA safety standards that are relevant and related to the design of the reactor coolant system and associated systems for nuclear power plants. Recommendations to achieve the required reliability of the capabilities designed to transfer residual heat to the ultimate heat sink in the different plant states are also included. As those systems are dependent on specific reactor technologies, more appropriate recommendations have been developed respectively for pressurized light water reactors, boiling water reactors and pressurized heavy water reactors.

This Safety Guide supersedes the 2010 edition of IAEA Safety Standards Series No. SSG-9. It takes account of recently gained knowledge and practices developed by Member States related to seismic hazards, especially lessons from the Fukushima Daiichi accident. It also addresses concomitant events associated with earthquakes, such as tsunamis. The revision provides a clearer separation between the process for assessing the seismic hazards at a specific nuclear installation site and the process for defining the related basis for design and safety assessment of the nuclear installation. Thus, it bridges gaps and avoids undue overlap of the two processes, which correspond to and are performed at different stages of siting of the nuclear installation.

The objectives of nuclear criticality safety are to prevent a self-sustained nuclear chain reaction. This Safety Guide provides guidance and recommendations on how to meet the relevant requirements for ensuring subcriticality when dealing with fissile material and for planning the response to criticality accidents. The recommendations address how to ensure subcriticality in systems involving fissile materials during normal operation and during credible abnormal conditions, from initial design through commissioning, operation and decommissioning. This publication also provides recommendations on identification of credible abnormal conditions; performance of criticality safety assessments; verification, benchmarking and validation of calculation methods; safety measures to ensure subcriticality; and management of criticality safety. The guidance and recommendations are applicable to both regulatory bodies and operating organizations.

This Safety Guide provides recommendations on the safety assessment for research reactors in the authorization process, and on performance of safety analysis and preparation of the safety analysis report. It also incorporates the relevant lessons learned from the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant and elaborates guidance on interfaces between nuclear safety and nuclear security. The recommendations in this Safety Guide are intended for operating organizations of research reactors; it can also be used by designers performing a safety assessment for a research reactor. Furthermore, this guide provides useful guidance for regulatory bodies performing a review and assessment of submitted safety analysis reports as an important document within authorization process. This Safety Guide is a revision of IAEA Safety Standards Series No. SSG-20, which it supersedes.

This Safety Guide provides recommendations on how to meet the applicable safety requirements in relation to the design aspects of new nuclear installations subjected to seismic hazard. These recommendations focus on the consistent application of methods and procedures, in accordance with best practice, for seismic analysis, design, testing and qualification of structures, systems and components. New recommendations include applications of seismic isolation systems, the seismic margin to be achieved by the design and application of the graded approach. This Safety Guide is intended for use by organizations involved in the seismic design of nuclear installations, in analysis, verification and review, and in the provision of technical support, as well as by regulatory bodies.

Internal hazards have to be considered in the design of items important to safety in a nuclear power plant. The objective is to provide appropriate features to prevent internal hazards and mitigate their effects to ensure that safety is not compromised. This Safety Guide provides recommendations to regulatory bodies, nuclear power plant designers and licensees on hazard assessment (including for combinations of hazards) and design concepts for protection against internal hazards in nuclear power plants, in order to meet the requirements established in IAEA Safety Standards Series No. SSR 2/1 (Rev. 1), Safety of Nuclear Power Plants: Design. The following internal hazards are reviewed in this Safety Guide: fires, explosions, missiles, pipe breaks, flooding, collapse of structures and falling objects with a focus on heavy load drop, electromagnetic interference and release of hazardous substances originating from within the site boundary.

This Safety Guide provides recommendations on how to meet the requirements of IAEA Safety Standards Series No. SSR-2/1 (Rev. 1), Safety of Nuclear Power Plants: Design, in relation to fuel handling and storage systems. The publication addresses the design aspects of handling and storage systems for fuel that remain part of the operational activities of a nuclear reactor. It covers the following stages of fuel handling and storage in a nuclear power plant: receipt, storage and inspection of fresh fuel before use and transfer of fresh fuel into the reactor; removal of irradiated fuel from the reactor and transfer of the irradiated fuel to the spent fuel pool; and reinsertion of irradiated fuel from the spent fuel pool into the reactor. Recommendations are also provided on the storage, inspection and repair of irradiated or spent fuel in the spent fuel pool, and the preparation for the removal of this fuel from the spent fuel pool and on the handling of fuel casks in the spent fuel pool and on their transfer.