Ensuring Nuclear Safety Culture in Ghana: Regulatory Perspective Ekua Mensimah Hayford Nuclear Regulatory Authority, Ghana Workshop on Harmonized Nuclear Safety Culture Framework. 23- 25 October2017,Vienna, Austria

ORDER OF PRESENTATION INTRODUCTION NUCLEAR SAFETY CULTURE RELATED TO MANAGEMENT AND OPERATION SAFETY CULTURE DURING CONVERSION OF GHANA MNSR MEASURES OF SAFETY CULTURE IMPLEMENTATION AT NRA CONCLUSION

INTRODUCTION The Nuclear Regulatory Authority Act, 2015 (Act 895) has established the NRA as the competent authority for nuclear regulation in Ghana Staff from Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC) were transferred to form foundation staff of NRA in January 2016 The objectives of the Authority are to: ensure that radiation and nuclear energy is used by only persons authorized under the Act 895 for peaceful purposes; - provide protection of persons and the environment against the harmful effects of radiation hazards; - pursue and ensure strict compliance with Act 895 and Regulations The Authority is organized as shown in Figure 1 below

NRA Board Director-General Deputy Director-General Research & Technical Committee Director-General Internal Audit Legal Affairs Dept. International Relations & Public Affairs Dept Executive Committee Deputy Director-General Education & Training Monitoring & Evaluation Director Radiological & Non-Ionising Directorate Director Finance & Administration Directorate Director Nuclear Installations Directorate Radiological Application Finance Nuclear Safety Non-Ionising Applications Human Resource Nuclear Security Emergency Response General Services & Procurement Safeguards and Non-Proliferation Instrumentation and ICT Fig. 1: Organogram of NRA

NUCLEAR SAFETY CULTURE RELATED TO MANAGEMENT AND OPERATION A Draft Safety Policy has been formulated capturing the following: An established safety culture governs the actions and interactions of all individuals and organizations engaged in activities related to facilities Comprehensive and systematic safety assessments are to be carried out periodically and regularly for existing installations throughout their lifetime in order to identify safety improvements. Safety improvements are to be implemented in a timely manner. Organizations concerned ensure that operating experience and the results of research relevant to safety are exchanged, reviewed and analysed and that lessons are learned and acted on. Operational excellence is achieved in facility operations by: augmenting safety culture and defense in depth; improving human performance; maintaining excellent material condition and equipment performance; using self-assessments and peer reviews; exchanging operating experience and other information around the world; increasing application of probabilistic Safety Assessments; and extending the implementation of severe accident management.

SAFETY CULTURE DURING CONVERSION OF GHANA MNSR One of our major tasks as regulators was the oversight of conversion of the Ghana MNSR from HEU to LEU The conversion took place to inline with international efforts to reduce the use of HEU in civilian use Before the licence for the conversion was issued, a review of the facility SAR and other documents was conducted The Safety Analysis reports for items such as TUK-145/C and ES3100 were also reviewed The process for loading LEU fuel took place from 4th July to 8th August 2017 and inspectors from Safety Department and other Departments of NRA were on site to ensure adherence to regulatory requirements The assessment was communicated to inspectors through mails and in person by the Director of the Nuclear Installations Directorate. Briefing on daily activities was done by the team leader At the end of the conversion report was submitted detailing observations, challenges and recommendations. The radiation levels in and around the reactor hall remained background between 0.05µSv/h and 0.08µSv/h throughout the period of the core loading activities. The overall activities were satisfactory and successful, however, safety culture of the licensee needs to be improved.

MEASURES OF SAFETY CULTURE BEING UNDERTAKEN AT NRA NRA is developing an Integrated Management System in line with GSR Part 2 capturing: Recruitment, Selection and Appointment of Personnel addressing Performance, Assessment and Training; and Employing Temporary Workers and Outsourcing Process Implementation addressing Documents control; Control of records; Purchasing; Communications; Managing organizational changes; Project Management; Preparation of Technical Reports; Regulatory Technical Support; Incoming and Outgoing Correspondence; Numerical Calculations; Archiving; Software Administration & ICT. Measuring, Assessing and Improving Development of methodologies for ensuring safety at facilities Evaluation of safety culture at nuclear facilities

CONCLUSION Ghana seeks to adequately address her Safety, Security, Safeguards and Non-Proliferation obligations through institution of an effective regulatory framework Ensure that a stronger Safety Culture Framework is built and maintained NRA appreciates the assistance we continue to receive from the Agency

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