IEEE and IAEA sign Cooperative Agreement on Nuclear Power Technologies

IEEE announced the signing of an agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) establishing Practical Arrangements to cooperate in sharing of best practices and documents and standards development in the area of nuclear safety and energy. The official signing ceremony was held at IAEA’s headquarters in Vienna, Austria on 29 September 2016.

Following the Fukushima accident, the IAEA Nuclear Energy Department and Nuclear Safety and Security Department have been working with IEEE to develop a nuclear energy series and safety guide on accident monitoring systems for nuclear power plants. In signing the agreement establishing Practical Arrangements for cooperation, IEEE and IAEA have established an official platform to reduce duplication and conflicts between IAEA guidelines and IEEE publications.

“Safety is an overriding concern in the nuclear energy field, where standardization and document development tied to instrumentation and control systems, electrical equipment, computer processing systems, as well as human factors, all need to be addressed to protect both the public and those individuals working in the field,” says Konstantinos Karachalios, managing director for IEEE Standards Association (IEEE-SA). “IEEE’s cooperative agreement with IAEA represents a very positive step forward in sharing best practices and bringing together the best minds to work collaboratively towards advancing nuclear safety and energy.”

IEEE and IAEA will cooperate in the development of publications to promote harmonization on topics of mutual interest. IAEA’s signing of the Practical Arrangement agreement with IEEE is the first the agency has made with an international standards development organization and has initially been established for three years.