From observer status to full membership – Poland in WENRA
14.11.2023
Members of the Western European Association of Nuclear Regulators (WENRA) have endorsed Poland's application to join the Association. Until now, our country has had an observer status. Poland's application for full membership was approved by all the countries making up the Association at the WENRA plenary meeting, which is being held in Paris on November 13-15th.
– This is a very important day for us. Poland is officially joining the Western European Association of Nuclear Regulators (WENRA) as a full member – said the President of the National Atomic Energy Agency, Andrzej Głowacki. – As of today, we will have a real influence on the decisions made within the structures of the Association. I hope that the PAA's work within WENRA will bring many benefits to the Association. I am convinced that for Polish nuclear regulatory authority, full participation in this organization will be extremely valuable. We are preparing more and more intensively to supervise the construction of Poland's first nuclear power plant. This is a big challenge – the assistance of foreign partners who already have experience in licensing and oversight of nuclear power plants is particularly valuable for us – added the President of the PAA.
The Western European Nuclear Regulators Association (WENRA) was established in 1999. The group brings together on a voluntary basis the heads of nuclear regulatory authorities of the European Union Member States and Switzerland. The purpose of the Association's activities is to harmonize requirements and practices for the siting, design, construction and operation of nuclear power plants and their decommissioning. The Association also deals with requirements and practices related to the storage and disposal of radioactive waste. Since March 2023, in the wake of the war in Ukraine, WENRA has expanded its scope of cooperation to include nuclear safety - the exchange of experiences and practices in this area by individual member countries.
WENRA operates through permanent or ad hoc working groups, and develops nuclear safety "reference levels", known as SRLs (Safety Reference Levels), which are accepted by all members. The National Atomic Energy Agency participates in three working groups on:
- reactor harmonization (RHWG – Reactor Harmonization Working Group),
- radioactive waste (WGWD - Working Group on Waste & Decommissioning),
- research reactors (WGRR - Working Group on Research Reactors).
Currently, the Association is made up of 19 member countries, represented by national regulatory authorities.
