Regulatory inspection of nuclear safety and security

On 14 February 2019, the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia adopted the Law on Radiation and Nuclear Safety and Security (the „Law“), published in the Official Gazette No. 10/2019 dated 15 February 2019, effective the day after publishing in the Official Gazette.

The adopted amendments cover the scope of work of the Directorate for Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety of Serbia (the “Directorate”), which includes the implementation of regulatory control and implementation of regulatory inspection control over the implementation of measures for radiation safety and nuclear security.

According to the Law, the Directorate will take over employees who work on the position of inspection control for protection from ionizing radiation in the Ministry of Environmental Protection, as well as equipment and archive necessary for carrying out activities of regulatory inspection. The takeover will be completed 30 days after the act regulating the systematization of operations in the Directorate becomes effective.

The amendments envisage for the Minister of Environmental Protection to carry out the tasks of regulatory inspection control for protection from ionizing radiation until the Directorate takes over employees from the Ministry of Environmental Protection.

The objective of the amendments is to consistently achieve the harmonization of the Law with the Law on the Confirmation of the Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management and the Law on the Conformation of the Convention on Nuclear Safety.

The other objective of the amendments is to achieve continuous regulatory inspection control as well, in order to achieve the highest level of radiation safety and nuclear security in the Republic of Serbia, thus, completing the gap created in the performance of regulatory inspection control.