Regulatory concepts of proven in NPP technology: A case study of Indonesia

A study on regulatory concepts of proven in NPP technology for the case of Indonesia has been carried out. Indonesia as an embarking country has issued several regulations related to the proven of NPP technology. According to the IAEA international standard, good regulations and guidelines among others should be adequate and comprehensive. It also states that the purpose of regulations and guidelines is to ensure the stability and consistency of regulatory oversight and to confirm impartiality in regulatory decision making. They must be adequate in establishing principles, requirements and criteria to be used for assessing compliance, and are consistent and comprehensive. Thus, this paper will discuss whether the concept of proven in NPP technology of Indonesian regulations are adequate and comprehensive. This is a very important question to be asked, because the current regulations on this topic have never been executed in a real NPP project and that the function of regulation is to ensure that the design and technology for the upcoming NPP could provide safety assurance in an acceptable level, and for sure could prevent an event similar to the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident from happen. The study was descriptive, analytic and qualitative in nature, and conducted by reviewing the applicability of internationally acceptable references such as international agreements that Indonesia is the contracting party and some relevant international safety requirement standards, as well as regulations and guidelines from countries that has built NPP technology, and then comparing them with the existing regulations in Indonesia. This paper concludes that basically regulations in Indonesia related to the proven of NPP technology are in line with the international agreements and standards. Furthermore, there is still a wide room for improvement in these regulations. Among others, by introducing the concept of proven design and construction, proven codes and standards, and proven procedures, and especially regarding the acceptance criteria for all types of these proven attributes. The results of this study, and relevant regulations and guidelines from countries that have built NPP technology, may be used as a reference for developing a road map to enhance national regulations and the implementing guidelines.