Title: Regulatory independence and accountability: a survey of international nuclear regulatory regimes

Authors: Timothy P. Matthews; Esther K. Park

Addresses: Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP, 1111 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20004, USA ' Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP, 1111 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20004, USA

Abstract: As the government of India considers development of an independent regulator for civil nuclear power, examples from other nations around the world, including those with established civil nuclear programmes and those now developing new nuclear, provide interesting insights and lessons to be learned. This paper compares the organisational structure of the Indian governmental agency, the Nuclear Safety Regulatory Authority, proposed in Bill No. 76 of 2011, with the organisational structures of independent national regulators of civil nuclear power programmes from the USA, the UK, Japan, the People's Republic of China and the United Arab Emirates. The paper discusses where in the government the agency is housed, sources of authority, sources of funding, regulatory powers and functional independence, both from the government agency charged with developing civil nuclear power and from nuclear facility operators.

Keywords: civil nuclear industry; commercial nuclear industry; regulatory independence; inspection; Japan; licences; China; permits; promotional functions; regulatory powers; UAE; United Arab Emirates; UK; USA; United Kingdom; United States; accountability; international regulation; nuclear regulatory regimes; organisational structure; government agencies; sources of authority; funding sources; functional independence.

DOI: 10.1504/IJNUCL.2013.052041

International Journal of Nuclear Law, 2013 Vol.4 No.1, pp.5 - 19

Published online: 20 Sep 2014 *

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