On the 15th June 2023, WENRA issued a position on the safety situation of the Zaporizhzhya NPP with regards to the consequences of the Kakhovka dam rupture. This position is based on the work conducted by experts from WENRA, TSOs and the European Commission.

At its April 2023 plenary meeting, WENRA addressed the growing interest of many stakeholders of the nuclear sector in SMR projects. WENRA issued a statement that highlights its members’ interest in developing collaboration on SMRs, for instance through joint assessment processes. WENRA also expressed its expectations for the nuclear industry to ensure that such joint assessments can be carried out successfully.

Olivier Gupta, as WENRA’s Chairman, was invited as a key note speaker to participate in the 6th international Conference on Effective Nuclear Radiation Regulatory Systems organised by the IAEA in Abu Dhabi (UAE) from 13 to 16 February.

At its November 2022 plenary meeting, WENRA discussed the consequences of the current energy crisis on regulatory activities and issued a statement which highlights the importance of nuclear safety in this new challenging context.

The WENRA Working Group on Research Reactors met from 11 to 15 October in Garching, Germany. After more than two years of virtual meetings, the group could finally meet again in real life. Besides spending the necessary time on the on-going benchmarking (self-assessment and peer review) of the national regulation against the Safety Reference Levels for Research Reactors that were issued in 2020, the group wrapped-up its review of the transition of issues S to SV and T to TU for SRLs for RRs. Furthermore the position on the applicability of existing RHWG guidances on Issue F and Issue T to research reactors was practically finished. The group also visited the FRM-II research reactor and had an interesting walkdown of this installation.

On the 10^th August 2022, WENRA issued a position on the safety situation of Zaporizhzhya NPP after reported shelling activities.