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Site and External Events Design Review Service (SEED)

SEED is a bundled peer review service designed to assist the IAEA’s Member States in the different stages of life of nuclear installations (power plants, research reactors, advanced reactors, etc.) based on IAEA Safety Standards and Guidelines. The SEED modules address the following phases of the development of a nuclear project: site selection, site safety assessment, design of structures, systems and components, plant safety assessment, and operation, taking into consideration site-specific external (both natural and human-induced) and internal hazards (fire, flooding, impacts, etc.).

Upon request from a Member State, SEED provides an independent peer review, an advisory service or capacity building support on safety aspects of the installation siting, design and safety assessment; its counterpart is the Regulatory Body, but participation of the licensee, the Technical and Scientific Support Organisations (TSOs) and independent consultants is often encouraged.

The SEED service is typically arranged in three phases: Pre, Main and Follow up-SEED. It is conducted by a team of international experts led by senior IAEA experts.

The service outcome is a review report, an advisory report, or training material, issued to the requesting Member State with recommendations and suggestions on the compliance with the IAEA Safety Requirements and Guides.

A periodic publication collects the lessons learnt from the implemented SEED services and makes them available to the community at large.

The SEED service can be integrated with other IAEA services addressing specific types of installations, phases of their life or safety programs, such as the Technical Safety Review (TSR), the Operational Safety Services (OSART) and the Integrated Safety Assessment of Research Reactors (INSARR).

According to the Guidelines for the Preparation and Conduct of SEED Missions, the service consists of the following six modules, among which the requesting Member State can select one or more, depending on its needs.

Module 1 - Review of Site and Design Safety Regulations

Reviews on conformance of national regulations for siting and design of nuclear installations with the IAEA Safety Standards.

Module 2 - Review of the Site Selection Process

Reviews on the process related to safety to select a suitable site for a nuclear installation. The process aims at assessing those site-related factors, which ensure that the combination of site and installation does not pose an unacceptable risk to people and the environment over the lifetime of the installation.

Module 3 - Site Evaluation Review

Includes an independent review of the adherence to IAEA safety requirements and the level of detail in site investigation to establish the site's capacities to support the installation's design needs. Also reviews the application of management systems and quality assurance programme in site evaluation.

Module 4 - Environmental Impact Assessment Review

Reviews the adherence to IAEA environmental impact assessment requirements covering collection and analysis of data, analysis of impacts, mitigation of impacts and environmental monitoring programmes.

Module 5 - Site Monitoring Review

Reviews methodologies and plans of monitoring of safety-related site characteristics and external natural and human-induced hazards covering both pre-operational and operational stages of monitoring programmes.

Module 6 - Safety Review of Structures, Systems and Components against External Hazards

Reviews the adherence to the IAEA safety requirements in the design of an installation’s structures, systems and components to meet the demands of a site-specific hazard. It covers assessments of design, safety margins and probabilistic safety assessment against external events.

See all the modules and submodules here

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