The Assistant Director from Serbian Radiation and Nuclear Safety and Security Directorate (SRBATOM), Branko Brajic attended the 36th Annual Regulatory Information Conference (RIC) organized by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) from 12 to 14 March this year in Rockville, USA.
The Conference was attended by more than 1000 representatives from the international regulatory bodies and leading corporations in the field of nuclear safety, as well as the countries the NRC has entered into the arrangements on technical cooperation.
The purpose of this Conference was to present the latest advancements the NRC had made to increase and enhance the level of nuclear safety both in the USA and worldwide. The participants were, thus, given the opportunity to attend a number of dynamic plenary and special sessions, and bilateral meetings devoted to certain nuclear safety topics. To complement the technical program, the participants were also given the opportunity to view the interactive digital exhibits and have tours of the NRC Operations Center at their leisure.
During the Conference, Branko Brajic attended the official bilateral meetings with Raymond Furstenau, Head of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Office of Research and Acting Executive Director for Operations, and Eric Stahl and Shannon Doane as the NRC’s international cooperation representatives
In the meeting concerning the Arrangement between the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Serbian Radiation and Nuclear Safety and Security Directorate for the Exchange of Technical Information and Cooperation in Nuclear Safety Matters, the concrete steps towards the realization of this Arrangement were agreed, which will significantly improve nuclear safety in our country.
During some of the side events of the Conference, Branko Brajic had the opportunity to meet Christoper Hanson, Chair of Nuclear Regulatory Commission, who reaffirmed the NRC’s readiness to commence with the full realization of all agreed activities.
During this meeting, the hosts commended the Directorate for the results in the field of nuclear safety achieved so far, and gave an assurance of a strong support for all future efforts of the Directorate in introducing the highest standards of the protection of public health and the environment from the harmful effects of ionizing radiation.
Hanson and Furstenau gladly accepted the invitation of our representative to visit our country and the Directorate.
During the visit to the USA, our representative also met with the representatives of the regulatory bodies of Japan, Korea and Spain, as well as with the representatives of American companies in the field of nuclear operations.
While in Washington, Branko Brajic took the opportunity to visit the Embassy of the Republic of Serbia to the USA and got informed on all the results our Embassy and the Ambassador Marko Djuric have achieved in the past period in presenting our country and raising its reputation in the USA.