Japan has become WENRA observers. This was approved during the WENRA fall plenary session held in Rome, Italy on 26-27 October 2016. 

“I am very glad to welcome Japan as an observer to WENRA” says WENRA Chair Hans Wanner. It is obvious that participants from outside Europe can be very beneficial to WENRA by bringing more and new ideas into the discussions.”

During recent years, WENRA has experienced an increased interest from nuclear regulators across the world to follow WENRA's work.

“From our viewpoint, this is an excellent opportunity for WENRA to continue spreading its safety reference levels and philosophy of harmonization and continuous improvement of nuclear safety globally,” continues Hans Wanner. 

After the approval of Japan’s observer status, Commissioner of Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) of Japan, Nobuhiko Ban, gave a presentation introducing NRA.

At the end of the presentation, he stated that NRA would continue to learn with a questioning attitude as it is a young organization established in September 2012.

“The foundation of our regulatory activities will be strengthened through interactions with international bodies” said Dr Ban. “In this context, WENRA will be of great help. We expect to participate in opportune and insightful discussions both in technical and regulatory terms.”

In addition, Serbia participated in the WENRA meeting for the first time as WENRA observer. Serbia, which has no commercial nuclear power plants but two research reactors, is mainly interested in WENRA’s work on waste management and decommissioning issues.