Technical Meeting on Current Topics in Nuclear Supply Chain and Procurement Management

Objectives

The purpose of the event is to support and provide advice to the IAEA Secretariat regarding the challenges and possible solutions related to current topics in the nuclear supply chain, including issues related to oversight, standards and management and procurement and engineering, and to provide Member States with an opportunity to obtain information and discuss good practices for the management of procurement and supply chain activities related to the construction, operation and maintenance of nuclear facilities.

The event is foreseen to bring together operators, technology vendors, suppliers/contractors, developers, inspection organizations, standards development organizations, regulators, governmental officers and representatives of international community to discuss and develop necessary activities together with the IAEA staff.

Background

IAEA Programme and Budget cycle 2024-25 Subprogramme 1.1.2 “Management for Construction and Operation of Nuclear Power” objectives are to support Member States (MSs) in the development of management systems, configuration and performance management, project management, contracting, plant deployment models, human performance, leadership, and stakeholder involvement for construction and operation of NPPs. Another objective is to support Member States in the development of supply chains, industrial involvement, procurement, quality assurance and quality control, codes and standards, and harmonization efforts for NPPs, as the Technical Working Group of Nuclear Power Plants Operations has found the supply chain of nuclear to be one of the most important topics affecting reliable operation.

In June 2022, the IAEA launched the Nuclear Harmonization and Standardization Initiative (NHSI) for the effective global deployment of more standardized fleets of safe, secure and economic advanced nuclear reactors, particularly SMRs. The NHSI comprises two separate but complementary tracks. The first track is for regulators. The other track is for industry which includes both technology holders and operators. Both tracks are to develop a joint workplan through 2024. The regulatory track agreed to work on an international pre-licensing regulatory review (WG2) and on leveraging other regulators reviews in licensing (WG3) for generic designs following an internationally agreed process and criteria (WG1). The industrial track agreed to work on the following four (4) topics: 1. harmonization of high-level user requirements (TG1); 2. common approaches on codes and standards (YG2); 3. experiments and simulation codes validation(TG3), and 4. accelerating the implementation of a nuclear infrastructure for SMRs(TG4).

Both the supply chain management and NHSI are among the strategic topics for IAEA Department of Nuclear Energy for the next programme period 2026-27. There are many efforts all around the world initiated by International and Non-governmental organizations to establish, develop and maintain sustainable supply chains and harmonize requirements for them. Examples are World Nuclear Association, European Union, Nucleareurope, OECD Nuclear Energy Agency, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, International Standardization Organization, etc. IAEA NENP expects this TM to be in an important position to aid in giving direction to the future activities 2026-27 knowing that NHSI TG2 is expected to support the meeting with its own activities.

Nomination deadline: 8 August 2025

For more details, please refer to the Information Sheet.