The Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority’s (STUK) Nuclear Safety Guide (YVL) A.5 requires the licensee to draw up a licensing plan for the construction of a new nuclear facility or for an extensive modification of an existing facility. The plan presents how the fulfilment of nuclear and radiation safety requirements is ensured and verified at different stages of the project or modification.

The licensing plan presents, among other things, the phases and schedules of the project or modification, such as the design, construction, manufacturing, installation and commissioning phases and their durations, as well as the connection to the stages of the regulatory process. The licensing plan identifies all the necessary official documentation, plans for their possible packaging and assesses the scope of the documentation to be prepared to demonstrate compliance with safety requirements. Platom’s experts have long experience in the practical application and consideration of safety requirements.

Once the necessary official documentation has been identified, the delivery methods and schedule are defined for them, i.e. which materials can be submitted to the authorities simultaneously and when a decision on the previous one is needed (e.g. system level) before the next materials (e.g. equipment level) are delivered. The preparation and processing times of official documentation, including commenting on and approving documents prepared by suppliers, must be realistically taken into account already in the pre-planning phase of projects and especially when drawing up schedules.

As a part of licensing planning, the necessary project documentation is identified. Such documentation may include project and quality plans, plant and system requirement specifications and inspection plans, intermediate reports for different project phases, result and final reports as well as commissioning plans and testing programmes. One should also recognize the interdependencies between the processing of documentation of different technologies, especially for equipment important for safety.

With good licensing planning, you know what you are doing, when and in what order. A well-written licensing plan helps you focus on the right things based on the requirements of the project and ensures timely verification of the safety requirements.