“The IAEA assists Member States embarking on nuclear installation projects by providing the Generic Road Map (GRM), which supports the establishment of the nuclear safety infrastructure for a first nuclear reactor. The GRM offers guidance and practical information on implementing the actions recommended in SSG-16 (Rev.1) “Establishing the Safety Infrastructure for a Nuclear Power Programme.”
The GRM helps articulate strategic thinking through a phased approach towards the commissioning and operation of a first nuclear reactor. It integrates a wide range of information, including the sequence of major steps in each phase along with the priorities to progress through these steps, navigation to the training modules, the relevant IAEA safety standards and related publications, guidance on self-assessment tools and safety review missions. The GRM also encompasses case studies from experienced, expanding, and embarking countries.
At last, the GRM facilitates effective communication among organizations establishing nuclear safety infrastructure by defining clear goals, promoting coordination, maintaining consistent messaging and fostering transparency and openness.”
To assist Member States embarking on nuclear installation projects, the IAEA launched the Generic RoadMap (GRM) project in 2020 for the establishment of the nuclear safety infrastructure for a first nuclear reactor. The GRM provides guidance and practical information for implementing the actions recommended in SSG-16 (Rev.1) “Establishing the Safety Infrastructure for a Nuclear Power Programme”. Alongside existing IAEA safety standards and peer review services, the GRM provides training materials and a series of topical publications. These resources incorporate experiences and lessons learned from new build projects in countries that are embarking on, expanding, or have experience with a nuclear reactor programme.
The GRM objective is to provide guidance to countries embarking on nuclear power, offering a systematic and strategic approach to establishing a comprehensive nuclear safety infrastructure for nuclear reactors that meets all relevant IAEA safety standards. This strategy ensures a high level of safety throughout a phased approach towards the commissioning and operation of a first nuclear reactor.
About GRM
The GRM is exclusively based on the IAEA safety standards and complements the IAEA milestone approaches developed under similar initiatives. Member States are encouraged to adopt the GRM to develop a sustainable nuclear safety infrastructure. It is intended for use by three key national entities involved in establishing the comprehensive nuclear safety infrastructure of a first nuclear reactor. These entities are:
- Government officials and legislative bodies;
- Regulatory bodies; and
- Operating organizations.
Inter alia, the GRM aims to support national entities in developing their organization and management system and building their capacity and competence to effectively discharge their responsibilites withing the framework of a nuclear reactor programme.
The GRM is a versatile tool that can be used by Member States at various levels of “nuclear maturity.” This flexibility allows for its application in the early stages of developing their nuclear safety infrastructure or in situations where an established nuclear infrastructure including a regulatory safety framework for nuclear installations such as nuclear fuel cycle facilities, research reactors, or nuclear power reactors, is already in place.
The GRM may also support countries that are considering new technologies such as SMRs, relaunching their nuclear power programme, or are planning to construct their first research reactor applying a graded approach. It can be used as a coordination and communication tool between government representatives, regulatory bodies, operating organizations and other interested parties (e.g. the public).
The GRM focuses on the nuclear safety aspects and capacity building of countries embarking to construct and operate their first nuclear reactor. The safety aspects related to emergency preparedness and response, radiation protection, transport safety, waste management, decommissioning, and nuclear security are outside the scope of the project.
The GRM provide a wide array of practical information via case studies of Member States that include lesson learned, identified challenges, and implemented solutions. The GRM engages with countries that have recently entered commercial operation of NPPs (e.g., the United Arab Emirates and Belarus), countries that are currently constructing or commissioning their first NPP units (e.g., Bangladesh, Egypt and Türkiye), or have advanced the development of their nuclear power programmes (e.g., Poland and Saudia Arabia). As well as countries that are expanding their nuclear power programmes (e.g. Pakistan) and experienced countries that have new build projects (e.g. China, Finland, France, South Korea, UK and USA).
GRM Outline
The GRM adheres to the safety infrastructure timeline, supporting the gradual implementation of a sustainable and successful nuclear programme. The three Phases (1-3) reflected in the GRM follow the same phased approach as defined in SSG-16 (Rev.1) and the Milestones Approach (IAEA Nuclear Energy Series NG-G-3.1 (Rev.2)). For proper implementation at each phase, element, and action, the sequential steps of the licensing process, along with the safety infrastructure resources and activities, are defined through:
The GRM adheres to the safety infrastructure timeline, supporting the gradual implementation of a sustainable and successful nuclear installation programme. The three Phases (1-3) reflected in the GRM follow the same phased approach as defined in SSG-16 (Rev.1) and the Milestones Approach (IAEA Nuclear Energy Series NG-G-3.1 (Rev.2)). For proper implementation at each phase, element, and action, the sequential steps of the licensing process, along with the safety infrastructure resources and activities, are defined through:
- Priorities in the form of major steps needed on a high level in a phase, i.e., the actions to be taken and to be accomplished before moving on in the development of a comprehensive safety infrastructure.
- Publications in the form of TECDOCs and Handbooks that provide guidance on how the safety actions and their priorities may be implemented.
- Recommended IAEA peer review and advisory services to assess progress of the implementing of safety-related actions through self-assessment tools and peer reviews.
- Training Modules in the form of a Comprehensive modular training following the integrated timeline for the development of nuclear safety infrastructure and strictly associated with the Priorities and Handbooks in the phases (taking into account the full spectrum of related IAEA Safety Standards).
- A centralized repository facilitates the dissemination of wide scope of information and knowledge to member States related to nuclear safety infrastructure of nuclear reactors.
Target Beneficiaries
Governments, Regulatory Bodies, Operating Organizations, and all the relevant organizations in countries embarking on nuclear programme will benefit from the GRM, including countries in phase 1, which are considering to launch a nuclear power programme, countries in phase 2, which are implementing preparatory work for construction of a nuclear reactor after a national decision has been taken to embark on a nuclear programme and countries in phase 3, which are constructing a first nuclear reactor. Countries with existing nuclear power plants that are expanding their nuclear power programme could also benefit from the outputs of the GRM.
Comprehensive Safety Infrastructure Platform (CSIP)
Upcoming Events
Technical Meeting on Experience of Member States in the Construction and Commissioning of New Nuclear Reactors (Generic RoadMap)
10 - 14 March 2025, IAEA, Vienna
Event Code: EVT2404277
