PHASE I. INTEGRATED NUCLEAR INFRASTRUCTURE REVIEW MISSION
An integrated nuclear infrastructure review (INIR) mission is a holistic International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) coordinated peer review conducted by a team of international experts who have direct experience in specialized nuclear infrastructure areas. The major objective of an INIR mission is to help a country determine its status and identify further development needs.
Nuclear Power and Energy Agency (NuPEA), in April 2014, requested the IAEA to carry out a Phase 1 INIR mission in Kenya. A self-evaluation support mission was conducted in January 2015 and a final draft of Kenya’s Self Evaluation Report of its nuclear infrastructure was sent to the IAEA in July 2015. The Phase 1 INIR mission was conducted from 24th to 31st August 2015 in Nairobi. Various Government ministries and institutions involved in the nuclear power programme and corresponding infrastructure participated in the mission.
The INIR team found that Kenya has made significant progress in its preparations to make decisions relate to the introduction of nuclear power. The team noted that Kenya has made a remarkable investment in human capacity building and thoroughly considered all of the infrastructure issues. In order to assist Kenya in making further progress in its infrastructure development, the INIR mission team made recommendations and suggestions, many of which relate to the planning of Phase 2 activities. The INIR mission team also identified 4 good practices that may benefit other countries considering the introduction of nuclear power including: carrying out the pre-feasibility study, identifying activities that need government funding, undertaking the opinion polling that enabled development of comprehensive communication strategy and initial capacity building.
Based on the recommendations and suggestions, the key areas for further action include completing the establishment of key goals and requirements to guide the nuclear power programme, further developing the country’s legal and regulatory framework for the programme and preparing for Phase 2 of the programme.