IMPLEMENTATION OF A PERFORMANCE-BASED INSPECTION
REGIME FOR NUCLEAR SECURITY IN BRAZIL

On October 15, 2021, the Brazilian Congress enacted Law No. 14.222 that created the Autoridade Nacional de Segurança Nuclear (ANSN). This national authority is responsible for authorizing, inspecting, and taking enforcement action, as needed, to ensure the licensee’s physical protection systems achieve the requirements defined by ANSN Standards. [1][2] On April 29, 2021, the Comissão Nacional de Energia Nuclear (CNEN), the national authority responsible for nuclear security oversight prior to enacting Law No. 14.222, and the United States Department of Energy (USDOE) National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) signed two project action sheets to develop inspection manuals that focus on designing and implementing performance-based inspection methods and to develop training for ANSN inspectors on the use of the inspection manuals. Project action sheet No. 27 focuses on an initiative to develop a set of assessment guides to be used by ANSN nuclear security inspectors for conducting performance-based oversight. [3] Project action sheet No. 28 focuses on collaboration to develop and transition training curricula for conducting performance-based inspections. [4] Each project action sheet includes a defined set of tasks with assigned roles and responsibilities. This paper describes the objectives for each action sheet, the work performed to date as part of the joint effort to establish and implement a performance-based inspection regime in Brazil, and future engagement activities envisioned under each action sheet. The paper also describes the challenges and opportunities that ANSN has realized due to enactment of Law No.14.222 that transitioned nuclear security oversight responsibilities from CNEN to ANSN.