Bilateral Relations

The NRC is engaged in a wide range of bilateral programs that enhance the safety and security of peaceful nuclear activities in the United States and worldwide. Bilateral cooperation and assistance activities include technical exchanges, regulatory information sharing, temporary personnel exchanges, and assistance partnerships for regulatory program development. These international activities support the NRC's mission, as well as broader U.S. domestic and international interests.

To enable this cooperation, the NRC enters into Arrangements for the Exchange of Technical Information and Cooperation in Nuclear Safety Matters with both nuclear power and non-nuclear power countries. Currently, the NRC maintains Arrangements with 45 countries, as well as the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States:

Note: List last updated February 2020

The NRC's Arrangements with its regulatory counterpart organizations facilitate the NRC's strategic goal to support U.S. interests in the safe and secure use of nuclear materials and in nuclear nonproliferation both at home and abroad. These Arrangements establish the framework for the NRC's communications with foreign regulatory authorities regarding pertinent information with direct applicability to ensuring the safety and security of civilian uses of nuclear and radioactive materials globally. Activities under these Arrangements include, but are not limited to: information exchanges on regulatory approaches and best practices; notification of potential safety concerns; accident and incident analyses at operating reactors; and cooperative research and code-sharing programs. These Arrangements also enable the NRC to provide health and safety assistance to countries as they work to develop their respective regulatory capabilities and nuclear safety infrastructure for oversight of a new nuclear power or radioactive materials program.

In addition, the NRC may enter into agreements for engagement on specific topics. For example, the NRC's 2019 Memorandum of Cooperation with the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) focuses on increasing regulatory effectiveness through collaboration on technical reviews of advanced reactor and small modular reactor technologies that have been submitted for review to both the NRC and the CNSC. The following CNSC public webpage contains additional information about this agreement.