Strengthening Brazil’s nuclear industry: Opportunities through ISO 19443 implementation

This exploratory study examines the textual compatibility between ISO 19443:2018 and Brazil’s mandatory nuclear standard ANSN 1.16:2000, and how experienced auditors assess this compatibility and its barriers to adoption. Two questions guide the study: (RQ1) to what extent is ISO 19443:2018 textually compatible with ANSN 1.16:2000; and (RQ2) how do auditors assess compatibility and adoption barriers? The methodology combines normative comparison, a two-round expert validation with four lead auditors from a single Brazilian licensee and TF-IDF cosine similarity as a triangulating instrument (score = 0.51). Expert validation confirms High compatibility for 7 of the 10 sections; the remaining three (scope, normative references, and terms and definitions) are structural, with no operational content. This finding is bounded: it establishes textual compatibility judged by a single-organization panel, not regulatory equivalence, certification acceptability, or operational compliance, each requiring engagement beyond this study’s scope. Four practical barriers to adoption were identified, situated against documented European accreditation precedents (UKAS, COFRAC, Bureau Veritas) as an empirical anchor for the institutional pathways proposed. The contribution is a bounded compatibility assessment scoping the multi-stakeholder validation needed before ISO 19443:2018 is an established qualification pathway in Brazil.