Background

The Tacis projects in the frame of the “Transfer of Western European Regulatory Methodology and Practices to the Nuclear Safety Authorities of the Russian Federation“, 1994-1999, have provided Gosatomnadzor of Russia with Western European regulatory methodology and practices. Different approaches and experiences have been presented and were discussed with experts of Gosatomnadzor of Russia and its Scientific and Engineering Centre for Nuclear and Radiation Safety (SEC-NRS). A good understanding of practices and needs has been developed. Considerable progress has been made in establishing the legal and procedural basis for an independent, competent and efficient regulatory body and for the implementation of license based regulatory practices in Russia.

On this basis the European Commission (EC) initiated the following project:

"Transfer of Western European Regulatory Methodology and Practices to the Safety Authorities of the Russian Federation, 2001-2002“.

The main objective of this project was to consolidate the achievements and deepen cooperation for further practical and procedural improvements with respect to the assurance of nuclear safety in the Russian Federation taking into account new developments at and needs of Gosatomnadzor of Russia.

Within this frame the BISTRO project “Development of the requirements to the content of a safety analysis report (SAR) for nuclear research reactors” was initiated to complement the efforts related to the regulatory measures on nuclear research facilities (NRF).

Project Aims

The present project had the objectives:

Wider Objective: enhancing the nuclear safety in the Russian Federation by promoting the effective work of the national nuclear safety regulatory organisation in the sphere of nuclear research facilities.

Specific Objective: to support Gosatomnadzor of Russia by Western practice to establish the requirements for the content of the main regulatory document that RF Gosatomnadzor needs for the licensing of activities at the nuclear research facility sites.

Project Results

The project was performed according to the relevant ‘TERMS OF REFERENCE’ annexed to the Service Contract. The activities to be performed were defined and scheduled according to them. The consultants were GRS, HSE-NII and Consortium of Western Regulators (CWR).

At the time, a shortcoming in regulatory activity of RF Gosatomnadzor concerning the NRF safety was the lack of a regulatory document, which would set up the content of a Safety Analysis Report for all stages of the lifecycle of a nuclear research facility. This fact complicated the procedure of licence granting and did not promote the NRF safety.

There was an urgent necessity to establish the requirements for the content of the main regulatory document (SAR) for the licensing of activities at nuclear research facilities.

Russian experts from SEC NRS of Gosatomnadzor developed the requirements to the contents of a safety analysis report (SAR). Experts from GRS and HSE/NII commented this requirements document, before it was set into force as a Federal Rule or Regulation in Russia.

At the end of the project it was intended to have a draft federal rule on the “Requirements to the content of a SAR for Russian NRF”, which was agreed upon between the CWR experts and Russian experts at the end of the project.

During the final meeting, the experts from GRS and HSE/NII explained the requirements on a SAR in their countries.

Structure and contents for a SAR: The typical structure of a SAR is the following one, using the most modern research reactor FRM-2 (Germany) as an example:

a) Site
b) Power plant
c) Radioactive substances and radiation protection measures
d) Operation of the power plants
e) Accident analysis
f) Decommissioning
g) Beyond design basis accidents (additionally).

Comparison between Russian SAR and German SAR:

The scope and contents of the German SAR and the Russian SAR – according to the Russian requirements document – were compared.

The comparison showed that the Russian requirements document includes all necessary chapters of a SAR for Research Facilities. There is no gap in the topics to be included in a SAR for research facilities.

The CWR experts reviewed together with the Russian experts the contents of the document. There were CWR comments and suggestions, for consideration by SEC NRS, on the document entitled “REQUIREMENTS TO THE CONTENT OF THE REPORT OF SAFETY ANALYSIS OF NUCLEAR RESEARCH FACILITIES”. These comments are based on typical SARs in Germany and UK as well as on the related guides of the IAEA.

During the discussions it became evident that two other important topics should be regulated in the same manner as the contents for a SAR. Therefore, two documents were proposed to be developed by the Russian regulator further:

Limits and conditions for safe operation (Technical Regulations of safe operation) of NRF.

Requirements to the scope and content of SAR for decommissioning of NRF.