In the Memorandum of Understanding between the EC and Minatom, signed in 1995, it was agreed to establish the Joint Management Unit to assist the EC in the facilitation of effective programme and project implementation of the Tacis programme in the nuclear safety field.

The Joint Management Unit’s main role is to facilitate the implementation of the Tacis programme in Russia and to foster the ownership of Russian projects with all Russian actors involved. The actual establishment of the Joint Management Unit came into effect on 15.12.1997 and has been in operation since.

The JMU operates in a working environment with numerous stakeholders, including:

• The Ministry of Atomic Energy of the Russian Federation (MINATOM);
• Rosenergoatom;
• Gosatomnadzor of Russia, the Nuclear Regulatory Authority of the Russian Federation, responsible for nuclear and radiation safety;
• Local and regional authorities;
• Russian design institutes;
• Operators of Russian nuclear power plants, and waste storage treatment facilities;
• Academy of Sciences of Russia;
• European Union utilities providing EC funded On-Site Assistance at Russian NPPs;
• Specialised organisations;
• Contractors and (local) subcontractors of Tacis projects;
• AIDCO;
• JRC, The Joint Research Centre at Petten, the Netherlands;
• EC Moscow Delegation.

The specific objectives of the Joint Management Unit under this contract were to provide assistance to the Nuclear Safety Unit of AIDCO and MINATOM in the project cycle management of the Tacis nuclear safety programme in Russia and to facilitate cooperation between the beneficiaries of the Tacis programme and the EC as well as its Contractors.

During the implementation of the contract the Joint Management Unit carried out the following activities:

1. provision of useful administrative, logistical and, to a lesser extent, technical services to AIDCO Nuclear Safety Unit;
2. provision of useful administrative, logistical and, to a lesser extent, technical services to MINATOM;
3. keeping the AIDCO Nuclear Safety Unit and Minatom up-to-date on the progress of Tacis nuclear safety projects and on other nuclear safety related issues in Russia;
4. maintaining and further developing JMU staff’s knowledge in the project cycle management approach of AIDCO and rules and procedures of the Tacis program;
5. dissemination of information on Tacis nuclear safety projects to the respective stakeholders; and,
6. improvement of the working relations and the level of collaboration of the JMU with Rosenergoatom and with Gosatomnadzor, and other relevant Beneficiary organisations.