Summary

The general objective of the project was to continue strengthening and enhancing the effectiveness of the nuclear safety regime in Hungary, to improve the organisation and the performance of the Hungarian Atomic Energy Authority (HAEA) and to contribute further to the technical independence and know-how of the HAEA. The main aim was to support Nuclear Safety Directorate (NSD) of the HAEA. The main function of the HAEA/NSD is to regulate activities at the Paks Nuclear Power Plant, the main nuclear installa­tion in
Hungary/>/>.

The specific objective of the third phase programme was to continue regulatory assistance as re­quested by the beneficiary on the basis of earlier project phases and recent organizational devel­opment in the HAEA/NSD in the area of six tasks, namely

• Codes and regulatory guides (Task 1),
  

• Radiological impact analysis (emergency preparedness) (Task 2),
  

• Evaluation of Paks NPP Technical Specifications (Task 3),
  

• Fire protection (Task 4),
  

• Enforcement practices (Task 5),
  

• Quality requirements for safety-classified components (Task 6).
  

The basic objective in the implementation was to apply at first self-assessment practices by the HAEA and then to perform external peer review of the results by the Consortium of Western Regulators (CWR) and then to identify and concentrate on the identified key issues for further development of the practices. The key deliver­ables provided are technical reports from each task (Task Reports). They also constitute the pa­rameters for measuring the achievement of the objectives.

The Inception Meeting was held in
Budapest/>/> 14-15 April 2004. Seventeen meetings or workshops were organized in the project. Minutes of Meeting was provided from each meeting and Task Re­ports were provided as technical output of each task. Final Meeting was held in
Helsinki/>/> 15-17 March 2005 including Final Seminar. Draft Final Report was produced before the Final Meeting and the report was finalized after the Final Meeting

All tasks of the project were completely implemented, i.e. all technical areas planned and de­scribed in the Inception Report. Generally in each task, there were two meetings except in Task 2 three meetings were organized. The first meetings were organized during 2004 and the last meet­ings during the first quarter of 2005. The work started in most of the tasks with the HAEA self- assessment which means that mainly the first meetings were organized in autumn 2004.

In Task 1, CWR assisted HAEA in the review of rule making process and in the review of new ver­sions of HAEA Regulations. HAEA provided self assessment report for review and CWR experts made peer review of the results. CWR experts advised HAEA in the further development of effi­ciency and effectiveness of the rule making process. The Regulations reviewed were selected by HAEA and they were Nuclear Safety Codes, Volumes 1 - 4. Documents were translated into Eng­lish. Comments and suggestions for future improvement of the documents were provided by the CWR. The results of CWR reviews were discussed in two meetings, the first one covered the rule making process and the second one covered the review of regulations. Final results are presented in the Task Report.

In Task 2 the current Hungarian approach towards radiological impact analysis was evaluated and CWR advised HAEA in developing an effective radiological impact analysis in the case of emer­gency situations. Before the first meeting the necessary documents were translated into English. Self assessment report was made available to the CWR experts in advance. In the first meeting HAEA provided presentations on emergency preparedness and response. The documents submit­ted and the presentations and explanations given by the HAEA experts gave the impression that emergency preparedness in
Hungary/>/> has been implemented well and has reached a high interna­tional standard covering the international guidance of the IAEA. CWR reviewed the HAEA radio­logical methodological procedures and provided suggestions for further development.

In the second meeting in Paris HAEA experts were introduced to French and German national nuclear emergency preparedness and response organisation. They visited national nuclear crisis centres and observed a transport crisis exercise. The methods of determination of the early and later phase countermeasures in case of a radiological or nuclear emergency were covered. Intro­duction to western practice and method of calculation how the isotopes are moving within the food-chain for the late phase countermeasures was provided. In the third meeting, international INEX-3 exercise on large radioactive contamination was followed in STUK,
Finland/>/>, and Finnish practices in radiological impact analysis and measurement were introduced for early and late phase. Final results are presented in the Task Report.

In Task 3, the general structure and scope of Paks NPP Technical Specifications (TS) were re­viewed and CWR provided advice to HAEA in further development of Technical Specifications. A detailed review of selected issues of the Paks NPP Technical Specifications was carried out. HAEA selected the issues "fuel rod tightness" and "radioactive release to the environment". The emphasis in the first meeting was on the discussion and provision of further knowledge and con­sulting about the practice of the CWR countries in the area of handling and modifying the Techni­cal Specifications. The meeting discussions between CWR and HAEA representatives were di­vided into the three main topics: general structure and scope of the Paks NPP Technical Specifi­cations, detailed review of the radioactive release to the environment and review of the fuel rod tightness. The discussions were based on the HAEA documents delivered to the CWR represen­tatives in advance, the presentations of the related good practice in CWR countries and the pres­entations of the current status of the TS documentation development in
Hungary/>/>. CWR provided several suggestions for further development. The second meeting was related to the review of an HAEA document containing the principles and the approach for the development of regulatory guidelines for the Paks NPP Technical Specifications, furthered by the presentation of related practice and experience in CWR countries, especially general structure and scope of the Techni­cal Specifications in Finland and aspects of the fuel rod tightness and in-service maintenance measures during power operation in German NPPs. Final results are presented in the Task Re­port.

In Task 4, the regulatory assessment and inspection practices relating to fire protection were re­viewed and advice was given by the CWR to HAEA in developing assessment and inspection practices. Review methods of deterministic Fire Hazard Analyses and Fire PSA were also cov­ered. Before the first meeting the necessary documents were translated into English. HAEA deliv­ered the self-assessment report only after the first meeting and the coverage and volume of this report was rather limited since HAEA has only a limited authority in this field. However, the list of basic questions was presented by HAEA experts in the first meeting and the issues were prelimi­narily discussed. CWR experts gave presentations addressing several subjects of the questions. The answers are provided in the Task Report. During the second meeting regulatory inspection activity was observed in the Loviisa NPP in
Finland/>/>. The engineer in charge of fire protection and his deputy presented the procedures and results of the actual fire safety inspections together with two STUK inspectors. A plant walk down of several buildings explaining clearly some of the recent inspection issues was performed. Discussions on how to perform the inspections and to review them as a regulator took place based on the inspection plan delivered to the participants. The ad­ditional questions of HAEA were in detail answered either by the CWR experts or by the Loviisa NPP engineers in charge of fire protection. Final results are presented in the Task Report.

In Task 5, a conduct of peer review of the HAEA approach to enforcement was carried out; regula­tory decision-making in difficult situations was reviewed. HAEA was advised in developing en­forcement practices. Before the first meeting the necessary documents were translated into Eng­lish and a self assessment was carried out by the HAEA on the basis of sophisticated methods. CWR performed a peer review of the self-assessment and the results were presented in the sepa­rate peer review report attached to Task Report. In the second meeting two main activities were carried out, namely review of the HAEA's policy document covering regulatory decision making in difficult situations, and a workshop for developing further knowledge through the case studies of actual events. CWR and HAEA provided presentations on country procedures of nuclear regula­tory decision making. CWR and HAEA provided discussion of cases of difficult decision making. Several suggestions to develop practices were provided. Final results are presented in the Task Report.

In Task 6, assistance was given to HAEA to review the licensing of modifications and quality re­quirements for the safety related systems and components, with emphasis on the possibility to make a graduation. The safety functions classification and the environmental qualification were a particular focus of interest, considering the Hungarian experience. The first workshop in
Budapest/>/> concentrated on the review of the HAEA self-assessment report. The meeting concluded with four main suggestions on the need to adapt the HAEA current classification philosophy and categorisa­tion of modifications, and on the need to make a choice of existing consensus standards and to elaborate a vocabulary thesaurus. A rewritten Guideline on the Principles of classification of Sys­tems, Structures and Components of Nuclear Power Plants was prepared for possible use by the Beneficiary. On the basis of self assessment eight basic questions were presented by HAEA. The second workshop took place in
Brussels/>/>. CWR made presentations on graded requirements for Instrumentation & Control Systems in the Belgian NPPs, in service inspection of NPP components in
Belgium/>/>, licensing and regulatory review of plant modifications, Belgian situation in modifica­tions in nuclear power plants and German practices. Responses to the questions raised by HAEA in the first workshop were answered. Final results are presented in the Task Report

The main conclusions are:

• the Hungarian rule making process provides a good basis to develop consistent regulations, during the preparation of which all stakeholders have the opportunity to express their opin­ions;
• the ISO 9000 based quality concept adopted by HAEA also supports high quality in area of rule making;
• the sources of information used by HAEA for developing regulations covers all well known sources of nuclear and radiation safety field;
• The principle of continuous, regular updating of regulations in order to reflect the latest knowledge and scientific developments has been adopted.

The CWR experts discussed the draft regulations and various comments were presented to these draft regulations. As main conclusions it can be stated, that:

• the draft regulations have undergone a remarkable development since 1997 to reflect the modern international understanding of nuclear safety issues;
• the comments provided by CWR countries during earlier similar co-operation projects have been taken into account to a large extent;

Quite detailed safety requirements in
Hungary/>/> are issued as mandatory regulations instead of presenting them as regulatory guides. The latter possibility would provide more flexibility to the licensees to seek after equivalent solutions as well as to the regulator to implement the requirements.

Beneficiary Organizations Details

The beneficiary organisation is the Hungarian Atomic Energy Authority (HAEA)
http://www.haea.gov.hu

Project Aims

Transfer of Western European Regulatory Methodology and practice to the Nuclear Safety Authority of Hungary -3rd phase, including technical assistance in periodic safety review of Paks units 3 and 4.

Project Results

• Enhanced HAEA safety assessment capabilities;
• Transfer of knowledge on state-of-the-art assessment methodologies for periodic safety reviews.

The budget for this project was: 800 000 euro.

Further Project Results

Further information on the project could be sought from the beneficiary organization.