- Status
- Closed
Details
- Type of activity
Regulatory Authorities
- Nature
Services
- Contracting authority
European Commission
- Method of Procurement
(FR2007) Negotiated Procedure - External Actions
- Duration
15/08/2007 - 15/02/2011
- Partner
Armenian Nuclear Regulatory Authority (ANRA)
- Contractor
RISKAUDIT IRSN-GRS INTERNATIONAL
- Project / Budget year
TACIS 2006 Nuclear Safety Action Programme / 2006
Background
Armenia operates one nuclear power unit, has one unit in shutdown since 1989 and uses ionising radiation for industrial and medical purposes. One of the objectives is to strengthen the nuclear regulator and its technical support organisation (TSO). These organisations need various support in the area of regulation, technical safety assessment and licensing, inspection and enforcement. They also need support in organisational aspects like initial and continuous training, quality assurance, emergency planning.
Several earlier EC funded projects, the IAEA International Regulatory Review Team (IRRT) mission of 2001, and the Nuclear Energy Safety Council to the President of Armenia have produced a thorough knowledge of the situation of the Armenian Nuclear Regulatory Authority (ANRA) and its TSO NRSC, as well as of their interface with the licensee and with the Armenian Government. This EC intervention aims at continuing transfer of know-how and work methodology, working on concrete licensing cases, where western and Armenian experts work together towards pre-defined goals. The co-ordination with other donors like the USNRC and the IAEA produce a common approach for the support, whilst remaining complementary in the programmes.
Objectives
This project contributed to the following wider objectives:
(a) supporting the promotion of an effective nuclear safety culture in line with the principles of the Convention on nuclear safety, in particular through continuous support for regulatory bodies;
(b) supporting the development and implementation of spent fuel, decommissioning and nuclear waste management strategies.
More specifically, ANRA needs further support within the licensing process related to nuclear safety improvements of the Medzamor unit 2 NPP as well as to decommissioning activities related to the Medzamor site. The strengthening of the ANRA and its TSO needs to be continued, in order for them to gradually acquire the needed competence and experience in the safety review and assessment in various technical domains of operation and decommissioning.
Priority is given to the Category IV and III issues of the IAEA safety issues book which are not fully solved yet and for which the NPP has requested additional assistance. Category IV issues are the improvement of the leak detection system; in-service inspection of the primary system; and I&C redundancy, separation and independence. Category III issues are steam generator in-service inspection , leak tightness of the confinement; ECCS full LOCA spectrum capability and long term cooling, need for low pressure safety injection; and reliability of I&C and electric systems, further improvement of the control room.
In a later stage (end 2006 - early 2007) ANRA intends to issue a new operational license to the ANPP unit 2, imposing additional licensing conditions. ANRA requests assistance in the assessment of the implementation of these conditions. Further, some tasks already started in the former technical assistance projects AR/TS/04 (safety improvements) and AR/TS/05 (decommissioning) are continued.
Results
In addition to task 1 on project management, the project consisted of following ten technical tasks:
Task 2: Technical support to ANRA for licensing related activities of LBB concept/devices application to Medzamor unit 2 and Leak Detection System (LDS) improvement programme
Task 3: Technical support to ANRA for licensing related activities for Improvement of the Instrumentation and Control (I&C) and electrical systems
Task 4: Technical support to ANRA for Implementation and final licensing of RPV Gas Removal system and Cold Overpressure Protection System for RPV
Task 5: Technical support to ANRA in decommissioning aspects
Task 6: Technical support to ANRA on other Category IV and III Safety Improvements
Task 7: Technical support to ANRA on the evaluation of Operational Safety of ANPP
Task 8: NPP Safety Assessment (SAR review)
Task 9: Consultation and Support for QM Implementation of the Armenian TSO NRSC
Task 10: On-site assistance to ANRA’s management
Task 11: Training in nuclear safety, regulatory control and radiation safety
The results of these tasks are briefly summarised below.
TASK 2 TECHNICAL SUPPORT TO ANRA FOR LICENSING RELATED ACTIVITIES OF LBB CONCEPT/DEVICES APPLICATION TO MEDZAMOR UNIT 2 AND LEAK DETECTION SYSTEM (LDS) IMPROVEMENT PROGRAMME
The main work of task 2 consisted in the review of the documentation on LBB demonstration. Experts have confirmed by their assessments that in principle the Leak Before Break (LBB) concept can be applied to the main coolant and surge lines at Medzamor NPP, Unit 2, if some preconditions are fulfilled. These preconditions are reflected in six Documentation Promises. The corresponding technical measures were partly realized but not yet licensed during the duration of the project.
TASK 3 TECHNICAL SUPPORT TO ANRA FOR LICENSING RELATED ACTIVITIES FOR IMPROVEMENT OF THE INSTRUMENTATION AND CONTROL (I&C) AND ELECTRICAL SYSTEMS
The task concentrated on reviewing of several technical specifications, such as: Refurbishment of the Reactor Protection System; Implementation of adequate air filtering, supplied to Main Control Room and installation of remote shutdown panel and post-accident monitoring system; Improvement of Diesel Generator speed and voltage controllers; Boron concentration monitoring system and Neutron flux measuring system.
TASK 4 TECHNICAL SUPPORT TO ANRA FOR IMPLEMENTATION AND FINAL LICENSING OF RPV GAS REMOVAL SYSTEM AND COLD OVERPRESSURE PROTECTION SYSTEM FOR RPV.Design documentation and technical requirements of the Reactor Pressure Vessel (RPV) Gas Removal System were reviewed, with the conclusion that the safety justification for the new system cannot be accepted as such. After further evaluations and discussions some concerns remained which meant that the system could not be licensed in 2010 as intended.
For the Cold Overpressure Protection (COP) System for RPV, NRSC did calculations to check the time limits for operator actions, and some comments on the COP documentation were issued. COP was installed in manual mode only, and additional calculations were recommended to decide whether automatic COP protection system is needed or not. The calculations performed by NRSC on behalf of ANPP were not completed at the end of the project.
TASK 5 TECHNICAL SUPPORT TO ANRA IN DECOMMISSIONING ASPECTS
The activities in this task were very limited because decommissioning issues have not been a priority for ANRA in the timeframe of the project. Two reports were reviewed: 1) “Regulatory Licensing Plan for the Decommissioning of the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant” and 2) “Requirements to the structure & content of the ANPP decommissioning plan”.
TASK 6 TECHNICAL SUPPORT TO ANRA ON OTHER CATEGORY IV AND III SAFETY IMPROVEMENTS
The objective of the task was to support ANRA and its TSO in the licensing process related to six selected issues by evaluation of the documents submitted by ANPP. However, in most cases ANPP did not submit documents in the timeframe of the project, and finally only the review of Technical Specifications (TS) for tendering on “Sump clogging prevention” was performed, as well as review of some related design documentation submitted by the selected contractor. A review of TS of “Radiation protection system upgrade” was also performed, even if it was not in the original plan.
TASK 7 TECHNICAL SUPPORT TO ANRA ON THE EVALUATION OF OPERATIONAL SAFETY OF ANPP
Five inspections at ANPP were planned and implemented. The topics of the inspections were: 1) personnel training activities and emergency preparedness, 2) safety management, 3) maintenance & repair, 4) technical support related to modifications, and 5) operations management.
TASK 8 NPP SAFETY ASSESSMENT (SAR REVIEW)
The work within this task focused on the review of selected areas of the Safety Assessment Report (SAR). Three review reports were produced:
• Methodology for reactivity initiated accidents.
• Comparison between drafts 1 and 2 of 3 sections of the SAR (4.2, 4.3.1, 5.1.1.3) to check if comments made in a previous project were taken into account.
• Analysis of chapter 6 of SAR entitled “Analysis of deviations from standard requirements and planning of activity to improve plant safety”.
TASK 9 CONSULTATION AND SUPPORT FOR QM IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ARMENIAN TSO NRSC
The task provided consultation and support to NRSC for development of its Quality Management System (QMS). The main outcome is the setting up of a customized mature QMS, both well suited to provide quality assured services over the whole scope of NRSC activities and sufficiently developed to meet international standards. In addition, as an independent maturity proof of the newly developed QMS, certification according to ISO 9001:2008 was obtained by NRSC in December 2010.
TASK 10 ON-SITE ASSISTANCE TO ANRA’S MANAGEMENT
With an on-site assistance team of experts, the task supported ANRA in the strengthening of its organisation and its regulatory effectiveness in a number of areas, like management practices, development of competencies, establishment of regulations, safety assessment, licensing and inspection activities.
TASK 11 TRAINING IN NUCLEAR SAFETY, REGULATORY CONTROL AND RADIATION SAFETY
Within this task, several ANRA/NRSC newcomers participated to an external training, namely a Nuclear Manager’s course, consisting of three training events of one week duration 2009. Further the Deputy Head of ANRA participated to the training course on National Nuclear Infrastructure and Institutional Capacity in 2009.