KA/TS/01 - TS Kazakhstan atomic energy

The project purpose consisted of support to KAEC licensing activities, assessment of decommissioning safety at Aktau NPP and definition of safety requirements during shutdown and early decommissioning stages. The project included transfer of western practices on safety evaluation for licensing and decommissioning to KAEC as well as enhancement of technical capability of KAEC personnel.

The project included evaluation and review of general safety status of the Aktau NPP, which is a permanently shut down BN-350 reactor (fast neutron reactor cooled by sodium). A safety evaluation report including a western European style safety assessment of the NPP was prepared. It included an outline of main safety issues of BN-350, mainly a broad assessment of the internal hazards using a typical western European safety justification approach including probabilistic assessment of the radiation doses for workers and public for a range of identified accidents. The report stated also that all relevant external hazards had been addressed, but that the extent of the assessment could be improved. The report helped KAEC gain a full and clear overview of important safety issues of BN-350 at that time and during early decommissioning operations.

This project included also a formulation of comments and recommendations regarding a licensing planning document “Special technical requirements for designing the BN-350 reactor facility decommissioning project”. The project also assessed safety benefits and environmental significance of the on site assistance (OSA) TACIS projects running or being planned at the time. Transfer of western practice on safety justification methodology and technical assessment for decommissioning was also part of the project and has been performed in a form of a seminar. Another seminar has been used to transfer western practice not only on decommissioning but also on waste management for fast reactors. Recommendations on further implementation of results of this project and for follow up projects have been made.