MASTERPLAN TO IMPROVE NUCLEAR SAFETY

In July 1992, in the framework of the TACIS 1991 programme, the Commission started discussions with the TPEG (Twinning Programme Engineering Group), a consortium of the Community operators, concerning a methodology for the establishment and management of an EC Masterplan designed to establish a coherent policy framework for the Nuclear Safety activities vis a vis the relevant new independent states of the former Soviet Union and Central and Eastern European countries over a period of 4 to 5 years.

The G7 summit in July 1992 underlined the need and agreed on a broad programme of short-term and long-term measures to improve the safety of civil nuclear installations in operation and under construction in Eastern Europe and the CIS.

EC-funded activities (TACIS, PHARE and various other cooperation programmes) formed a significant part of the overall G7 framework. They were aimed at achieving tangible improvements in civil nuclear safety in the region within a five-year timescale. EC funding was subject to the agreement of recipient countries on mutually acceptable targets for safety improvement.

As one of the major donors, the EC initiated the formulation of the Master Plan in order to ensure the efficient use of the available resources by the development of a consistent approach to all its actions, the avoidance of duplication of effort and complimentarity of its actions with those of other donors. The EC regarded it as essential that the recipient countries were actively involved in the formulation and updating of the Master Plan. Indeed, it was regarded as imperative that the organisation of the actions was well-connected with the individual domestic programmes of each recipient country. The identification with recipient countries of their specific requirements for assistance and of well-defined milestones for decisions on the funding of future actions was a fundamental feature of the Master Plan.

The purpose of the Master Plan was to define, in a consistent pluriannual approach, all the actions to be undertaken on the various types of nuclear facilities of ex-Soviet design, regardless of the country concerned, and whether the funding was of EC origin or otherwise.

The idea was to define the safety modernisation measures required at each type of reactor and to monitor the implementation of the modernisation measures implemented at each NPP, regardless of the source of funding (i.e. NPP Operator’s own funds, TACIS or other international donors), thereby maintaining an inventory of the modernisation measures required.

The IAEA ‘Safety Issues’ books, the so-called green books, were a principal information source for setting up the Master Plan.

The projects were split into 13 groups, corresponding to IAEA classification, namely:

• integrity of the primary circuit
• I&C
• accident analysis
• training
• seismic stability
• fire protection
• confinement/containment
• maintenance
• system analysis
• waste and fuel cycle
• emergency planning
• RBMK
• licensing activities

The purpose was then to make use of the Master Plan for the planning, definition and preparation of the TACIS Annual Programmes, selecting the specific actions to be performed under the annual budgets of the EC.

The present contract was related to the activities requested by the EC from the TPEG in the above context for the time period of 12 months beginning the 30th June 1993.

The tasks to be done by the Consultant were the following:

• Discussions with the Eastern participants, if requested by the EC, regarding their domestic programmes, their needs and priorities, so that complementary actions could be identified.
• Discussions at the working level with the main EC actors able to be involved in the Master Plan process on their roles in the implementation of the Master Plan.
• Participation at the working level in meetings with the involved Directorate General of the EC
• Development of a methodology for defining the roles of main actors in both East and West, by type of reactor, and the interfaces between the different actors.
• Preparation of a programme of short term and long term actions for each type of reactor (bar charts)

The contract became effective on 30th June 1993 and ended on 30th June 1994.

The activities described above were the first major activities devoted to the preparation of the Master Plan following the Nuclear Safety Master Plan Seminars held in October 1992. Activities on the preparation and maintenance of the Master Plan continued under contract 22339.