R3.02/00 TSO support

The overall objective of this project was to assist the Russian government in its endeavour to restructure the nuclear sector towards a more market oriented environment with clearly separated responsibilities for the Regulatory Authorities and TSOs, with adequate technical capabilities and financial resources and with sufficient mandate to enforce a level of nuclear safety complying with internationally accepted standards and norms.

One of the specific objectives of this project was to support RF Gosatomnadzor with western experience in the establishment of normative regulation and guidelines for decommissioning of nuclear propelling ships and other vessels with nuclear installations and radiation sources, for the corresponding management of radioactive waste and (irradiated) nuclear fuel and for accident and post-accident management during removal, transport, treatment and storage of (irradiated) fuel and radioactive waste.

On the above basis, the other specific objective was to support RF Gosatomnadzor for the licensing process of the industry Lepse project (decommissioning of the service ship “Lepse” used for the transport of (irradiated) nuclear fuel and for the transfer and the temporary storage of liquid and solid radioactive waste).

The specific tasks of the project were:

Task 1: This task consisted in the inception of the project. The inception meeting took place in January 2004 and the Inception Report was issued in March 2004.

Task 2: This task aimed to establish an overview of the licensing activities to be done, related to the decommissioning of nuclear propelling ships and the corresponding management of radioactive waste and (irradiated) fuel. It resulted in an overview of the ships and facilities, and in an overview of the licenses needed as well as the involved authorities for the decommissioning activities. A preliminary priority schedule was also proposed, the highest priority decommissioning task concerning the service ship Lepse.

Task 3: This task aimed to clarify the roles of the different actors involved in all the activities related to the decommissioning of nuclear propelling ships and other vessels with nuclear installations and radiation sources and to the corresponding management of radioactive waste and (irradiated) fuel. The task resulted in a clarification of the respective responsibilities of the operating organization (namely Murmansk Shipping Company), the Regulatory Bodies (Gosatomnadzor and other administrations in charge of environment, industry or transport) and the local organisations.

Task 4: This task consisted in the definition of the needed licensing requirement for the decommissioning of the concerned ships and the corresponding management of radioactive waste and (irradiated) fuel. The Russian regulations were compared with the international and European standards and it was concluded that most of the safety issues were already covered by the Russian regulations but that specific documents should be drafted to address the licensing procedures to be applied in the present complex situation.

Task 5: This task consisted in a comprehensive review of the licence applications for the Industry Lepse Project. It was divided in 4 sub-tasks.

Sub-task 5.1: this sub-task aimed to check the compliance of the licence application with the existing requirements. However, because of the delay of the Lepse project, no licence application was submitted and the sub-task focused on the drafting of a licensing procedure applicable to the Lepse project.

Sub-task 5.2 and sub-task 5.3: these sub-tasks consisted in the support to the issuance of the design and the construction licences but were cancelled due to the delay of the Lepse project. They were replaced by tasks 6 and 7 (see below).

Sub-task 5.4: this sub-task aimed to familiarize Russian experts with Western review processes for licence applications. This training was provided through a workshop in May 2004.

Task 6: This new task was added to the initial contract and consisted in the drafting of a guidance document related to the removal of spent fuel assemblies from the ship Lepse within the framework of TACIS project.

Task 7: This new task was added to the initial contract and consisted in the preparation of a report about the past developments and the current status of the Lepse project.