R6.01/03 Joint Management Unit

In the Memorandum of Understanding between the EC and Minatom, signed in 1995, it was agreed to establish the Joint Management Unit to assist the EC in the effective implementation of the TACIS programme and individual projects in the nuclear safety field and to facilitate the cooperation between the beneficiaries of the TACIS programme and the Commission as well as its Contractors.

The Joint Management Unit’s main role is to facilitate the implementation of the TACIS programme in Russia and to foster the ownership of Russian projects with all Russian actors involved. The actual establishment of the Joint Management Unit came into effect on 15 December 1997 and has been in operation continually up to and including the present contract.

The Joint Management Unit operates in a working environment with numerous stakeholders, including:

• Rosatom;
• Russian ministries concerned by the EC nuclear safety projects in Russia;
• Local and regional authorities;
• Rosenergoatom, responsible for operating all Russian NPPs and the NPPs themselves;
• Operators of other nuclear facilities in Russia, including waste treatment and storage facilities;
• Rosteknadzor, responsible for all regulatory and inspection functions regarding nuclear safety in Russia;
• Academy of Sciences of Russia;
• European Commission EuropeAid Co-operation Office Unit A4 – Nuclear Safety;
• European Commission JRC – The Joint Research Centre at Petten, the Netherlands;
• European Commission Delegation in Moscow;
• Russian design institutes and specialised organisations;
• European Union nuclear utilities providing EC funded On-Site Assistance at Russian NPPs;
• European Union Contractors, subcontractors and Consultants implementing the projects of the TACIS programme;
• Local subcontractors.

The objective of the Joint Management Unit is to provide assistance in the project definition and development and to facilitate the coordination required to solve all the specific issues linked to the project implementation. In particular, the Joint Management Unit has to support the Russian partner as it takes an increasing role in the management of the implementation of the ongoing projects and in the preparation of the projects to be included in future annual programmes.

The specific objectives of the contract were:

• to provide assistance to the EC and to Rosatom in the project cycle management of the EC nuclear safety programme in Russia;
• to maintain a website of the JMU as an information exchange system regarding the various EC nuclear safety projects in preparation and in implementation and regarding the results and experience feedback from completed projects.
• to provide assistance to Rosatom and to the EC to prepare the future implementation of the new Instrument for Nuclear Safety Cooperation and to set up the new programme management structures in Russia to implement the activities under the new instrument.

In order to meet the objectives the Joint Management Unit has performed the following activities during the implementation of the contract:

• establishing and maintaining the JMU office;
• provision of administrative, logistical and, to a lesser extent, technical services to the EC, and Rosatom headquarters and NPPs;
• keeping the EC and the Russian side up-to-date on progress of TACIS nuclear safety projects, the preparations for the new Instrument for Nuclear Safety Cooperation and on other nuclear safety related issues in Russia;
• developing and maintaining an improved understanding by JMU staff of AidCo project cycle management and TACIS rules and procedures;
• dissemination of information on TACIS nuclear safety projects to the respective stakeholders, including managing and updating of a project database as well as the JMU website for dissemination of information on the EC nuclear safety programme;
• assisting Rosatom and the EC to identify priority projects for the first years of programming within the new Instrument for Nuclear Safety Cooperation;
• preparing periodic reports;
• attending relevant project and programme meetings;
• providing general administrative assistance to EuropeAid’s Nuclear Safety Unit and to Rosatom as needed.

In the event, the Russian government did not sign the financing agreements for the 2007 and 2008 Annual Programmes of the Instrument for Nuclear Safety Cooperation. However, much groundwork was performed by the Commission in order to prepare these annual programmes and in order to secure the signature of the financing agreements by the Russian authorities, and the JMU provided its assistance as envisaged in the contract in support of all these activities.

The contract took effect on 21 August 2007 and had an original duration of 16 months. The duration and contract value were extended through two addenda (see 165087) resulting in a total duration of 27 months.