RF/TS/07 Radioactive Waste Management RU

The aim of this project is to assist the Russian Regulatory Body in the reviewing and updating of rules and procedures for licensing of facilities and activities for radioactive waste management.
The project will provide technical and management experience to the Russian regulatory authority GAN and its Technical Support Organisations (TSOs).

Specific objectives

Assistance to GAN (and related TSO) in reviewing the results of the analysis of present Russian situation on the radioactive waste management and procedures for the relevant safety controls;
Transfer to the Beneficiary the know-how of the EU Member States on licensing procedures for radioactive waste management;
Identification of specific requirements, criteria and priorities in order to improve the national licensing system for the radioactive waste management in the Russian Federation;
Assistance to GAN (and related TSO) in reviewing and improving the licensing procedures for specific radioactive waste management facilities.
Project activities and planned outputs:

Analysis of the present situation in Russia concerning the radioactive waste management, particularly on the following aspects: list of the facilities related to radioactive waste management, inventory of the main sources of radioactive waste according to the present waste classification in use in Russia, present waste management policy in Russia;
Analysis of the present status of the regulatory structure and normative basis in Russia concerning the radioactive waste management in terms of Competent Bodies, Legislation, Standards etc.;
Analysis of the present licensing procedures currently applied in Russia in radioactive waste management and disposal;
Supply a package of information on the licensing procedures currently applied for facilities and installations dealing with radioactive waste management in the EU Member States (this with particular reference to the national approach in Italy, France and Spain);
Recommendations on and identification of specific requirements, criteria and priorities in order to improve the national licensing system for the radioactive waste management in the Russian Federation;
Definition of the content of the documentation package (Safety Analysis Report) that a Russian operator dealing with radioactive waste management should supply to GAN in applying for the relevant licence for specific waste management facilities (e.g. safety objectives, reference standards, technical contents, safety assessments);
Proposal prepared by the Local TSO, for improvement of the licensing procedures for a specific facility for radioactive waste management to be submitted to the Russian Regulatory Body GAN;
Review and comment a draft proposal for improving the licensing system prepared by the Local TSO to be submitted to the Russian Regulatory Body GAN.

The following conclusions were made:

1. An important issue, individuated in carrying out the activities of the Task 1, has been the completion by the GAN and SCE NRS of the waste inventory, including contaminated grounds, and better characterize this waste in terms of radionuclides, activity, physico-chemistry characteristic, toxicity and volume. It should allow to define a global general strategy and an associated schedule for waste management and site remediation in Russia and a hierarchy in the different potential risks linked to this existing waste and to the existence of contaminated areas (past waste management activities).

2. There are a number of complicated and serious problems in Russia due to the RW that were accumulated in the previous period of the former USSR. These problems due to the historic RAW remain urgent and they should be solved in any case, not depending on further prospects of the nuclear power development in Russia.

3. The most important on going activity in the field of radiation safety at all stages of RW management in Russian Federation is today the creation of a modern legislative system for the state safety regulation which should meet the international standards.

4. It appeared in a general way, that licensing approaches and licensing procedures have been developed by GAN these last years.

5. However, some differences with the Western approval, particularly concerning the logical sequence of steps and timing, were recognized. The importance of a stepwise licensing procedure was stressed by Western TSO also in order to facilitate a dialog between Regulatory Body and Applicant.

6. One existing problem is the fact that most of nuclear facilities were built in the former Soviet Union, when neither licensing, nor any other equivalent procedures were existing. Nuclear facilities have to be licensed now, but it is difficult for operators to prepare the documentation necessary for licensing, and for the GAN to review it, in a short time. GAN has developed the requirements related to the type and content of the safety validation documentation which have to be provided by the operators in the frame of the licensing procedures but has not yet developed all the requirements for Safety Reports, in particular for radwaste treatment facilities.

7.An other problem is that requirements on the type and the content of safety documentation that operators have to make available during licensing are of up-to- date level, whereas the design documents were developed much earlier, between 1960 and 1980.
Moreover, during the operation on most of the facilities, modifications with regard to the original design have been implemented, modifying thus the safety-related features. There is consequently a problem of conformity of the safety documentation of the operators with the real state of the facility since these documents have not always been updated.

8. The three priority areas identified for the preparation of the relevant Safety Guides are considered a critical step to achieve practical results towards the improvement of the licensing system for radioactive waste management in Russia.

The three regulatory documents, drafted in the framework of this project, represent the basic guidelines documents for radioactive waste management:

waste acceptance criteria for storage and disposal;
SAR for waste conditioning facilities;
Safety Assessment for disposal facilities.
They provide clear indication to the applicants on the safety objectives and on the way they have to build the corresponding safety reports.

9. The preparation level of the draft safety guides have been considered by all the participating organization, including the Beneficiary GAN, more than satisfactory and they represent a significant step forward the participation of Russia

10. The industrial side, through their comments, showed high interest and need to have available these regulatory documents, which are considered extremely useful for the preparation of licensing documentation, both for new facilities as well as for existing facilities.

11. A dialog from the regulator with the operators has been started showing very positive results, this has to continue in parallel with the procedure to formally issue the Safety Guides in order to have common and clear under-standings of the safety requirements and their application. This approach has to be considered another important achievement of this project.

12. It was agreed that application of the requirements illustrated in the Safety Guides to existing radwaste facilities is very important also to get feedback from the experience gained during the application itself. By considering the actual situation on radioactive waste management in RF, there was unanimous agreement on the need to start this application as soon as possible.

13. Availability from Western consortium was manifested to continue to provide support in the following steps of the GAN-SEC NRS activity related to regulation and licensing of radwaste management.

Added by JMU

The project was focused on the development of the licensing process for the radioactive waste management in Russia.
The contract was signed on 27.02.1999, Contractor - ANPA, the Russian sub-contractor - SEC NRS (TSO of GAN).
Despite the differences in licensing approach and practices, the parties have achieved a common view on main aspects of the project's tasks.

The project implementation approach was efficient and flexible, aimed at achieving practical results.
Project meetings and visits of Russian specialists to EU countries were well organized and efficient.
Reports on Task 1 & 2 consist of the description and analysis of the Russian facilities, main sources of radwaste, status of regulatory structure and EU experience (methodological basis) in licensing procedures. These outputs were the reference information for the development of the draft Safety Guides.

Three draft Safety Guides were issued as a final practical results:
- Recommendations on establishing waste Acceptance Criteria for storage and disposal;
- Requirements to the format and content of a safety Assessment Report for a near surface radioactive waste disposal facility;
- Requirements for the content of Safety Analysis report related to radioactive waste conditioning facility.
They were formally issued as the Regulatory Documents in 2001.
The project results were discussed on 11-13 April 2000 at the final Meeting.
In the meantime, yet in the draft form, they were suitable for preliminary licensing activities for the near to surface radwaste storage during the dialogue between GAN and Moscow RADON.