TRANSFER OF METHODOLOGY TO R.A. PH 2+3 RUSSIA

The guiding objective of this project was to assist the Government of the Russian Federation to establish a legally based independent and technically strong regulatory authority.

The project consisted of 10 technical tasks and 2 project management tasks:

TASK 0 Technical Co-ordination
TASK 1 Standards and Regulations for Nuclear Safety
TASK 2 Development and Improvement of the Russian Licensing System
TASK 3 Regulatory Systems for Monitoring Operator Training and Licensing
TASK 4 Regulatory Requirements for Documentation on Operational and Emergency Procedures
TASK 5 Requirements and Programme Package for Training of Regulatory Authority Experts
TASK 6 Incident Analysis and Reporting
TASK 7 Regularory Inspection of Pressurised NPP components
TASK 8/9 Regulatory Radiometric Tests and Inspections
TASK 10 General Methods of Work of Regulatory Authorities
TASK 11 Project Management

The position of the Regulatory Body of the Russian Federation (GOSATOMNADZOR) within the governmental system and its competencies and strengths was suffering from the lack of a legal basis until November 1995. The signature of the nuclear law by the President of the Russian Federation is of great importance and is a great success.

The main conclusion was that GOSATOMNADZOR should receive a single budget allocation from the State and should have the power to determine the allocation of funds, subject to Government audit, to whichever parts of the committee it feels necessary so that It can carry out its responsibilities effectively.

The information received in the course of the project allowed GAN of Russia to use West-European regulatory practices in the field of nuclear and radiation safety and increase significantly its effectiveness in terms of licensing procedures and regulatory documents improvement".

Task 1:

It was stated, that the project considerably has contributed to a change in the Russian regulatory system and in the safety culture. Major steps have been taken to establish a legal basis for the regulatory authority. But below the laws approved so far, further legal documents are needed.

Task 2:

Since the beginning of the assistance from western countries a lot has been done in the Russian Federation to give a legal basis for the supervision of nuclear and radiation safety of nuclear facilities. The EU expertise has been used to improve the licensing process, including the system for temporary permissions. Draft regulatory documents were developed on:

• Nuclear damage reimbursement and nuclear insurance
• Requirements to the content of conditions for temporary permissions
• Public involvement in the licensing process of nuclear and radiation hazardous facilities
• A Policy Statement to apply probabilistic safety assessment for NNPP licensing purposes

More than 20 Russian experts were trained in France and Germany.

Task 3:

The Nuclear Regulatory Authority of the Russian Federation, GAN-RF, started in the past an activity with the objective to better control the qualifications of NPP personnel.

During the performance of Task 3 the overall approach of GAN-RF was discussed, priority was given to the control room personnel operating the nuclear power plants with direct impact on operational safety.

The main result of the three year co-operation is that GAN-RF defined a new system for issuing permits to operating personnel. This system reflects present international recommended practice and incorporates existing Russian practices of GAN-RF and the Russian utilities. The necessary legal elements have been included in the Federal Law on Atomic Energy Use and in Governmental Decrees, allowing GAN-RF to proceed with the implementation of the new system.

Task 4:

The main objectives were the transfer of Western European regulatory methodology and practices to the nuclear safety authority of the Russian Federation concerning requirements for operating documents. This has been achieved.

GAN has produced regulatory documents, inspection programmes and is working on NPP periodical safety reporting system in Russia.

Task 5:

Information by EU regulators on their training systems has been used to develop documents such as " Guide on training and maintaining of the required qualification of specialists carrying out supervision over nuclear and radiation safety of NPPs supervised by Volga regional office of Gosatomnadzor of Russia."

" Programme of training and maintaining of qualification of state Volga region inspectors dealing with the supervision over over VVER-1000 NPP nuclear and radiation safety."

"Standard Programme of prompt inspections for compliance with regulatory requirements in the area of NPP operational safety"

"Official ethics of an inspector. Collection of information"

"The basic principles of organisation of supervision".

Task 6:

The three year co-operation in the area of incident reporting analysis systems has resulted in:

• promotion of the development of the Russian normative basis relating to operation experience feedback
• establishment of the responsibility for information on violation in NPP operation;
• the use of information on violations in NPP and RR operation in the evaluation of the supporting documents submitted for obtaining a provisional operating permit;
• improvement in the reporting of violations and in analysis techniques;
• improvement of the procedure for the transfer of NPP safety relevant information;
• increase of the responsibility of regional bodies (offices) of GAN for the supervision of NPP violations investigation and the follow-up activities.

Task 7:

Within task 7 the co-operation between Gosatomnadzor of Russia (GAN) and the CEC (TUEV EC, ANPA and NIl) had two main objectives:

• Information exchange, regulatory approaches and documentation
• Regulatory inspections and use of inspection technology

This helped GAN to understand state of the art non destructive testing methods during manufacturing of safety important equipment and of diagnostics during operation, both from a regulatory and a technical point of view.

Task 8 & Task 9

Task 8 Regulatory radiometric inspections and Task 9 Regulatory radiochemical inspections were combined. Information was supplied by CSN and ENRESA about radiometric tests and radiochemical tests and inspections. These were applied during a joint inspection in Russia. The procurement of technical equipment was foreseen in this task but could not be completed.

Task 10:

Based on GAN-RF needs, a training program has been developed to improve the effective use of PC equipment, office software and communications network, which was supplied under several different contracts by the EU.