TRANSFER WESTERN METHODOLOGY TO UKRAINE

The importance of ensuring a legally based, independent, technically strong regulatory authority is internationally recognised as a necessary basis for safety. Consequently, support to nuclear safety authorities of Eastern countries must be a fundamental component of the European Community nuclear safety assistance programme.
This aspect was emphasized in the conclusions of the G7 meeting in Munich in July 1992 since it was one of the three areas identified by the G7 heads to be improved urgently: operational safety, short term modifications against the highest safety risk and nuclear safety regulation.
However, as there is no “reference” model in this field, the EC decided to fund a project for the transfer of the existing practice in the Western Countries and for the support to the GANU for the development of their regulatory unique system, consistent with the Western one.
An exploratory mission took place in August 1993, which allowed the Consortium of Western Regulatory members to gain deeper insights into the current issues and problems facing the GANU and to develop recommendations. Among the 46 recommendations drawn from the exploratory mission, two kinds of recommendations were identified:
those addressed through GANU to the Government which the Consultant cannot influence: they concern the promotion of a law, the funding, the resources and accommodations, the financial rewards and the organisation of the utility,
those concerning more directly the Ukrainian Nuclear Safety Authority for which the Consultant could bring efficient assistance.
Therefore ten of these items were included in the TORs for this projects, namely:
standards and regulations for nuclear safety,
development and improvement of the Ukrainian licensing system,
regulatory systems for monitoring operator training and licensing,
regulatory requirements for documentation on operational and emergency procedures,
training requirements and training packages for regulators,
incident reporting and analysis including regulatory response,
regulatory inspection of pressurized NPP components,
regulatory radiometric inspections,
regulatory radiochemical inspections,
general method of work of regulatory authority.
This programme (and this project) corresponds to the initial phase (one year) of a more comprehensive three year programme of regulatory assistance which was developed at the end of the first year and funded under the projects UK/RA/02 and 03 in the first phase, by UK/RA/04 and 05 in the second three-year phase (see the relevant PRSs).

The specific project objective was to provide assistance to the GANU in the following areas:
legal basis and powers of the NSA,
NSA development and structure, including licensing procedures, staffing, training and liaison with other bodies within and outside the country,
codes, guides, standards and rules,
licensing process and decision making,
assessment within licensing process,
obligation on licenses,
inspection and enforcement
incidents reporting and assessment; feed back of operational experience from the plants and elsewhere,
emergency arrangement
hardware and software requirements (technical resources).

Achievements (With reference to the TORs)A description of the main activities carried out in the most relevant project tasks (i.e. task 5 and 6 are omitted) and of the relevant results/deliverables is detailed in the following sections.
Task 1 Standards and regulations for Nuclear Safety
Details on the safety regulations and standards used in Western Countries were provided by the Consultant. The Ukrainian standards were then compared with the Western and potential modifications were suggested to make them consistent.
It was suggested that when formulating a set of regulations and standards for nuclear safety it should be based on four levels, i.e. :
The fundamental general principles should be laid down in a Nuclear Law.
The second level should cover the fundamental technical safety principles.
Further guidance on how to interpret the first and second level requirements should be provided by the Nuclear Regulatory Body.
Industrial standards providing further guidance on technical details of design, manufacturing, construction and operation.
Two draft documents related to the application of quality assurance to the safety of nuclear power within Ukraine were supplied to the EC experts. Suggestions for improvements to the two Ukrainian documents relating to QA were given during the visit of the Ukrainian delegation to the UK. It was noted that specific improvements in the areas of assessment and auditing were needed.
Task 2 Development and improvement of the Ukrainian licensing system
The procedure used in France for the plant licensing was presented to the GANU staff. Also the documentation (Safety Analysis Report, General Operating Rules and Emergency planning) to be developed by the licensee was extensively discussed. Special emphasis was given to the safety assessment process to be implemented by the Regulator in view of the licensing.
Concerning the computerized protection system, two documents were developed:
draft document "Concept of the GANU activities in licensing nuclear power unit computerized protection systems",
draft instruction for the use of GANU experts on computerized protection system.
Training of Ukrainian experts during a six week period was provided at French plants, with chances to attend meetings of advisory committees in different fields.
Task 3 Regulatory system for monitoring operator training and licensing
The GANU was assisted in its effort of developing a licensing system in relation to the licensing of the operators, simulators, training centres and training points. The system used in the western Countries was described and the main issues affecting the Ukrainian system identified for future improvement.
Training on the job was provided in Belgium and Germany, focussed on the implementation of the following tasks:
optimisation of the functional and organisational scheme of an operator licensing process taking into account the Ukrainian conditions;
definition of the appropriate levels for the two normative documents to be developed by the GANU within the system of the legal and normative practices applicable in Ukraine;
formulation of the content as well as the significance and functional purposes of these normative documents in the licensing system under development in Ukraine;
definition of the implementation phases for further GANU activities pertaining to the process of development and establishment of a comprehensive practice in the area of licensing of responsible personnel of nuclear power plants in Ukraine.
Task 4 Regulatory requirements for documentation on operational and emergency procedures
The Western practice in the field of the emergency planning, as part of the safety case to be submitted for the plant licensing, was described to GANU staff and support was provided for the improvement of the Ukrainian practice.
Two special items were thoroughly discussed: technical specifications and periodical testing. Concerning the technical specifications, some items were emphasized, namely: technical specification for shutdown states and multiple failures, definition of fall back modes in case of equipment unavailability, etc.
Task 5 Regulatory inspection of pressurised NPP components
The Consultant supported the GANU in the development of a systematic procedure for the organisation, evaluation and documentation of the in service inspection results at the pressurised components. The system would enable the Reg. Body to verify when and which in-service inspection is needed, to evaluate the results, to trend the result, to classify the defects and to plan the corrective actions. It was recognised that the Ukrainian law had no special standards in this field. Therefore it was suggested to give priority to the following issues in the development of the new regulations:
codes, standards and technical procedures in use for the design, manufacturing, installation and operation of equipment and pipelines,
the responsibility of the organization and the role of GANU,
the technical aspects of procedures for in-service inspections as well as,
the participation in in-service inspections and the evaluation of the results.

The requirement for a database of the result of the inspection was agreed among the parties. However, some preliminary tasks were identified as urgent, in view of the purchasing of the relevant hardware and software:
collection of all kinds of existing documents,
identification of the documents to be used for in-service inspections,
identification of the documents to be used for the modification of systems and their components.
During the training and the visits to the German plants, an introduction was also provided to the fatigue monitoring and defect leakage systems.
Task 6 Regulatory radiometric inspections
Assistance was provided in the modernisation (including procurement) of the regulatory inspection methods of the radiological conditions at the site, including training of regulators in the use of up-to-date methods and tools. The assistance was extended to the licensing process for the use of radioactive materials in the industry, medicine and research.
Three specialists of the SCNRS visited Spain for three weeks. Full information about the following items was provided:
requirements for the documents that have to be prepared by the applicant
evaluation of the application procedure for specific license conditions
guides for licensing procedures
inspection activities (preparation for inspection, inspection, inspection procedures, inspection documents, technical support)
inventory data bases (personal doses, license tracking system, etc.)
individual dosimetry procedures and equipment
radiation protection means
inspection regulatory documents
ALARA principle used in regulatory activity (licensing and inspection)
methodology of the computer codes used for regulatory activity (in radiation protection field) ;
informational support for the regulatory activity ;
scientific support for regulatory activity
use of the other regulations or guides (IAEA, European Community, USNRC)
emergency response centre and procedures.
Task 7 Regulatory radiochemical inspections
Assistance was provided in modernising the regulatory radiochemical inspection methods, including training of regulators in the use of up to date methods and tools and in the management of the relevant procurement process.
Task 8 General method of work of the regulatory authority
The objective of the task was the modernisation of the office organisation and automation, computing facilities and telecommunications. The relevant technical specifications were developed for software and hardware procurement. Some equipment was supplied in the framework of this project.

Comments

(Quality of the results, Lesson learnt, Recommendations for follow-up)
The project met the objectives stated in the TORs. The transfer of knowledge was very successful: in 1994 UkrSCRNS carried out the following tasks on the basis of the provided assistance by the Consultant:
Introduction of the procedure for issuing temporary permissions (on an annual basis) for NPP operation.
Development and implementation of licensing procedures for specific areas of nuclear safety regulations (licensing of spent fuel storage and transport of radioactive materials).
Approval of the concept of NPP personnel licensing and the concept-based adoption of provisions for development of regulatory documents.
Development and approval of the GANU emergency response concept.
Implementation of the re-training programme for the GANU employees through the newly established Ukrainian radiological training centre.
Mastering by the GANU Scientific and Technical Centre experts of the thermohydraulic and neutronics computer codes, codes for probabilistic and deterministic calculations pertaining to NPP safety.
Development of the concept and partial implementation of the GANU Automated Information System.
This transfer of information enabled the GANU to select the most appropriate regulatory model for the Ukrainian conditions.