Upgrading the safety level of nuclear facilities through the EC assistance programmes

The European Union's TACIS and PHARE programmes were established in 1991. One priority for TACIS funding is nuclear safety. In nuclear safety, the countries mainly concerned are the Russian Federation, Ukraine, Armenia and Kazakhstan for the TACIS programme; and Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Lithuania, Romania and Slovenia for the PHARE programme. The European Commission has made available a total of Euro 944 million for TACIS and Euro 242 million for PHARE nuclear safety programmes covering the period 1991-2003. The TACIS and PHARE nuclear safety programmes are devoted to the improvement of the safety of Soviet designed nuclear installations in providing technology and safety culture transfer. The paper gives an overview of the implementation of the TACIS nuclear safety programme and the planned projects. It also details the scientific and technical support that the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission is providing to the other services of the European Commission in charge of the programming and the implementation of the TACIS and PHARE Nuclear Safety programmes. (author)