Application of a new operating license for the Finnish FiR 1 reactor and the change of generation of the reactor personnel

The FiR 1 epithermal BNCT facility is a TRIGA Mark II reactor: 250 kW; 15 kg U containing 3 kg 235U (20% enrichment) in the special TRIGA uranium-zirconium hydride fuel (8-12 w% U, 91% Zr, 1% H); epithermal neutrons are created by the FLUENTALTM neutron moderator; Neutron collimation: Bi + Li-Poly cone; epithermal neutron flux: 1.1 109 /cm2s; fast neutron dose: 2 Gy/1013 cm-2. The schedule of the Operating License Application is as follows: - 2009 decision to apply a new license; - 2010 preparation of the documents needed for the application; - 2011 the documents will be checked by the authorities and at the end of the year the new license should be granted by the Government; - 2012-2016 probable period of the new license The supplementary documents to the application for an operating license are: 1. Details of the site; 2. The quality and maximum amounts of the nuclear material 3. An outline of the technical operating principles and arrangements whereby the safety has been ensured; 4. A description of the safety principles that have been observed, and an evaluation of the fulfillment of the principles; 5. A description of the measures to restrict the burden caused by the nuclear facility on the environment; 6. The expertise available to the applicant and the operating organization; 7. Plans for arranging nuclear waste management. The applicant submits to the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority: 1. The final safety analysis report; 2. A probabilistic safety analysis; 3. A quality assurance programme for the operation of the nuclear facility; 4. Technical specifications; 5. A summary programme for periodic inspections; 6. A description of the arrangements for physical protection and emergencies; 7. A description on how to arrange the safeguards that are necessary to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons; 8. Administrative rules; 9. A programme for radiation monitoring in the environment. Reactor key persons and the assumed time (valid only in this case) spent to familiarize one person with the new duty during the years 2006 - 2009: 1 - Duties determined in the nuclear energy decree (need acceptances from authorities): - Deputy of the responsible manager (1 y), - Person who is responsible for the emergency planning (0.5 y), - Person who is responsible for the physical protection (1 y), - Person who is responsible for the nuclear material control (3 y), - Shift supervisor (experienced operator), - Reactor operator (0.5 y); 2 - Duties determined in the administrative rules of the reactor: - Reactor Manager (3 y), - Radiation Protection Officer (2 y). Principles when nominating: the persons, who will be nominated to the key positions, must have experience from the shift supervisor duties of the reactor. In some cases the operator's competence is satisfactory. This means that we can not nominate new employees to the key positions. Normally when we recruit students or young research scientists they will be trained first as reactor operators (all our reactor operators are working as part time operators)