Working Material of the CEG Workshop on Management of Spent Nuclear Fuel and Radioactive Waste: Regulatory and Licensing Issues. Materials Presented to the Workshop

The CEG Workshop on Management of Spent Nuclear Fuel (SNF) and Radioactive Waste (RW): Regulatory and Licensing Issues, (including a special session on Production Association Mayak) was held on 27-28 May 2009 in St. Petersburg, Russia. Sixty participants from nine countries (Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Norway, Russian Federation, Sweden, the UK and the U.S.A.) and two international organisations (IAEA and EBRD) attended the workshop. At the Workshop, the Russian regulatory bodies presented information on their structure, key regulation documents and activities related to regulation of nuclear industry. The participants shared experience in implementation of joint nuclear legacy projects in Russia and compliance with nuclear and radiation safety regulations from the perspectives of operators, international donors and regulators. Participants, especially donors, recommended that all regulators in the field of the Russian nuclear legacy should jointly address the development of waste acceptance criteria for the entire range of radioactive waste being managed at former Russian naval bases; and arrangement of pre-implementation environmental impact assessments. The workshop also discussed environmental impact issues resulting from reprocessing of SNF at the Mayak plant. International donors expressed confidence that, given the information presented on the Mayak operations, the projects for removal of SNF from former navy bases in the North-West and Far-East being funded or planned by international donors would not have any significant environmental impact.