Status of Nuclear Safety Culture Through Lessons Learnt from Licensing, Periodic Safety Review and Relicensing of Activities at Nuclear Research Installations in Russian Federation

Russian Federation (Russia) has a lot of Nuclear Research Installations (NRIs) of various types and powers for the fundamental and applied sciences in the field of physics, power engineering, material study, biology and medicine. The work is been carried out to optimize the Russian fleet of NRIs, depending on the science and atomic energy needs. Due to the reduction of NRIs in operation in the world the experimental abilities of Russian NRIs as well as their safety conditions, to be in compliance with up-to-date safety requirements, represent the certain interest both to European region and international collaboration as a whole. The effective system for safety regulation in the field of atomic energy use has been established at present in Russia and is being improved. The legal basis and principles of regulation of relations arising in atomic energy use have been put in force at the state level taking into consideration fundamental principles of nuclear law adopted in practice worldwide. The report outlines the results and lessons learnt from licensing of NRIs in Russia as a continuous process having a few stages during the lifetime of a NRI. Enhancement of nuclear and radiation safety and security of NRIs in operation is pointed out at the initial licensing stage in the past, when no sound technical requirements and reference licensing basis were available, and then as a result of further safety evaluations and re-licensing. Through lessons learnt from licensing of NRIs the principal findings are summarized on the safety status of NRIs in Russia and further evaluation of their safety. A sound legal framework, well arranged licensing process and supervision, also scientific and technical support and other advisory organizations can help enhance nuclear safety culture because the activities at NRIs include various aspects related to safety: legal, administrative, technical, economical, ecological, informational, social and even psychological. There exist a few examples of a good practice of licensing of activities at NRIs in Russia: independent expert and inspection resources are available for the regulatory body, improvement of quality management system of operating organizations for a particular research reactor and associated experimental facilities, decrease of number of reportable incidents at NRIs and non-compliances with safety requirements, a progress in the safety issues of decommissioning of NRIs, enhancement of efficiency of information exchange system. (author)