SNRIU and US NRC Discussed Extension of Bilateral Cooperation in Nuclear Safety Regulation

A meeting between SNRIU and US NRC representatives was held at SSTC NRS on 8 December 2014 to discuss cooperation in the regulation of nuclear and radiation safety. The parties agreed to arrange this meeting in July this year when the Ukrainian delegation visited the USA.

The Ukrainian representatives were headed by S. Bozhko, Chairman of SNRIU, and I. Shevchenko, Director of SSTC NRS. The US party was headed by J. Ramsey, Manager of International Programs at US NRC.

The participants discussed implementation of the Memorandum for 2013-2015 and extension of cooperation under new tasks.

It was agreed that previous tasks should be completed and additional efforts should be focused on the following tasks in 2015:

Improvement of regulatory requirements for nuclear and radiation safety of spent fuel dry storage facilities (workshop on licensing of these facilities was the first step for this task).

Enhancement of SNRIU and SSTC NRS analytical capabilities by mastering current versions of computer codes (TRACE, MELCOR, MACCS).

Development of regulatory requirements for synergy of safety and security of nuclear installations.

Agreements were signed to involve the SNRIU into the US NRC Cooperative Severe Accident Research Program (CSARP) and continue participation in the Code Applications and Maintenance Program (CAMP). In the framework of these programs, the SNRIU will receive current versions of MELCOR 2.1, MACCS2 and TRACE codes. Personnel will be trained and computer models will be developed under the relevant tasks.

The parties agreed to prepare the Memorandum of cooperation for the next period and sign it at the 59th Meeting of the IAEA General Conference (September 2015).

SSTC website [http://sstc.kiev.ua/] 16/12/2014