книги / 730

RUSSIAN FEDERATION

Main laws/regulations/documents for initial and long-term/extended operation

Initial authorisations for nuclear power reactors are issued in accordance with the following:

•Federal Law No. 170-FZ, 21 November 1995 “On the Use of Atomic Energy” (Atomic Energy Law);

•Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 280, 29 March 2013 “On Licensing Activities in the Field of Atomic Energy Use” (Licensing Decree);

•“Administrative Procedures for the Public Service of Licensing Activities in the Field of Atomic Use to be provided by the Federal Environmental, Industrial and Nuclear Supervision Service” (Order of the Federal Environmental, Industrial and Nuclear Supervision Service No. 453, 8 October 2014; Amendments: Order of the Federal Environmental, Industrial and Nuclear Supervision Service No. 444, 24 October 2017) (Order on Administrative Procedures);

•Federal Law No. 3-FZ, 9 January 1996 “On Radiation Protection of the Public” (Radiation Protection Law);

•Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 1044 “On the Federal State Supervision in the Field of Atomic Energy Use” (15 October 2012); and

•“Provision on Safety Review (Safety Analysis Review) Procedure of Nuclear Facilities and (or) Types of Activities in the Field of Use of Atomic Energy” (approved by the Order of the Federal Environmental, Industrial and Nuclear Supervision Service No. 160, 21 April 2014).

Authorisations for extended operation are issued in accordance with the following:

•Federal Rules and Regulations in the Field of Atomic Energy Use “General Provisions for NPP Safety” (NP-001-15);

•Federal Rules and Regulations in the Field of Atomic Energy Use “Major Requirements for Lifetime Extension of NPP Units” (NP-017-18);

•Federal Rules and Regulations in the Field of Atomic Energy Use “Requirements to Resource Management of Equipment and Pipelines of Nuclear Power Plants” (NP-096-15); and

•Safety Guide “Recommendations to the Report on In-depth Safety Analysis of NPP Power Units under Operation (OUOB AS)” (RB-001-05).

Responsible government bodies

According to Article 26 of the Atomic Energy Law, the national nuclear regulatory body, the Federal Environmental, Industrial and Nuclear Supervision Service (Rostechnadzor), organises the safety review. The review itself is conducted by technical and scientific support organisations (TSOs) of the national nuclear regulatory body. For NPP units sited on Russian territory, the review is conducted by the Scientific and Engineering Centre for Nuclear and Radiation Safety (SEC NRS).

In addition, according to Article 26 of the Atomic Energy Law as well as to the Licensing Decree, authorisations (licences) for conducting activities in the field of atomic energy use, including a new licence for the extended operation period, are granted by regulatory bodies, namely Rostechnadzor.

Application and review timing

In compliance with Article 4 of the Federal Rules and Regulations in the Field of Atomic Energy Use “Major Requirements for Lifetime Extension of NPP Units” (NP-017-18): “Not less than five years prior to the end of the design life or extended operation period an operating organisation must conduct a safety assessment of an NPP unit and on the basis of the results of this assessment must make a decision on the possibility of continuing its operation or on decommissioning. This decision must be taken with the participation of reactor and NPP design developers.”

RUSSIAN FEDERATION

Environmental

There is no environmental review as part of the authorisation process for extended operation.

New safety requirements

If new laws, federal rules and regulations or other official documents are issued, all the new requirements shall be imposed upon the licensee during the authorisation process for extended operation.

Transboundary notification

The legal framework applicable to lifetime extension does not include a systematic requirement for transboundary notification.

Public participation

Public participation during the authorisation process for extended operation is not allowed.

Access to information

Neither the decision-making authority nor the licensee have a legal duty to provide information to the public during the authorisation process for extended operation.

Legal challenges

Legal challenges to the decisions taken in the process of state service provision and either actions or inactions of Rostechnadzor are allowed.

In accordance with the Order on Administrative Procedures, a licensee/applicant may raise a complaint against either the actions or inactions of Rostechnadzor in a pre-trial procedure as described in Part V of the Order on Administrative Procedures or may raise a legal challenge in accordance with the procedure described in the Arbitration Procedural Code of the Russian Federation (No. 95-FZ, 24 July 2002). There is no specific geographical component to challenge the authorisation.

The decision of the First Instance Arbitration Court may be appealed on the basis of Chapters 34, 35 and 36.1 of the Arbitration Procedural Code first to the court of appellate instance, then to the court of cassational instance and then finally to the court of supervisory instance.

SLOVAK REPUBLIC

•Act No. 87/2018 on Radiation Protection and on Adjustment and Changes to other Acts;

•Decree No. 33/2012 of the Nuclear Regulatory Authority of the Slovak Republic on the Regular, Comprehensive and Systematic Evaluation of the Nuclear Safety of Nuclear Installations, as amended by Decree No. 106/2016 and by Decree No. 71/2019, which entered into force on 15 March 2019;

•Act No. 24/2006 on Environmental Impact Assessment and on the Amendment and Supplementing of Certain Acts, as amended; and

•Act No. 50/1976 on Territorial Planning and Construction Order (Act on Construction), as amended and supplemented by other legal provisions.

Responsible government bodies

The body responsible for reviewing the PSR, under which the LTO-related assessment is carried out, is the Nuclear Regulatory Authority of the Slovak Republic (Úrad jadrového dozoru – ÚJD), the national nuclear regulatory body. According to the Atomic Act, the PSR itself is conducted and undertaken by the licensee.

Application and review timing

The licensee is required to conduct a PSR every ten years. The comprehensive LTO programme and other related documentation, which are part of the PSR covering the period of LTO, shall be transmitted to the ÚJD at least 12 months prior to when the next PSR is due.

There is no required date by which the ÚJD is required to complete its review of the PSR documentation, which may include on-site inspections and/or require additional information to be provided by the licensee. Looking back at the previous practice, the PSR process usually starts one-and-a-half years prior to the end of the operating decade.

Scope of review

Safety

The safety-related aspects of the LTO assessment, as part of the PSR, mainly consist of:

•a review of the life management of safety-relevant systems, structures and components (SSCs);

•an audit of the time-limited safety analyses (TLAAs) performed for safety-relevant SSCs;

•a review of ageing management programmes for active and passive safety-relevant SSCs, the life cycle of which is due to be longer than the life initially foreseen for the nuclear power reactor project;

•an audit of the nuclear installation’s operational guidelines and procedures; and

•an audit of the system of retention of knowledge and experience on the nuclear installation, obtained during its planning, construction, commissioning and operation phases.

The aforementioned SSCs of particular relevance regarding the LTO-related assessment include:

•selected SSCs that must be functional during operation to ensure:

–the integrity of the pressure limit of the reactor’s cooling circuit;

–the ability to shut down the reactor and keep it in safe shutdown conditions; and

–the ability to prevent and mitigate the consequences of emergency incidents, which would cause a potential leak of radioactivity.

•selected SSCs not previously specified, the malfunction of which could prevent the sufficient fulfilment of safety functions of the previously mentioned equipment.

SLOVAK REPUBLIC

Access to information

Similarly, the Slovak Republic legal framework does not provide for any obligation on either ÚJD or the applicant to provide the public with information regarding the LTO-related assessment as part of the PSR. Nevertheless, ÚJD has decided, on a voluntary basis, to prepare and subsequently publish a PSR report that has been made available to the public on the ÚJD website, along with the plan, overview and results of the undertaken inspections.

In addition, members of the public may request access to information held by public authorities, such as the ÚJD, in accordance with the Act No. 211/2000 on the Freedom of Information and Act No. 205/2004 on Collection, Preservation and Dissemination of Information on the Environment and on Adjustments and Completion of other Acts. Such access may be restricted regarding sensitive information, defined by the Atomic Act as information, the disclosure of which could be used to plan or perform activities aimed at causing disruption or destruction of a nuclear installation and thereby could adversely affect public safety and cause environmental or economic damage.

Last, the ÚJD publishes its Public Communication Strategy as well as its annual reports every year, including in English.

Legal challenges

The ÚJD’s administrative decisions are legally challengeable. These are issued in case of negative findings not rectified by the licence holder.

SLOVENIA

Responsible government bodies

The Slovenian Nuclear Safety Administration (SNSA) (Uprava Republike Slovenije za jedrsko varnost – URSJV), the national nuclear regulatory authority, is responsible for conducting the PSR, within which the LTO-related assessment is conducted. The SNSA is also responsible for issuing the authorisation for lifetime extension.

Application and review timing

The operator must submit the content, scope and timing of implementation of the PSR no later than 40 months before the expiration of the operating licence to the SNSA for approval.

The SNSA must issue its decision on the PSR report submitted by the licensee within 60 days of receipt of the complete application. The approval of the PSR report is a pre-condition for the SNSA’s decision to extend the validity of the operating licence.

Scope of review

Safety

The scope and content of the safety-related review as part of the PSR is provided in Appendix 9 of the Rules on Operational Safety of Radiation and Nuclear Facilities – JV9. Overall, the scope of the safety review is focused on a review of changes during the past period of operation (e.g. changes of standards, of legislation or any type of changes in the nuclear power reactor), while the review for initial licensing is much broader.

The safety-related documentation to be produced by the applicant as part of the LTO-related assessment in the PSR is included in the PSR report. The most important documents related to LTO are the ageing management programme (AMP) and the time-limited ageing analyses (TLAAs). The AMP determines whether ageing processes are being managed effectively and if the required safety margins are maintained.

Following its safety review, the SNSA issues a decision on the approval or rejection of the PSR, as well as an updated licence for operation.

Environmental

An environmental impact assessment (EIA) must be performed as part of the PSR to authorise the LTO of a nuclear power reactor. The content of the EIA is defined by Annex 4 of the European Union (EU) EIA Directive.1

The Environmental Agency of the Ministry of Environment (EAME) must issue its environmental consent prior to the SNSA’s decision to extend the operating licence of a nuclear power reactor.

New safety requirements

New safety requirements can be imposed upon the operator by the SNSA following its consideration of the PSR report, should such report demonstrate a need for improvement of nuclear safety. Otherwise, new safety requirements can be imposed upon the operator at any time by new legislation or amendments to existing legislation. New or revised legislation may define a specific time frame for the implementation of new safety requirements through provisional clauses.

1.Directive 2014/52/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 2014 amending Directive 2011/92/EU on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment, Official Journal of the European Union (OJ) L 124 (25 April 2014) (EIA Directive).