Basic principles of the state policy for ensuring the nuclear and radiation safety of the Russian Federation till 2010
Basic principles
of the state policy for ensuring the nuclear and radiation safety of
the Russian Federation till 2010
I. General provisions
1. The Principles specify the objective, the priorities and the key tasks of the state policy for ensuring the nuclear and radiation safety of the Russian Federation (hereinafter nuclear and radiation safety) and the key directions of planning and management in the sphere
2. The Principles are based on the Constitution of the Russian Federation, federal laws and other legal acts as well as the international agreements and convention on nuclear and radiation safety the Russian Federation is signatory to
3. Nuclear and radiation safety is one of the basic principles of the national security policy of the Russian Federation
4. The implementation of the Principles is coordinated by the President of the Russian Federation
II. Key factors determining the course of the state policy for ensuring nuclear and radiation safety
5. Emergencies related to nuclear and radioactive facilities (including nuclear weapons and their components), nuclear materials, radioactive matters and waster, source of nuclear radiation (hereinafter nuclear and radioactive facilities and materials) and having long-term negative effect and posing serious threat to the national security and the social-economic development of the Russian Federation
6. The key factors determining the state policy for ensuring nuclear and radiation safety are:
• the growing number of nuclear and radioactive facilities subject to destruction and disposal and not used in defense or economy;
• the necessity to treat a big amount of nuclear materials, irradiated fuel assemblies of nuclear reactors, radioactive waste produced by nuclear weapons, nuclear power industry, submarines, ships with nuclear reactors and other sources of radiation
• the growing threat of the use of nuclear and radioactive facilities and materials by radical terrorist organizations
• wear of nuclear and radioactive facilities and their physical protection systems (hereinafter protection systems)
• the necessity to recover the territories that have suffered from imperfect nuclear technologies used at the dawn of nuclear power engineering in the country, nuclear accidents, nuclear weapons tests and the activities of the oil and gas, energy, mining and construction industries
• the development of international cooperation on nuclear and radiation safety and the necessity to enhance its efficiency
• insufficient financing of nuclear and radiation safety projects
III. Objective and priorities of the state policy for ensuring nuclear and radiation safety
7. The objective of the state policy for ensuring nuclear and radiation safety is to gradually reduce the effects of manmade and natural sources of nuclear radiation on the population and the environment
8. This objective requires the following actions:
• improving state control and coordination in the field of nuclear and radiation safety, particularly, enhancing the efficiency of the radiation control system
• improving state control over the use of nuclear energy, particularly, raising the efficiency of licensing activities and safety examinations
• effectively protecting nuclear and radioactive facilities from manmade and natural factors and terrorist acts and safeguarding the population and the environment from negative impacts of nuclear energy and natural sources of nuclear radiation
• improving systems of physical protection of nuclear power facilities, enhancing their resistance to acts of terrorism and sabotage
• intensifying and improving the activities for destroying decommissioned nuclear facilities and nuclear waste
• recovering territories with unfavorable radiation situation
• conducting radiological-epidemiological research for assessing the health conditions of people that have suffered from radiation effects
• improving medical support and rehabilitation of people working at nuclear facilities and dealing with nuclear and radioactive materials
• enhancing the efficiency of international cooperation on nuclear and radiation safety
IV. Key principles of the state policy for ensuring nuclear and radiation safety
9. The key principles of the state policy for ensuring nuclear and radiation safety are:
• observing the legislation of the Russian Federation as well as the international agreement and conventions the Russian Federation is signatory to
• ensuring nuclear and radiation safety in any activity related to the use nuclear energy
• ensuring centralized state control over nuclear facilities and their activities under market economy conditions
• rationally combining federal and regional interests but giving priority to federal interests in matters concerning nuclear and radiation safety
• ensuring balance of state interests, protection of rights and interests of citizens and organization involved in the use of nuclear energy and radioactive materials, mutual responsibility of individual, society and state for nuclear and radiation safety, personal responsibility of officials
• implementing the concept of socially acceptable risk with the view of minimizing nuclear and radiation risks, particularly, reducing individual radiation exposure doses and the number of people exposed to radiation while dealing with nuclear energy and sources of nuclear radiation
• ensuring effective state control over the dose of radiation receiving by people from all sources of nuclear radiation and banning all types of nuclear energy-related activities where economic profit does not compensate for possible damage
• concentrating the efforts and resources (including budgetary and extra-budgetary) of federal, regional and local authorities as well as organizations operating nuclear and radioactive facilities towards ensuring nuclear and radiation safety
• ensuring complex protection of nuclear and radioactive productions, facilities and materials from all possible negative impacts, including acts of terrorism
• ensuring effective licensing and certification in the sphere
• guaranteeing that all nuclear facilities and materials of military and double purpose be owned by the state while all other nuclear facilities and materials having no military or double purpose can be owned by regional and municipal authorities as well as legal entities provided that the latter ensure their safety and use them for direct purposes only under the control of federal authorities
• distributing functions among state nuclear and radiation control agencies, federal and regional executive authorities, owners of nuclear and radioactive facilities and their operators.
• ensuring transparency of the activities of nuclear and radioactive facilities with state secrecy observed
• preventing dependence from foreign states in the sphere
• ensuring constant preparedness of emergency response agencies
V. Key tasks of the state policy for ensuring nuclear and radiation safety
10. In order to ensure effective state management, coordination and control in the field of nuclear and radiation safety it is necessary:
1) to enhance the role of state management in the field of use of nuclear energy and state control in the sphere of nuclear safety, to improve interaction between federal, regional and local authorities, to distribute powers and responsibilities among federal, regional and local officials, to concentrate efforts and resources towards ensuring nuclear and radiation safety
2) to draft federal laws on nuclear and radiation safety, on nuclear facilities of military purpose, on treatment of radioactive waster, on production, safe use, transportation and destruction of nuclear weapons and to submit them for the State Duma’s consideration
3) to develop the state system of nuclear and radiation safety, to improve its structure and to specify its tasks, to ensure effective hierarchy among federal, regional and local authorities
4) to ensure necessary financing
5) to draft and introduce operating rules and standards for the safe use of nuclear energy, particularly, concerning the design, production, testing, operation and disposal of nuclear weapons and nuclear facilities of military and double purpose as well as the treatment of radioactive materials and waste
6) to enhance customs control over transportation of nuclear materials, radioactive matters and products therefrom
7) to take an inventory of nuclear and radioactive facilities and materials (including decommissioned ones) and:
• to make a list of nuclear and radioactive facilities of the Russian Federation as part of the list of dangerous facilities of the Russian Federation
• to work out single methodology for categorizing nuclear and radioactive facilities and to make a list of critically important nuclear and radioactive facilities that are most dangerous and/or most significant for national security
• to improve the state system of radioactive matters and waste control
• to create a dosimetric register of employees of the nuclear power industry with a view to determine most vulnerable groups
• to improve measures for protecting information concerning the safety of nuclear and radioactive facilities and nuclear weapons and preventing unsanctioned access to lists of nuclear facilities and radioactive matters and waste
8) to improve and develop:
• system of control over the efficiency of military and civil nuclear facilities, their compliance with quality and safety standards
• system of guaranteed state insurance and social protection of citizens working at or living near radioactive facilities and citizens that have suffered from high radiation exposure due to the fault of the state
• system of insurance against nuclear and radiation risks
• systems of licensing of the activities for using nuclear energy for peaceful purpose and ensuring nuclear and radiation safety;
• untied state automated system of radiation control
• united state system of control of individual irradiation of people living near nuclear and radioactive facilities or working at them
9) to determine the administrative-legal status of safety zones around nuclear and radioactive facilities with a view to enhance their safety under the growing threat of terrorism
10) to ensure high preparedness of security forces for possible emergencies and acts of terrorism at nuclear and radioactive facilities
11) to ensure the social security of people involved in the use of nuclear energy by improving mechanisms of remuneration and social protection people working at nuclear and radioactive facilities, particularly, people responsible for their safety and protection and for the health of local personnel
12) to raise the efficiency of scientific-methodological, financial-economic, regulatory, technical and organizational support for the following activities:
• developing and introducing critical technologies, including technologies ensuring the safety of the nuclear power industry
• elaborating and implementing a long-term strategy for ensuring the safe use of nuclear and radioactive materials and technologies in different sectors of economy and medicine
• ensuring safe treatment of radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel
• controlling the radiation situation all over the territory of the Russian Federation, preventing contamination and recovering contaminated territories
• reducing the risk and negative effects of natural and manmade disasters on nuclear and radioactive facilities, preventing and liquidating radiation emergencies
• ensuring high efficiency of the medical support system of the Ministry of Atomic Energy of the Russian Federation in conducting social, medical, preventive and sanitary measures in case of possible emergencies and terrorist acts at nuclear and radioactive
• protecting the population from high radiation exposure
• protecting the health of people living near and working at nuclear and radioactive facilities, including people responsible for the safety and protection of those facilities
13) ensuring state control over the transportation of nuclear and radioactive technologies and materials in the territory of the Russian Federation, including their constant automated monitoring throughout transportation
11. In order to ensure the nuclear and radiation safety of the population and the environment it is necessary:
1) to introduce modern methods and means of nuclear and radiation safety analysis and management by developing relevant methodology and software
2) to develop and introduce:
• facilities and equipment with enhanced safety and more efficient emergency and fire prevention technologies, modern technologies of radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel treatment and disposal, nuclear reactors with upgraded safety systems and improved operating parameters
• systems for testing equipment at nuclear power plants and research and other reactors
• modern means and methods of radiation control
• collective and individual protection means for the personnel of nuclear and radioactive facilities and the population living near them (radio-protectors, means for preventing the organism’s primary response to radiation exposure, medicines for removing radio-nuclides from the organism, medical testing systems with minimum radiological side-effects)
• systems and technologies for more effective use of radiation testing and radio-isotopic production in science, industry, health and agriculture
• systems for more effective decommissioning and disposal of sources of radiation, first of all, radionuclear thermoelectric generators
• means and methods for reducing the population’s exposure to radon and other natural radio-nuclides resulting from natural processes and human activities for mining, processing and consuming oil products and other types of mineral resources and construction materials
3) to organize and conduct large-scale radiological examinations with a view to detect residential and industrial areas with high inadmissible concentration of radon and its derivatives, to organize public hearings, to draft regulatory documents concerning reduction of radiation risk and to introduce necessary database
4) to improve the personnel training system by introducing modern specialized equipment, training aids and psychological training
5) to design new and to unify existing individual and group simulators
12. In order to improve the system of physical protection of nuclear and radioactive facilities and materials it is necessary to:
• to improve legislation concerning the physical protection and safety of nuclear and radioactive facilities
• to make a list of model risks and violators for vulnerability analysis and preventive measures
• to develop criteria for assessing the efficiency of the systems of physical protection of nuclear and radioactive facilities and model requirements to such systems
• to organize measures for protecting information concerning the safety of nuclear and radioactive facilities and materials and nuclear weapons
13. In order to dispose of nuclear and radioactive facilities and materials and to recover territories under them, it is necessary:
1) to take an inventory of contaminated territories of the Russian Federation, to categorize them as to their potential danger, to plan measures for their recovery
2) to ensure quick and effective treatment of nuclear materials, irradiated fuel assemblies of nuclear reactors, radioactive waste produced by nuclear weapons, nuclear power industry, submarines, ships with nuclear reactors and other sources of radiation
3) to stably finance measures for destroying decommissioned nuclear facilities that are especially dangerous for the population and the environment as well as decommissioned submarines with undischarged nuclear fuel
4) to carry out the following measures:
• to improve the ecological conditions and to restore the economic functions of territories contaminated as a result of military programs or emergencies at industrial facilities by means of inter-departmental and inter-regional ecological and rehabilitation programs
• to process radioactive waste into useful materials and to isolate (bury) radioactive waste that can no longer be used for any purposes
• to reconstruct and modernize outdated solid and liquid waste storage facilities, including facilities for storing decommissioned submarines
• to develop methods for radiation safety analysis
5) to develop and introduce mechanisms for economic motivation of ecological projects aimed at minimizing and liquidating radioactive contamination of the environment
14. In order to train and enhance the qualification of personnel it is necessary:
• to improve the system of recruitment, training and certification of personnel, including top managers, in the field of nuclear and radiation safety
• to instruct the population on how to protect themselves from possible negative effects when dealing with nuclear materials, radioactive matters, radioactive waste and sources of nuclear radiation and in case of emergencies and their liquidation
15. In order to improve the efficiency of the international cooperation in the sphere it is necessary:
1) to ensure the implementation of international agreements and conventions the Russian Federation is signatory to and to enlarge the contractual basis concerning nuclear and radiation safety
2) to improve the mechanisms of control and use of financial and other means received by the Russian Federation under international agreements for ensuring nuclear and radiation safety
3) to ensure the effective involvement of Russian specialists in the activities of international organizations dealing with problems of nuclear and radiation safety, in international inspections, examinations and missions related to the implementation of international agreements and conventions the Russian Federation is signatory to, in joint exercises, training, methodological, scientific and other events
4) to ensure the ratification of the Vienna Convention on Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage (May 21 1963) with amendments made in 1997 and the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management
5) to improve forms and mechanisms of international cooperation in the following directions:
• to develop and implement coordinated global strategy for safety of nuclear and radioactive facilities and materials
• to ensure safe and timely decommissioning of nuclear and radioactive facilities
• to protect nuclear and radioactive facilities from acts of terrorism
• to enhance the safety of any operations with nuclear and radioactive facilities and materials throughout their lives
• to jointly respond (if necessary) to emergencies related to nuclear and radioactive facilities, to form rescue and fire prevention units
• to improve mechanisms for providing (receiving) international assistance in case of emergencies or terrorist acts related to nuclear and radioactive facilities
VI. Key mechanisms and stages of implementation of the Principles
16. The Principles are implemented in the framework of:
• state armament program
• federal target programs of nuclear and radiation safety
• plan of action for implementing the Principles
17. In order to improve the mechanisms it is necessary:
• to develop nuclear and radiation safety management planning, with focus on mid-term planning
• to draft and adopt conceptual and program documents outlining long-term development prospects of the nuclear power industry, nuclear fuel complex and nuclear weapons complex
18. The Principles are implemented stage by stage
19. At the first stage (2004-2005) it is necessary:
• to take an inventory of nuclear and radioactive facilities and materials and to make lists of nuclear and radioactive facilities and critical facilities
• to take an inventory of contaminated territories and to categorize them as to their potential danger for the population and the environment
• to revise and implement federal target programs in the field of nuclear and radiation safety
• to improve the regulatory basis in the field of nuclear and radiation safety
• to work out and implement a complex of measures for enhancing the efficiency of state regulation, coordination and control of nuclear and radiation safety measures, to improve the structure of state management and regulation in the sphere, to distribute powers among federal, regional and local authorities and to improve mechanisms of civil responsibility for damages caused by the use of nuclear energy
• to develop and improve state system for protection of information concerning nuclear and radioactive facilities and materials
20. At the second stage (2006-2010) it is necessary:
1) to create and/or improve
• state system of nuclear and radiation safety
• untied state automated system of radiation control
• system of recording and control of nuclear and radioactive facilities and materials
• united state system of control of individual irradiation of people living near nuclear and radioactive facilities or working at them
• system of medical support for nuclear and radiation safety
• unified system of protection of nuclear and radioactive facilities and materials
• automated system of constant monitoring of nuclear and radioactive facilities (cargoes) and materials and their transportation by all types of transport (with the pilot program implemented in 2004-2005)
2) to complete the formation of long-term development forecasting for the nuclear power industry, nuclear fuel complex and nuclear weapons complex of the Russian Federation
3) to carry out measures for destroying decommissioned nuclear and radioactive facilities and materials and recovering the most contaminated territories
4) to optimize the participation of the state in regulation, coordination and control of nuclear and radiation safety projects
5) to carry out planned research and development projects for developing highly efficient technologies in the field of nuclear and radiation safety with a view to produce highly competitive technologies
6) to work out effective mechanisms of international cooperation in the field of nuclear and radiation safety.
