Improvement of the national regulatory framework for nuclear material management
The Law provides for development of general federal regulations and rules to establish requirements for safe nuclear energy uses. Based on this law, federal rules for accounting, control and physical protection of nuclear materials were elaborated and brought into effect. This framework allows regulating NM management activities in a way safe for the public.
It is highly important today to make every employee of a nuclear site aware of the key ideas of the above documents so that they could become an effective and reliable link in special management of nuclear materials and in implementation of the non-proliferation safeguards.
Education of specialists in the spirit of high professional culture
The philosophy of safe NM handling should be an integral part of professional culture shared by all workers of the nuclear sector. Such conscientious attitude leaves no room for complacency in matters of NM security and suggests willingness to contribute to improvements in NM handling procedures.
Training of specialists taught to seek safety as a first priority is an objective to be attained by the national education system as well as by special instruction programs.
Promotion of the non-proliferation ideas among the public
The effectiveness of non-proliferation measures in a country depends on the awareness of this vital problem in all social strata. Such awareness in society, including the authorities, sets the problem high on the list of public priorities and dictates the level of resources allocated for its resolution. It is therefore highly important to promote the non-proliferation ideas among the country’s population.
Activities along these lines are carried out by a number of organizations, including the Nuclear Society of Russia and the Center of Political Studies. They publish magazines and books, hold scientific conferences and workshops, inviting representatives of broad public circles to take part in these events.
NM AC&PP culture at Rosatom enterprises
The program for accounting, control and physical protection of nuclear materials has made significant progress in reducing the risk of proliferation
116
of nuclear weapons. All Russian nuclear facilities are equipped with physical protection systems and use new technologies of accounting for nuclear materials. However, the required security level will not be maintained by equipment and technology alone. The availability and effectiveness of NM AC&PP systems depend largely on human factor.
The importance of human factor is universally recognized and there are a number of programs aligned for instruction of personnel in subjects of safety improvement in NM handling, including enhancement of professional culture of NM AC&PP personnel.
An important part in the Russian program for NM AC&PP development belongs to the NM AC&PP Culture Project, aimed at the greatest possible reduction of the risks attributable to human factor in NM handling and at improving the NM AC&PP culture at enterprises and organizations of the nuclear industry.
This project pursues the following objectives:
∙to improve the awareness of the NM AC&PP implications among site personnel as well as their understanding of the responsibility for maintaining high standards of culture in this sphere;
∙to enhance the attention of management to NM AC&PP issues and to the contribution their organization can make in this area;
∙to minimize the events and problems in NM AC&PP attributable to human factor.
One of the main problems associated with the NM AC&PP culture is the absence of special infrastructure (organization, personnel, technologies, or well-established practices) for enhancement of this culture on the sites. This fault is planned to be corrected by the NM AC&PP Culture Project. Employees (coordinators) responsible for NM AC&PP culture will act as links in the said infrastructure.
References
1. Safety Culture: Report of the International Nuclear Safety Advisory Group (INSAG) // Safety Series, No 75-INSAG-4, МАГАТЭ, Вена, 1990.
117
Part II
NUCLEAR MATERIAL ACCOUNTING AND
CONTROL SYSTEMS
118
CHAPTER 1
STATE SYSTEM OF ACCOUNTING FOR AND CONTROL
OF NUCLEAR MATERIAL (SSAC)
Accounting of nuclear material is determination of NM quantities, as well as preparation, filing and operation of accounting records and reports. Accounting relies on results of measuring NM quantitative characteristics. NM accounting allows:
∙use of earlier NM measurement results where confidence thereof has been confirmed by the appropriate condition of the access controls employed and respective changes;
∙use of calculation techniques based on prior measurement and experimental research results.
Therefore, quantitative characteristics of NM at respective locations and of NM flows both within and between enterprises are subject to careful accounting. This is so because information on NM forms the basis for up- to-date control and security systems at all levels of nuclear material handling.
This chapter looks into how state accounting for and control of NM is organized and is evolving in Russia.
1.1. Objectives, tasks and structure of the SSAC
The state system of accounting for and control of nuclear material is part of the state system for management of atomic energy and is intended to:
a)ensure control of nuclear material handling;
b)ensure integrity, early detection and avoidance of loss, unauthorized use and theft of nuclear material;
c)provide the Russian Federation state authorities, atomic energy management bodies, government nuclear power safety regulation agencies and other federal executive power bodies concerned with information on the presence and movements of nuclear material, including transborder shipments into or out of the Russian Federation, these may require for exercising their respective powers;
d)determine the quantities of nuclear material at respective locations;
e)ensure necessary conditions for employing the safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency, as well as for implementing bilateral agreements on control of nuclear material.
119
The state system of accounting for and control of nuclear material includes:
∙Systems of accounting for and control of NM at three levels. These are primarily control authorities that support its operations at the federal national level. The second level is formed by operators which handle nuclear material. The third level is formed by the NM balance areas within the operator sites;
∙legal regulatory support for accounting and control of nuclear material;
∙informational and analytical support for the system operations, as well as for processing and transfer of information on the presence and movements of nuclear material;
∙nuclear material accounting and control systems of organizations which handle nuclear material;
∙control and supervision of the state of the art in accounting and control of nuclear material.
The state system of accounting for and control of nuclear material should ensure:
a)update of the system of measurements that supports obtainment of data on the quantity and composition of nuclear material;
b)occupational training and retraining of personnel in the field of accounting and control of nuclear material;
c)restrictive access to the information in the field of state accounting and control of nuclear material for ensuring the protection of national security and restricted official information.
Regulatory, legal and organizational basis of state nuclear material accounting
Legal framework of state NM accounting. Russia adopted the atomic energy law in 1995. We did not have an earlier atomic energy law so, before the law was adopted, all aspects had been governed subject to resolutions of the Ministry for Medium Machine Building (now Rosatom). Since 1995 therefore, the atomic energy law (Part I, Chapter 5) has been the underlying document in Russian nuclear energy with all nuclear material handling based on the articles thereof.
Organizational framework of state NM accounting. The atomic energy law calls for a state system of accounting for and control of nuclear material (SSAC) to be formed to enable accurate and highly reliable accounting of NM disposition and transfer data. To this end, the Russian Government shall define the manner in which SSAC to be established, as
120