INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY
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- R S L S -
The International Forum
for
Regulatory Supervision of Legacy Sites
Work Programme
Including: Scope, Objectives, Scope and Working Group Descriptions
Version 2, October 2011
/
1
-R-S-L-S-
The International Forum
for
Regulatory Supervision of Legacy Sites
Document History:
Version 1, Draft: prepared based on the RSLS Terms of Reference, minutes of the first RSLS annual meeting in October 2011, and a consultants meeting held in Norway in April 2011. Distributed May 2011, for review and finalisation at first RSLS full meeting, due to take place in October 2011.
Version 2, Based on version 1 and discussion at RSLS Technical Meeting held 17 – 21 October 2011
Executive summary
Past development of commercial and military uses of radioactive material led to the development of many nuclear facilities worldwide. In many countries, these facilities were built and operated before the regulatory infrastructure was in place to ensure that they were effectively decommissioned at the end of their useful life. The legacy from this build up is that many countries now have abandoned nuclear facilities or areas where spills or accidents have occurred that are contaminated with long-lived radioactive and toxic residues that pose substantial environmental and health concerns. The International Forum on the Regulatory Supervision of Legacy Sites (RSLS) is focused on efforts to better regulate the existing sites and facilities and avoid the creation of new legacy sites through strong independent regulatory oversight. The project will focus on exchanging experience and identifying best practices. The overall objective of the RSLS is to promote effective and efficient regulatory supervision of legacy sites, consistent with the IAEA Fundamental Principles, Safety Standards and good national practices. RSLS will take into account variations in regional and national circumstances. Good practices in stakeholder input into regulatory supervision also will be identified.RSLS will consider the structure of a generic national policy for regulatory supervision of legacy sites as well as the strategies employed for the conduct of related safety and environmental assessments. In addition, the project will identify the fundamental training requirements necessary to ensure that regulatory staff can effectively carry out supervision of legacy sites. The practical implementation of the project is planned for three years, from October 2011 to the end of 2014,having beendevelopedin October 2010 at an initial meeting at the IAEA Headquarters in Vienna, Austria.
It is recognised that the proposed project activities are complementary to other IAEA activities, such as those undertaken as part of the EMRAS (Environmental Modelling for Radiation Safety), FaSa (International Project on Use of Safety Assessment in the Planning and Implementation of Decommissioning of Facilities using Radioactive Material) and ENVIRONET (Network of Environmental Management and Remediation) projects and relevant TC projects. Appropriate links will be maintained with these projects
CONTENTS
1INTRODUCTION......
2BACKGROUND AND RATIONALE......
3PROJECT DESCRIPTION......
3.1OBJECTIVES......
3.2PROJECT SCOPE......
3.3PROJECT ORGANISATION......
3.4PARTICIPANTS......
4TECHNICAL SCOPE OF THE PROJECT......
4.1WG1: ENHANCING THE REGULATORY INFRASTRUCTURE......
4.1.1Rationale......
4.1.2Focus of the WG......
4.1.3Key Activities......
4.1.4Deliverables......
4.2WG2: SAFETY ASSESSMENT METHODS AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT
4.2.1Rationale......
4.2.2Focus of the WG......
4.2.3Key Activities......
4.2.4Deliverables......
4.2.5Deliverables......
4.3PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR THE REGULATORS......
4.3.1Rationale......
4.3.2Focus of the WG......
4.3.3Key Activities......
4.3.4Deliverables......
5RESPONSIBILITIES, MEETINGS AND DELIVERABLES......
5.1RESPONSIBILITIES......
5.1.1The Coordinating Group......
5.1.2The IAEA Scientific Secretary......
5.1.3Working Groups......
5.1.4Chairperson......
5.2MEETINGS......
5.3DELIVERABLES......
1
1INTRODUCTION
The rapid development of commercial and military uses of radioactive material in the 1950’s, 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s led to the development of many nuclear facilities worldwide. In many countries, these facilities were built and operated before the regulatory infrastructure was in place to ensure that they were effectively decommissioned and returned to beneficial use at the end of their operating life. The legacy from this under-regulated build up is that many countries now have partially remediated or abandoned nuclear facilities or areas where spills or accidents have occurred that are contaminated with long-lived radioactive and toxic residues that pose substantial environmental and health concerns. Many factors (including a lack of resources, lack of trained staff and lack of a national policy and/or regulatory framework for their management) have contributed to sustaining this legacy such that it still exists today. This International Forum on Regulatory Supervision of Legacy Sites[1] is being undertaken to address the causative factors that have led to legacy sites going un-remediated and, in so doing, enhance global safety culture.
Examples of types of legacy sites may include sites radioactively contaminated by the following past activities, but are not be limited to:
Sites affected by major accidents
Inadequate storage and disposal sites and facilities
Uranium mining and milling facilities
Nuclear power technology and development centres
Former nuclear peaceful and weapons testing sites
Former nuclear weapons development centres
Regulatory concern may lead to a need for some form of intervention. However, properly operated and regulated nuclear and radiation facilities, but which still has to be decommissioned, is not considered a legacy.
Changes in information about a site and in regulatory requirements may occur such that a site which has completed remediated may later be re-categorized as a legacy.Legacy sites that exist worldwide include a broad spectrum of facility designs, site features, and radiological and chemical contamination. Remediation activities that would berequiredto address this legacy are similarly broad, encompassing facility decommissioning, soil remediation, ground and surface water restoration, development of waste storage and disposal facilities, and development of engineered barriers and long-term stewardship plans for certain remediated sites.
To meet the challenges posed by this diverse set of circumstances at legacy sites, effective programmes for remediation should have certain attributes. They should:
1)bebalanced, flexible, and use risk management as a basis for developing proportionate approaches to remediation strategies,
2)consider social, cultural and economic factors as these increasingly influence management decisions,
3)allow for the engagement of stakeholders which is an integral part of the overall process of legacy site management,
4)allow for independent regulatory supervision because it is a critical factor providing for objective oversight of remediation strategies and activities and helping ensure the timeliness of remediation and building confidence among stakeholders by clearly recognizing the separate responsibilities of site owners and regulators.
Much has been accomplished through international cooperation in enhancingthe regulatory supervision of nuclear power plants and other nuclear fuel cycle facilities.This is not the case for legacy sites. Although some national programs address legacy site issues,up to now very little has been done internationally to enhance regulatory supervision of the remediation of legacy sites or to provide a forum to share experiences in addressing the multi-facetted radiation and nuclear safety challenges that exist at legacy sites.
This Work Plan[2] sets out the proposed scope, objectives, content and work programme for a new IAEA project called the International Forum for Regulatory Supervision of Legacy Sites (RSLS).It has been prepared taking into account theRSLS Terms of Reference in Ref. [1] which were developed at a Technical Meeting in October 2010. Version 1 of the Work Planwas developed at a consultants meeting held in April 2011 and distributed to RSLS participant in May 2011. The Work Planis intended to cover project activities for a three year period from October 2011 to the end of2014, but may be subject to further revision at the end of the first year. The activities will take place in the context of applicable IAEA General Conference (GC) Resolutions and Safety Standards as well as the expressed wishes of the Member States at the Technical Meeting.
The IAEA has a statutory obligation to establish safety standards for protection of health and minimization of danger to life and property and to provide for the application of these standards (Article III of the IAEA Statute). The IAEA also has a statutory obligation to provide for exchange of information among its Member States relating to the peaceful uses of atomic energy (Article VI). Projects such as RSLS are one means of fulfilling these statutory obligations.
The development of the safety standards is aided by having a degree of international consensus on the “what” and “how” of legacy site remediation something that projects such as RSLS work towards. RSLS will support the application of the IAEA safety standards by providing foundation material for the expert missions, training events and peer reviews carried out under the IAEA’s Technical Cooperation Fund. Exchange of information among the Member States is fostered by participating in the various RSLS meetings and through the project’s publications.
The RSLS project is the first IAEA safety demonstration project to specifically address the remediation of legacy sites. Previous safety demonstration projects sponsored by the IAEA have examined more narrowly defined topical areas such as the near-surface disposal of radioactive waste (ISAM, Improvement of Safety Assessment Methodologies for Near-surface Disposal Facilities) and decommissioning (DeSa, International Project on Evaluation and Demonstration of Safety for Decommissioning of Facilities Using Radioactive Material). These projects have primarily examined the demonstration of safety at operating or new facilities – they have not been scoped to consider the spectrum of issues common to legacy sites. For example, these earlier efforts did notaddress the fact that in many significantcases, these legacy sites have been abandoned or neglected by their owners,nor the implications that this may have for remediation.
The IAEA Safety Standards relevant to remediation and decommissioning contain some recommendations and guidance for legacy facilities. However, the recommendations and guidance offered tends to be generic and high level.. Given the magnitude and complexity of the legacy site problem worldwide, a more comprehensive approach is warranted.
2BACKGROUNDAND RATIONALE
Uranium mining and milling provide a prominent example of the challenges legacy sites pose because many countries have legacy sites that resulted from past efforts to recover uranium. In the early days of nuclear power development many uranium mines, mills and related nuclear installations were constructed, operated and shut down in the absence of an established and comprehensive regulatory process. These facilities were usually sited, developed and operated by the state and were often, to a greater or lesser extent, under-regulated. Some countries have had programmes targeted at legacy site remediation, such as the Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action Program (UMTRA) in the USA. Other countries have carried out legacy site remediation under the auspices of a larger programme for decommissioning and remediation. However, worldwide there are still many legacy sites that need to be decommissioned and remediated to address public health and safety and environmental concerns.
Through its Technical Cooperation Programme the IAEA has been providing assistance to republics in Central Asia for remediation of their legacy sites where uranium was formerly produced. This programme of assistance has been operating for almost 10 years and has again raised awareness of the need to address legacy site issues. As such the IAEA GC adopted the following resolution:
“Encourages relevant Member States to participate in a multilateral initiative to remediate the uranium mining legacy sites in Central Asia, supports the Agency’s involvement in this international initiative as technical coordinator and requests the Secretariat to report on further developments; notes the conclusions of the International Conference on Remediation of Land Contaminated by Radioactive Material Residues in Kazakhstan in May 2009, and supports, as recommended by the conference, the development of an international working forum for the regulatory supervision of legacy sites.” [GC(53)/RES/10, 18 September 2009].
The report from the IAEA Director General to the Member States for the 2010 General Conference [GOV/2010/41-GC(54)/8] included the following two paragraphs pertaining to RSLS:
128. One of the outcomes of the International Conference on Remediation of Land Contaminated by Radioactive Material Residues was a call to enhance regulatory supervision of the remediation of legacy sites, and to share experiences in addressing multifaceted aspects of radiation and nuclear safety at legacy sites. Bolstered by GC(53)/RES/10. 8 op 65, supporting the development of a forum to facilitate the sharing of experiences, the Agency initiated the formation of an International Forum on Regulatory Supervision of Legacy Sites, for which the Agency serves as the Scientific Secretariat, enabling regulatory authorities to network on specific aspects of the remediation of legacy sites. The overall objective of the Forum is to promote high standards of regulatory supervision for legacy site management, in line with the Agency’s safety standards and good international practices. This will be achieved through the collection and collation of legacy site information; the exchange of legacy site information; and a discussion on how regulatory supervision can be more effective and efficient through the use of technical meetings convened by the Agency.
129. In December 2009, the Forum’s first organizational meeting was held in Oslo, Norway, at the offices of the Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority. The mission and objectives of the Forum were discussed. Overall, the idea was well received and the planning group will be expanded at the first technical meeting in October 2010.
Following upon the December 2009 meeting in Oslo, the RSLS was first discussed fully at a Technical Meeting (TM) held at IAEA Headquarters in October of 2010. At that meeting a draft Terms of Reference for the RSLS was tabled, discussed, modified and finalised [Ref.1]. Presentations were given by several Member States (MS) that documented the diverse range of legacy sites that need to be addressed. The specific challenges faced by individual MS were discussed at length. These discussions led to a decision by the participants that the scope of the RSLS project would cover the broad range of legacies identified in the Introduction.
Three main regulatory areas identified that are applicable to all site types were: (1) regulatory requirements; (2) licensing and setting conditions on licences; and (3) compliance, monitoring, inspection and enforcement.
At the 2010 TM it was decided that RSLS should be structured as a three year project that would be elaborated subsequently into a detailed proposal. A Draft version 1Work Plan was developed at a consultants meeting held in Drammen, Norway from 17-20April2011 and distributed to RSLS participants in May 2011. This version 2 was further developed by participants in the October 2011 Technical Meeting, taking into account word from resolution 54 from the 2011 IAEA General Conference, which at para 54:
“… encourages interested Member States to participate in a multilateral initiative to remediate those (legacy) sites, supports the Agency’s involvement in this international initiative as technical coordinator, encourages Member States to participate in the international working forum for the regulatory supervision of legacy contaminated sites that was launched in October 2010.”
3PROJECT DESCRIPTION
3.1OBJECTIVES
The overall objective of the RSLS is to promote effective and efficient regulatory supervision of legacy sites, consistent with the IAEA Fundamental Principles, Safety Standards and good international practices. This will be achieved through the collection, collation and exchange of information on legacy sites. It will also be achieved through the generation of mutual support through presentations and discussions on how effective and efficient regulatory supervision can be implemented and maintained.
The RSLS may address specific situations at sites identified by participants and hence lend support to the regulatory authorities at those sites. The RSLS will assist Member States in deriving practical applications of generic radiation protection guidance to legacy sites. This will help identify the needs for further development of international guidance specific to legacy sites. The RSLS will take into account variations in regional and national circumstances. Good practices in stakeholderinput intoregulatory supervision also will be identified. The ultimate goal of RSLS activities is support to the development of an enhanced global safety culture.
3.2PROJECT SCOPE
The project will focus on exchanging experience and identifying best practices. The expectation is that the participants will have a background in and provide lessons-learned in the management of legacy sites. The project will consider the variation, content, and structure of a national policy that exists in the world for regulatory supervision of legacy sites as well as the strategies employed for the conduct of safety and environmental assessments. In addition, the project will identify the fundamental training requirements necessary to ensure thatregulatory staffcan effectively carry out supervision of legacy sites.
The scope of RSLS activities covers support in development of effective and efficient regulatory processes, such as:
- regulatory requirements and guidance development,
- licensing and authorisation,
- inspection,compliance monitoringand enforcement.
The project will compile lessons learned from past experience with legacy site remediation and provide recommendations as to what constitutes good practice for regulatory supervision of legacy sites.
3.3PROJECT ORGANISATION
The activities of the project are to be organised under three Working Groups (WGs) described below. The IAEA Secretariat will provide the project Secretariat, and organize an annual plenary Technical Meeting at which progress is reviewed, adjustments to the project plans and schedules are made and working group activities are carried out. Annual Technical Meetings of RSLS Working Groups will be organized that will facilitate the coordination of the project activities, recommendations and development of the inputs to project reports.
The RSLS project will be directed by a Coordinating Group (CG), which consists of the RSLS chairperson, WG leaders and IAEA Secretariat. The CG is responsible for planning Technical Meetings and coordinating WG activities. The CG will meet annually, usually in conjunction with the annual Technical Meeting.