Nuclear Regulatory Support in Russia, Ukraine, and Armenia

The NRC provides technical assistance to nuclear regulatory organizations in countries that have Soviet-designed NPPs. This is part of an international effort to strengthen the nuclear regulatory climate in these coun-tries and reduce the likelihood of any nu-clear accident. NEISD is providing technical support to regulatory agencies in Ukraine and Russia (and previously Armenia) in safety analysis, including the development of plant-specific models; licensing require-ments for operating reactors and spent fuel storage and transportation; the regulatory framework for risk-based licensing; pressure vessel fluence calculations; probabilistic risk assessments; and simulator-based training guidelines. Technical assistance is also provided in developing training capabilities in nuclear safety and licensing.

P. Kohut presents a training course on spent fuel storage and transportation at the Zaporizhzhya NPP.

Research Reactor Safety

NEISD has been doing the reactor safety analysis for the NIST research reactor operated by the NCNR. The objective has been to develop neutronic models using the Monte Carlo code MCNP in conjunction with the fuel burnup code MONTEBURNS, and thermal-hydraulic models using RELAP5 and to then apply these codes to complete the analysis needed for the Safety Analysis Report (SAR). The Division is also assisting with other support for the license renewal for the NBSR.

NEISD staff is also involved in assessing the safety and scientific peformance of the NBSR as it considers conversion from high enriched uranium (HEU) to low enriched uranium (LEU) fuel, a high priority item for the National Nuclear Security Agency.

A somewhat related research reactor project supports the NRC in the license renewal and HEU to LEU conversion of several university research reactors. In this project, NEISD staff are reviewing the Safety Analysis Reports, Technical Specifications, and the Environmental Reports.

Planar view of the NIST reactor as represented by MCNP.