Regional Excellence Project on Regulatory Capacity Building in Nuclear and Radiological Safety, Emergency Preparedness and Response in Romania

Supported by the Norway Grants 2009-2014 

The objective of the project The Regional Excellence Project on Regulatory Capacity Building in Nuclear and Radiological Safety, Emergency Preparedness and Response in Romania is to enhance the capabilities of the Romanian nuclear regulatory authority CNCAN in eight specific functional areas of work through exchange of experiences, best practices and capacity building with the Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority (NRPA) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The Regional Excellence Project on Regulatory Capacity Building in Nuclear and Radiological Safety, Emergency Preparedness and Response in Romania for the period of 2013-2016 is a logical continuation of the project conducted by CNCAN, NRPA, and IAEA during the previous cycle of Norway Grants in 2009-2011. Although all planned results have been achieved in the course of the past project, a number of IAEA review missions held during the previous project activities revealed that additional improvements and capacity-building are still needed on the CNCAN side in order to bring the organization on a comparable level with the regulatory authorities of other EU/EEA states as well as international standards.

This project application was prepared by the Romanian National Commission for Nuclear Activities Control (CNCAN) together with the project partner organizations NRPA, and the IAEA.

Total project budget is EUR 4,215,098 consisting of 85% allocated from Norway Grants and 15% to be provided in cash by the Romanian national co-financing. The main project partner is NRPA and the partner organization is the IAEA.

All project activities will be organized under IAEA extra-budgetary programme (EBP).

The project duration is of 31 months in the period from October 2013 until April 2016.

List of Projects

Priority sectors of this cooperation program include the following subprojects:

• CNCAN 1 - Enhancement of CNCAN capabilities for safety analysis;
• CNCAN 2 - Enhancement of CNCAN capabilities for integrated management systems and knowledge management;
• CNCAN 3 - Enhancement of CNCAN capabilities for inspections;
• CNCAN 4 - Enhancement of CNCAN capabilities for safety and  security of transport and transit of radioactive and nuclear materials on the Romanian Territory;
• CNCAN 5 - Enhancement of CNCAN capabilities for emergency preparedness and response;
• CNCAN 6 - Enhancement of CNCAN capabilities in the field of  ionizing radiation sources;
• CNCAN 7 - Enhancement of CNCAN capabilities in the field of regulations for radioactive waste, spent nuclear fuel management and decommissioning activities;
• CNCAN 8 - Enhancement of CNCAN capabilities for safeguards activities. 
     

In the period 2010 - 2011 Romania received two important IAEA review missions - Integrated Regulatory Review Service (IRRS) and Emergency Preparedness Review (EPREV). These missions were conducted in order to determine the effectiveness of the Romanian national regulatory infrastructure for nuclear, radiation, radioactive waste and transport, safety and security of radioactive sources, as well as emergency preparedness and response arrangement in the country. The EPREV mission report produced a total of 48 interim/immediate and 18 long-term recommendations, while the IRRS mission report specified 34 recommendations and 18 suggestions. Most of these recommendations and suggestions are applicable to CNCAN. The purpose of the project is to address a number of IRRS and EPREV recommendations, as well as the recommendations from the European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM) and the Western European Nuclear Regulators Association (WENRA) also relevant for CNCAN.

During the project implementation one of the main roles of NRPA will be to plan, organize, and conduct an emergency preparedness and response exercise in Romania involving nuclear security, radiation protection, and consequences management aspects.

The Projects will represent a platform for sharing experience and best practices between the CNCAN, NRPA and the international nuclear community through the IAEA active involvement.

Some of the most important activities of the Projects are related to the development and updating of thie Romanian regulations in line with the EU and IAEA standards and gudelines as well as training of CNCAN staff using effective knowledge transfer methods that will ensure sustainability. These activities will enhanced CNCAN’s regulatory capabilities in the areas of safety analysis, integrated management systems and knowledge management, inspections, safety and security of transport and transit of radioactive and nuclear materials, emergency preparedness and response, ionizing radiation sources control, radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel management and safeguards control.

The main beneficiary and target groups of the projects are CNCAN and its employees, operators and owners of nuclear installations in Romania: Cernavoda Nuclear Power Plant, TRIGA and VVR-S research reactors; operators and owners of predisposal facilities in Romania with radioactive waste, emergency preparedness and response organizations in Romania (beside CNCAN), users of ionizing radiation devices in Romania; organizations conducting escort and transport of nuclear and radiological materials within or through Romania and small users of nuclear materials in Romania.

The secondary beneficiaries are NRPA and its experts, IAEA and its Member States.