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Regulatory Approach to Radioactive Waste Management and Remediation

in Central Asia

Tamara Zhunussova

Vienna, IAEA,

6-8 November, 2012

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Main outcomes of the International Conference on Remediation of Land Contaminated by Radioactive Material Residues. Astana, Kazakhstan May 2009

Need for remediation of legacy sites through enhanced regulatory regime.

Recognition of the importance of stakeholder involvement

Endorsement of Enviro-Net as a means of information/expertise exchange

Establishment of the international regulatory forum on supervision of legacy sites (RSLS)

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Threat assessment

Inadequate regulatory and legislative framework for the safe management of radioactive waste

National Policy and Strategy need improvement

Cost of remediation and limited national funds

Regulatory development issues

Inadequate knowledge of the inventory of the legacy components

Little or no experience with remedial works

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Need to obtain a consistent and reliable assessment of the legacy sites and components, which should include:

• The characterization of the inventory of both radioactive and non- radioactive contaminants.

• The effluent and influent streams from the disposal sites and the emissions to the air.

• Information on the geotechnical stability of the sites, erosion, stability of the current containment barriers, if any, and the design details of the containment barriers.

• A safety assessment and an environmental impact assessment.

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Regulatory Development Issues 1

• Insufficient legislative and regulatory framework for the operations, closure and environmental remediation of mines

• Need for quantitative criteria to define reference levels for existing exposure situations, considering its justification, optimization and the graded approach

• Criteria and hygienic specifications on the rehabilitation of territories contaminated with radioactive materials

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Regulatory Development Issues 2

• Reference levels for exposure dose constraints to prevent unreasonable irradiation of the population on the territories with radioactive contamination, and also to develop derived reference levels for the values of radiation parameters which can be directly measured when implementing radiation control

• The radiation safety of the personnel and the population during the subsequent use of the territory, buildings and constructions after rehabilitation

• Updating the exemption and clearance levels with the latest international recommendations.

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To fill the gaps 1

• Review, update and elaborate the needed legal and regulatory framework (including authorization, inspection and enforcement) for the safe management of radioactive waste and radioactive waste management facilities, including those linked with the production of NORM waste.

• Clearly define how the responsible organizations will realize the national policy for radioactive waste management with use of the available technical measures and financial resources.

• To define how and when the identified objectives and tasks will be achieved.

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To fill the gaps 2

• To define what level of competence is necessary in order to achieve these tasks, and how it will be provided.

• To develop the management pathways for each type of radioactive waste, through all stages of the RW life cycle (from the moment of generation to disposal), as part of the national strategy for radioactive waste.

• To strengthen trust of the concerning radioactive management and remedial action.

• The establishment of mechanisms for providing resources and funding for the safe decommissioning, remedial actions and long-term RW management.

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To fill the gaps 3

• The availability of sufficient and qualified human resources to perform the rehabilitation activities and safe management of radioactive wastes, including resources for training and R&D, where needed.

• Implementation of monitoring of the radioactive waste storage facilities and disposal sites both during their operation and after their closure (including institutional control where needed).

• To perform the safety assessment and radiological impact assessment for the contaminated territories and to take the needed measures to diminish the risks in accordance with the results of this assessment.

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To fill the gaps 4

• To carry out long-term monitoring and control over the abandoned objects of the uranium industry, and to take the necessary security measures to prevent unauthorized access on the contaminated territories.

• To carry out long-term monitoring and control over nuclear test sites and to take security measures where it is necessary to prevent unauthorized access on the contaminated territories.

• To carry out long-term monitoring and regulatory control over the sites of gas and oil production that have contaminated soils and storage places for the contaminated pipes and the equipment, and also to take the security measures where necessary to prevent unauthorized access on the contaminated areas.

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To fill the gaps 5

• To implement an effective authorization and inspection process for new mining and milling industries, as well as for other industries (e.g. gas and oil) that produce radioactive materials with NORM, in order to avoid creating exposure situations similar to those existing today.

• • To develop safety requirements for the design and implementation

of radiation monitoring of the territories contaminated with natural and artificial radionuclides.

• Development and implementation of projects concerning final disposal or secondary processing radioactive materials.

• Development and implementation of the needed projects concerning restoration.

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To fill the gaps 6

• To establish the quantitative criteria defining the “reference levels” and to consider that the rehabilitation of the sites will be strongly dependent on the established safety criteria (reference levels) and the existing exposure situation.

• To develop criteria and hygienic specifications on the rehabilitation of territories contaminated by radionuclides. This could provide socially comprehensible guarantees of radiation safety for the population being on the territories with radioactive contamination.

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To fill the gaps 7

To develop regulatory documents for maintaining the radiation safety of the personnel and the population during the subsequent use of the territory, buildings and constructions after rehabilitation.

A guidance should be developed for the derived levels of residual contamination of territory with radioactive substances for several most probable options of their use after rehabilitation, for example, territories of unlimited use; territories of limited use for the industrial needs with using radioactive materials; territories of limited use for industrial needs without using radioactive materials.

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To fill the gaps 8

• To develop derived reference levels for the radiation parameters that can be directly measured when implementing radiation control.

• To develop classification of radioactive waste in accordance with the recently approved IAEA international recommendations in this regards.

• To develop and approve safety requirements (regulations) for the design, siting, construction, operation, closure and establishment of institutional control needed for disposal facilities in accordance with the approved national policy and strategy on radioactive waste management.

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Kazakhstan

• Threat Assessment Report• Proposal for new radioactive waste classification• Proposal to establish the new major criteria for radioactive waste

disposal• Regulatory Document “ Rules for Radioactive Waste Disposal in the

Republic of Kazakhstan”

• Law on radioactive waste management • Radioactive waste management regulations• Rules for radioactive waste predisposal management

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Kirgiz Republic

• Inception Report• Threat Assessment Report• Guidance on RWM• Cuidance on Monitoring of Environment around RW storage

• Law on radioactive waste management• Requirements for decommissioning, closure and rehabilitation of

the uranium ore processing facilities including storage for radioactive waste

• Requirements for radiation protection of the workers including optimization

• Requirements for very low level waste management and materials contaminated with radionuclides

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Tajikistan

• Threat Assessment Report• Rules on Radioactive Waste Management• Draft Law on Radioactive Waste Management• Establishment of technical requirements for a systematic radiation

monitoring scheme around radioactive waste tailing dumps

• Amendments to the Law on Radiation Safety in accordance with

international standards• Elaboration and approval of new norms on radiation safety in

accordance with new adopted Law on Radiation Safety and new IAEA BSS

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Uzbekistan

• Threat Assessment Report • Regulatory Guidance on radioactive waste classification in

Uzbekistan• Requirements for radioactive waste storage and disposal in

Uzbekistan• Requirements for monitoring of the radioactive waste storage facilities• Acceptance criteria for waste disposal• Elaboration of norms on radiation safety in accordance with new IAEA

BSS• Safety requirements for construction, operation, and

decommissioning of waste disposal facilities• Norms and standards for:

– radiation and environmental monitoring– scrap metal management and transportation– very low level waste

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Positive Outcomes and Future Developments

• Regulatory documents development based on the threat assessments

• Strengthen the roles and responsibilities of the regulatory bodies

• Strengthen regional cooperation between authorities

• Focus on better coordination between other regulators in the country

• Focus on application of the regulatory documents and enforcement

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Initial Program Results 2008 - 2011

• The ambitious program of activities includes the completion of a substantial Threat Assessment Report, fully documented and published in StrålevernRapport 2011:5

• This report provided a clear picture of the status of legacy and waste management and the corresponding regulatory situation

• It identified a very significant number of weaknesses in regulatory documentation, both requirements and guidance

• It has become increasingly clear that the roles of the regulatory authorities in each participating country are neither clearly defined nor integrated in a coherent manner

• The wider regulatory infrastructure is in a state of re-development, very limited technical and other resources

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Bilateral Projects Extension 2012 - 2014

Extension to May 2014 approved by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs • The goal - development of regulatory requirements to ensure

protection of personnel, public and environment

• The scope - widened to support better coordination and integration

of all relevant authorities, to strengthen institutional regulatory development

• These objectives match the programme of the IAEA’s RSLS and parallel bilateral regulatory cooperation with Russian Federation

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Thank you!

Questions?

Tamara.Zhunussova@nrpa.no