State Nuclear Power Safety Inspectorate (VATESI) has published Annual Report 2015. In this report you can find information about VATESI activities related with nuclear and radiation safety also physical security issues in Lithuania.
Main areas of activity
In 2015 the efforts of VATESI specialists were focused on the supervision of nuclear and radiation safety and physical security of Ignalina NPP’s shut-down units, safety supervision of the decommissioning activities, licensing of other existing and new nuclear facilities and the supervision of nuclear, radiation safety and physical security of their construction and operation, and supervision of accounting and control of nuclear material.
Among the highest profile activities related to the decommissioning of a nuclear facility was the approval of the technical solution and safety justification documents for modified casks for spent nuclear fuel storage in the Interim Spent Fuel Storage Facility (project B1) submitted by the State Enterprise Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant. Also, VATESI licensed the construction and operation of a very low-level radioactive waste disposal facility, analysed and approved the “cold” tests programme of Ignalina NPP units for the implementation of project B1, approved the periodic safety assessment report of bituminising equipment of liquid radioactive waste, monitored the implementation of safety improvement measures based on results of the performed “stress tests”.
Furthermore, in 2015 VATESI received an activity compliance certificate confirming that the integrated management system of VATESI complies with the standard LST EN ISO 9001:2008 and did the self-assessment of the regulatory framework of nuclear and radiation safety in Lithuania and prepared for the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Integrated Regulatory Review Service (IRRS) mission, which took place on April 17 – 29, 2016.
Issued licences and permits
In 2015 VATESI issued 1 licence for activities in the nuclear energy area and 7 licences for activities with sources of ionising radiation in the nuclear energy area. In general, VATESI supervised 12 licences and permits issued for activities in the nuclear energy area, and 12 licences issued for activities with sources of ionising radiation in the nuclear energy area.
Supervision of economic entities
In 2015 VATESI specialists inspected economic entities 43 times. It is important to note that no violations or inconsistencies were found that could have directly caused excessive occupational exposure doses, deterioration of barriers confining radionuclides or suppressing ionising radiation, degradation of characteristics of devices important to safety, activity of radionuclides released to the environment that exceed the limit values set forth in the Plan of Radionuclides Released to the Environment, or non-compliance with related safe operation conditions. Economic entities eliminated other reported violations within the time set forth in the binding prescriptions submitted to them.
Unusual events
1 unusual event was registered at Ignalina NPP in 2015. During this event the level of occupational exposure and contamination of the premises with radionuclides were within the permissible limits, and no radionuclides were released to the environment. The low number of unusual events that had no impact on safety indicates that nuclear safety in Ignalina NPP is properly ensured.
International cooperation
In the area of international cooperation VATESI continues the tradition of sharing experience and building competencies of nuclear safety experts. The fifth Arrangement for the exchange of technical information and cooperation in nuclear safety matters was signed for the 5 year-term with the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).
VATESI, together with other authorities of Lithuania, takes part in the process of the environmental impact assessment of the nuclear power plant in Belarus (Astravets, Grodno District) in line with the Espoo Convention, and have reviewed the submitted documents related to the environmental impact assessment.
In 2015 VATESI analysed the Post-Project Analysis Programme of the nuclear power plant submitted by Belarus to Lithuania and noticed that this Programme failed to take into account many of the previous comments and proposals provided by Lithuania. Having analysed documents and replies to the questions that Lithuania provided in 2009–2015, it is clear that there is a lack of information related to site assessment based on IAEA safety requirements, information on the assessment of the NPP impact on Lithuanian population during normal operation and in case of design-basis and major accidents, and information on radioactive waste management and placing in repositories. VATESI proposes to request that designs of nuclear power plants which are constructed near the European Union border should take into account the impact of a heavy aircraft crash and assess the design compliance with modern nuclear safety requirements, including European stress tests.
