Delegation of the French Nuclear Safety Regulatory Authority (ASN) visited Rostechnadzor

The delegation of the French Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) headed by its Director General Jean-Christophe Niel visited the Federal Environmental, Industrial and Nuclear Supervision Service of Russia (Rostechnadzor) within the period of July 15 - 16, 2014, to take part in joint events under the programme of bilateral cooperation.

At the beginning of the visit the ASN experts visited the Information and Analytical Centre of Rostechnadzor where observed an emergency exercise simulating an accident at the Kola NPP.

On July 16, a Russian-French workshop was held to share information on the actions taken to improve safety of the Russian and French nuclear power plants with the participation of representatives of the operating organizations: Concern Rosenergoatom and Electricite de France (EDF). The parties exchanged information on the progress of the IAEA Action Plan on Nuclear Safety in Russia and France, and approaches to setting safety margins of the nuclear plants in view of the lessons learnt from the Fukushima-Daiichi NPP accident.

The joint Russian-French annual workshops in the 2+2 format have been conducted since 2012. They were a good opportunity for the nuclear safety authorities and operating organizations of Russia and France for a detailed discussion of the methods of performing background analysis for robustness of the Russian and French nuclear power plants against extreme external impacts of both natural and man-induced origin, basic results of reviews of the stress test reports, and implementation of a set of actions to improve safety of the operating nuclear plants in light of the Fukushima-Daiichi NPP accident.

An action programme of bilateral cooperation between Rostechnadzor and ASN for 2014 up to 2016 was agreed. The programme includes a number of joint inspections of the operating nuclear research installations and organizations utilizing radiation sources for medical purposes. The experts of Rostechnadzor and ASN have participated in joint inspection as observers since 2012 (two inspections of the nuclear plants and fuel cycle facilities per each of the countries). Such a joint effort is considered as a useful instrument for sharing experience and good practices in planning and supervision in Russia and France.

Source: Rostechnadzor.