The Chairman of Rostechnadzor discussed issues of further cooperation with the President of the French Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN)

On September 23, 2014, in the course of 58th IAEA General Conference, which is now taking place in Vienna, Austria, a meeting was held between the Chairman of Federal Environmental, Industrial and Nuclear Supervision Service of Russia (Rostechnadzor), Alexey Aleshin and the President of the French Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN), Chevet Pierre-Franck.

During the opening session, Alexey Aleshin spoke positively of the active cooperation of Rostechnadzor and ASN over the last two years in such areas as joint inspections and emergency exercises at nuclear facilities, and gave a favorable view of it. “Not long ago, this June, specialists of your authority attended Rostechnadzor, were familiarized with the activity of Information and Analytical Centre (IAC), and took part as observers in the emergency drill simulating a nuclear event at Kola NPP”, said the Chairman of Rostechnadzor.

According to Aleshin, that was a full-scale exchange of views whereby we managed to identify both different and common approaches to organization of supervision activity in the field of emergency preparedness and response in Russia and France. “That activity was a third joint exercise since 2012; we are ready to continue our cooperation in that area”, told Aleshin.

Also, according to him, during the last bilateral meeting in Moscow in June 2014, the Joint Activity Program of Rostechnadzor and ASN for 2014-2016, was agreed. A high priority was assigned to the issues of safety regulation in NPP life extension, and organization and implementation of review of reports on periodical safety assessment. The program also includes joint inspections of nuclear research installations in operation and organizations employing radiation sources for medical purposes. “It should be noted that the joint inspection is an effective practical tool for sharing experience and good practices of planning and exercising of supervision activity”, underlined the Chairman of Rostechnadzor.

Chevet Pierre-Franck, in his turn, highlighted the importance of further development of cooperation between the regulatory authorities of both countries taking into account that Russia and France play leading roles in the area of nuclear technologies.

Recall that the cooperation between Federal Environmental, Industrial and Nuclear Supervision Service of Russia and ASN arise from the interagency Agreement for the exchange of information and cooperation in the area of regulation of safe nuclear energy use for peaceful purposes signed in 2000.