First Technical Meeting on EMRAS II proposal for a new working group sub group

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First Technical Meeting on EMRAS II -proposal
for a new working group / sub group

• Astrid Liland and Malgorzata Sneve, Norwegian
  Radiation Protection Authority

19-23 January 2009 in Vienna
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Proposed title

• Use of assessment tools to meet IAEA basic safety
  standards and related requirements, as applied to
  nuclear legacy sites
• Goal
• Establish a forum for researcher/modellers and
  regulators
• where models for environmental impact and risk
  assessment, including remediation measures, could
  be tested for regulatory purposes

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Use of assessment tools to meet IAEA basic safety
standards and related requirements, as applied to
nuclear legacy sites

• Objective
• Testing assessment models suitability for
  demonstrating compliance with IAEA safety
  requirements as an input to IAEA regulatory
  programmes
• Clear link to WG 1 (analysis of assessment
  schemes for regulatory purposes NORM,
  facilities) and WG4 (model testing in real
  environments)
• Scope
• The scope is limited to the remediation of
  legacy sites, such as obsolete nuclear research
  sites and sites made obsolete by the ending of
  the cold war (e.g. uranium mining, sites of
  temporary fuel storage).

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Use of assessment tools to meet IAEA basic safety
standards and related requirements, as applied to
nuclear legacy sites

• Participants
• Model developers
• Regulators and their technical support
  organisations
• Operators, where applicable
• (Already shown their interest
• Russia, USA, France, UK, Central Asian
  countries, Norway)
• (Sub)Group leader
• Astrid Liland, Head of section at NRPA

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Background IAEA requirements guidance
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Background various models

• RESRAD, ASAM, ERICA Tool, Ecolego etc.

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Background various sites
Tobashar Tajikistan Dead Lake
Andreeva Bay, Russia
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Use of assessment tools to meet IAEA basic safety
standards and related requirements, as applied to
nuclear legacy sites

• Models are necessary to perform environmental
  impact and risk assessments before initiating
  remediation at contaminated sites.
• Are the models developed appropriate for use
  under real regulatory situations?
• Which model(s) is/are the best for solving the
  problems at a given legacy site?
• Does the regulators interpret the model outputs
  (including uncertainties) correctly, with a
  subsequent sound application to site remediation?
• Are the models fit for purpose to demonstrate
  compliance with IAEA safety requirements and
  guidance?

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Provisional tasks for the new (sub)WG

• compare assessment methods for different areas
  (see next slide) - to allow for sharing of
  technical experience
• testing their fitness for purpose to address IAEA
  safety requirements, and by implication, their
  suitability for compliance demonstration
• provide information on the nature of waste and
  site characterisation data necessary to support
  the assessments
• provide feedback into IAEA regulatory programmes.

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Provisional assessment areas

• operational releases (models to help decide how
  much can be released)
• contaminated land management (changes in
  radioecological conditions, optimisation, how
  much residual activity is safe)
• waste disposal on site (how much can be disposed
  according to facility design, near surface
  facilities, VLLW etc.)
• consequences of potential incidents that can be
  anticipated during remediation.

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Development of (sub)WG programme

• The first step would be to establish a group of
  interested participants from various countries.
• Secondly, the potential assessment models to test
  as well as suitable case study sites must be
  identified.
• The group should develop a joint action plan
  based on the national requirements and
  capabilities.

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Interested?

• Contact Astrid Liland or Malgorzata Sneve at NRPA
• Astrid.Liland_at_nrpa.no
• Malgorzata.Sneve_at_nrpa.no