STRENGTHENING NATIONAL INFRASTRUCTURES FOR THE CONTROL OF RADIATION SOURCES RER/9/096 REGIONAL PLANNING MEETING

1. STRENGTHENING NATIONAL INFRASTRUCTURES FOR THE CONTROL OF RADIATION SOURCES • RER/9/096 REGIONAL PLANNING MEETING ARMENIA ASHOT MNATSAKANYAN Head of Radiation Safety Division of ANRA 19-20 MARCH 2009, IAEA VIENNA, AUSTRIA

2. RER/9/096 REGIONAL PLANNING MEETING • A.1 LEGISLATIVE AND STATUTORY FRAMEWORK 1. General Nuclear Law – Was approved by Parliament of RA in 1999 and some amendments in Law to allow to update the safety requirements based on the IAEA new recommendations have been mading up to now. At this moment the new version of Nuclear Law is drafting, which will based on the IAEA “Handbook on Nuclear”. The other counties good practice will be taken in to account as well. The enforce data is foreseen in 2010.: 2.Radiation Safety Norms and Radiation Safety Regulation - Approved and putted in the force in 2007. During the development these regulations the IAEA BSS 115 requirements were implemented. 3.Regulation on nuclear and radioactive materials transport – Approved and putted in the force in 2001: During the development of document the IAEA ST-1 requirements were implemented. 4.Licenzing Regulations (36 document)-Were developed in 2002-2006. The IAEA Safety Standards were used (RS-G-1.5). In the import and export of radioactive materials licensing procedures the IAEA “Code of Conduct on the Safety and Security of Radioactive Sources and Guidance requirements were implemented.

3. RER/9/096 REGIONAL PLANNING MEETING Regulatory Body Establishment and Independence In Armenia only one Authority is responsible for the state regulation of nuclear and radiation safety – the Armenian Nuclear Regulatory Authority (ANRA). The ANRA was created by the Governmental Decision of RA in 1993 as a department under the Government of RA. In 2002 it was included in the Ministry of Nature Protection as a separated Inspection Department. In 2008 by an other Governmental decision it was again separated from Ministry of Nature Protection and now ANRA is a State Committee for the Nuclear safety regulation. The ANRA is an independent Body from the users and state authorities in the field of atomic energy utilization Regulatory Body Staffing and Training In connection with ANRA’s status changes, the staff and the structure of ANRA have been changed. At this moment the Radiation Safety Division is responsible for the radiation safety issues in which two departments are included: Radiation Safety and Radioactive Waste Management. In the Radiation safety Division currently there are 3 vacancies which are expected to be completed soon. The program and plans for training of staff including new comers are in the stage of development. They will include theoretical and practical training. Special attention will be paid to the training for new comers (basic and thematic training).

4. RER/9/096 REGIONAL PLANNING MEETING Regulatory Body Funding The ANRA’s activities are financing from the state budget. For the licensing and inspections special funding is not foreseen as a fee. Coordination and Cooperation at the National Level The ANRA has singed the cooperation agreements with Ministry of Health, with Rescue Team of RA (Ministry of emergency Response), and in addition the agreements for cooperation with custom service and other interested Bodies to be singed are foreseen. International Cooperation From the European region counties the ANRA has singed cooperation agreement with USA and Ukraine. The ANRA has singed the cooperation agreement with US NRC and regulatory Authority of Argentina. The ANRA is included in the IAEA and EC cooperation’s projects including in the field of radiation Safety.

5. RER/9/096 REGIONAL PLANNING MEETING A.2 ACTIVITIES OF THE REGULATORY BODY Notification and National Register of Radiation Sources According to the Armenian Legislation all ionizing radiation sources (above exemption level) which are under the regulatory control must be registered in the state register. The ANRA is responsible for the registration of sources and special software RASOD is used for this purposes. At this moment we have registered: The amount of registered organizations (users) are: Medical organizations – 248, Industrial organization – 18, Research organizations – 10, Educational organizations – 3, Others – 2, Summary – 281 organizations The amount of registered ionizing radiation sources: Sealed radioactive sources – 413, Unsealed radioactive sources – 4, X-ray devices – 662, The accelerators of elementary particles – 9, Measure/register devices (gauges) – 81, Irradiators (devices) – 53 (mainly for research proposes ) Electron microscope – 14, Summary-1236 radioactive sources Authorization 1.The licensing procedures for the activities with ionizing radiation sources had been approved in 2004. In procedures are described the requirements on documents to be submitted for license issue as well as exception and clearance levels for which the authorization is not needed. The authorization of activities started in 2006 and at this moment approximately 80 % of organizations have the license certificate of ANRA. 2. Dry Spent Fuel Storage Facilities (2 units) already have license certificate from ANRA. 3. ANPP 2nd unit operational licensing activities is currently in process.

6. RER/9/096 REGIONAL PLANNING MEETING Safety and Security of Radioactive Sources According to the Armenian legislation for the safety and security of radioactive materials the licensee is responsible. But in any case the principle “the source must be under the control beginning from the production/entering to the country up to the disposal/storage” is important for the ANRA. Beside the ANRA’s regulatory control, the Custom Service is responsible for the border control as well. The Governmental decision on searching and rendering of the orphan sources stipulates the responsibilities of all state organizations. Inspection The ANRA has the annual inspection plan which is included in ANRA’s activities annual plan. These inspections are announced and they are located in ANRA’s web site. ANRA can make unannounced inspections as well, related to the abnormal events. The new procedure on inspection is currently in the development stage which will based on the IAEA TECDOC 1526. The results of the inspections being located in the Armenian Nuclear Regulatory Information System (ARIS), in order to check the enforcements results.

7. RER/9/096 REGIONAL PLANNING MEETING Enforcement In accordance to the Armenian Legislation ANRA has obligation to impose the enforcements to the licensees if there are deviation from or violation of safety requirements or there is evidence of a deterioration in the level of safety. Information Management In accordance with the legislation the ANRA is responsible for the public information about the issues of atomic energy utilization field and safety regulation matters. All related information are putted in the ANRA’s web site (www.anra.am). Quality Management The ANRA has the internal Quality management System, which is in accordance with ISO-9001 international standard. The ANRA has Certificate for Quality Management System issued in 2004.

8. RER/9/096 REGIONAL PLANNING MEETING Our Needs 1.Training of radiation Protection staff, especially for new comers. It is desirable to continue organization of “basic training “, for the long duration (12-14 weeks) in English and in Russian (like Minsk trainings). 2.Organization of Workshops dedicated to the IAEA approaches and requirements on the format and content of documents to be submitted by the source users in support of application for authorization. 3.Training courses on radiation safety (2-3 weeks) for the legal staff of Regulatory Bodies.