# CE2004084EN.01077501.xml

| 3.4.2004 | EN | Official Journal of the European Union | CE 84/775 |
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3.4.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

CE 84/775

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(2004/C 84 E/0872)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0335/04

by Astrid Thors (ELDR) to the Commission

(10 February 2004)

Subject:   Extension of operating licence for Sosnovy Bor nuclear power plant

Subject:

In the autumn of 2003, the operating licence for the Sosnovy Bor nuclear power unit, the same type as Chernobyl, expired and an application has been made to extend it.

In the light of the EU's cooperation with Russia under TACIS, does the Commission consider that safety at this nuclear plant meets international standards? Does the administration granting the licence meet the standards that must be required of such an authority? Any there any guarantees that the nuclear waste is managed and dealt with in accordance with international conventions?

Answer given by Mr Patten on behalf of the Commission

(13 April 2004)

(13 April 2004)

The Sosnovy Bor nuclear power plant has four RBMK-type reactors (1) of which two are first generation (commissioned in 1973 and 1975) and are considered by experts as not complying with internationally-recognised safety standards. The Commission has always recommended the decommissioning of these and other Soviet first-generation reactors. The Commission and the Russian Federation form part of a joint working group (JWG) which has been set up to look at how Russian first-generation reactors might be decommissioned. The Group's work programme was endorsed by the G8 Nuclear Safety and Security Group at its last meeting in Geneva on 4 February this year.

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The Russian Federation has been a contracting party to the International Atomic Energy Agency's Convention on Nuclear Safety since 1996 and the Russian government has undertaken to guarantee the independence and authority of the nuclear regulation agency (Gosatomnadzor) under the Convention.

The Russian Federation is responsible for the development and implementation of its own nuclear regulation system. Since 1994 Gosatomnadzor has received assistance under the Tacis programme from a European consortium of European national safety authorities which has been helping it build a strong, independent and competent organisation tailored to Russia's particular needs and respecting the fundamental principles set out in the Nuclear Safety Convention. Assistance has focused on promoting a licensing system, developing quality assurance systems and improving safety analysis criteria. Significant progress has been made on legislation, regulations, procedures and working methods. However, Gosatomnadzor's independence vis-à-vis the operator of power plants and the political authorities is of course a matter for the national authorities.

Although Russia signed the IAEA's Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management in January 1999, the Convention has not yet entered into force in Russia. It is therefore impossible at this stage to guarantee that the management and handling of waste comply with international practices.

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(1)  Graphite-moderated water reactors.

1

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