Management of Site Evaluation: A Lesson Learnt of 10 MW HTGR Experimental Power Reactor (RDE) Project Site Licensing
Authors: Budi Susilo Yarianto S 
Published: October 2021

In 2013, a pre-project activity of Experimental Power Reactor (RDE Project) was started. The reactor type is a High Temperature Gas-cooled Reactor (HTGR) with a 10 MWth capacity. At present the project has been postponed due to some reason, however, there was an important stage that has been achieved, regarding the site evaluation process to obtain site permits from the Regulatory Body (BAPETEN). Site evaluation is an critical activity that will guarantee the safety of nuclear facilities from natural and human induced external events as well as the safety of population and the environment due to nuclear facility accidents. Site evaluation for the RDE project has the same process as a large NPP project, considering that at the time of the site evaluation process there were no specific regulations that considered a graded approach for a mini-scale NPP. The site evaluation process includes two stages, namely 1). Site Evaluation Program (SEP) and Management System of Site Evaluation (MSSE) Approval and 2) Site Evaluation Approval. SEP is intended to establish the scope and criteria for site evaluation safety. Whereas the Site Evaluation Management System is a managerial instrument that makes site safety as the top priority in each activity and process of RDE site evaluation. BATAN as the project owner delivered the SEP document and MSSE to BAPETEN on March 10, 2014. These documents was intensively discussed by BAPETEN and BATAN to determine agreement on the scope of site evaluation, criteria and management aspects based on site safety considerations. The technical aspects that must be evaluated are seismicity, volcanic hazard, geotechnical and foundation, meteorology, hydrology, human induced events, dispersion and population distribution. This document was approved by BAPETEN on March 2, 2015. Considering the very wide scope with various fields of competence and need supporting data for evaluation, this can not be done only by BATAN experts, it must collaborate with various institution that have competence related to the site aspect. The experts that involved in the site evaluation come from Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) for seismic and meteorological aspects, Geospatial Information Agency (BIG) to support geospatial data and ground movements/deformation, Geological Survey Center (PSG) to support geological data and geological structures, Center for Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation (PVMBG) to support volcanic catalog data and volcanic hazard, University to support geotechnical, foundation and hydrology evaluation. BATAN experts from various Centers involved for evaluating topography, human induced events, dispersion, dose assessment, population distribution, emergency preparedness, and technology aspects. Data acquisition activities such as geophysics, drilling, geological mapping, volcanic mapping, hydrology, satellite imagery and digitizing processes are contracted through third parties with guidance developed by the BATAN Expert Team. Considering the very limited time and financial resources availability, in order to achieve the effectiveness of all activities, a special organization was formed to control site evaluation with the BATAN Chairman as Top Management. The Site evaluation document was submitted in two stages. The first stage is administrative completeness and it was declared administratively complete on November 15, 2015. The second step is BAPETEN assessed and evaluated the technical documents submitted to determine the acceptability of the site. The process of evaluating the site evaluation document lasts quite a long and intensive. Finally, the site permit was issued on January 23, 2017. The valuable lessons during the site evaluation project are: 1) It require the same understanding and perception between applicant and regulator regarding the site licensing process; 2) The establishment and implementation of an effective organization; 3) controlling the project schedule.