[en] This report sets out the progress made in the projects and related activities carried out in the period 2008 - 2009 within the Regulatory Cooperation Program between the Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority and the Federal Medical Biological Agency of Russia. The progress described follows directly from previous work carried out within the Regulatory Cooperation Program, as set out in earlier NRPA reports and in accordance with the Norwegian Government's Plan of Action to improve nuclear and radiation safety in Northwest Russia. The work was carried out by specialists of the Burnasyan Federal Medical Biophysical Centre, with support from other Russian organisations and specialists as well as experts from the NRPA. Five main projects are described, each of which has contributed to the improvement of regulatory supervision by the FMBA over the sites operated by SevRAO in the Northwest of Russia, including the Sites for Temporary Storage at Andreyev Bay and Gremikha, and the Regional Centre for Waste Conditioning and Long-term Storage at Saida Bay. The main activities of interest include recovery and secure the safe condition of spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste from inadequate storage facilities and ensuring their continued future safe storage. The topics covered by these projects include: Control of Occupational Exposure and Optimisation During Hazardous Operations through the Development of Databases on Radiation Situation and Individual Occupational Exposure (DOSEMAP). The software for a mapping database of radiation situation parameters at SevRAO Facilities has been developed. A computer scheme of workshops in new Complex facilities for the spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste management, the design of which is already available, has been developed. The software for the database on individual doses to the SevRAO workers has also been developed. Two draft guidance documents have been prepared: 'Application of the database on the radiation situation parameters and database on individual doses to workers for arrangement and performance of radiation hazardous operations' and 'Application of the database on the radiation situation parameters and database on individual doses to workers to regulate radiation protection of workers'. Mapping of Contamination at Andreyev Bay for the Purposes of Remediation Planning (DATAMAP). Over 2008-2009, a geo-informational system was developed under the DATAMAP project for the purpose of technical support during the regulatory supervision of sites under remediation. As a result, a computer based system has been developed to facilitate visualization of the radiation measurements on the STS site, interpolate the obtained data over the full STS area, estimate the interpolation error, specify the sufficiency of data and identify areas for additional measurements implementation. Moreover, the system provides a function of data comparison and visualization with the criteria established in the Guidance R 2.6.1. 25 - 07 'Criteria and norms of remediation of sites and facilities contaminated with man-made radionuclides, FGUP SevRAO'. The system may now be tested in areas where remediation is in progress. (Author)

[en] The concept of rate setting, standardisation and regulatory control of the radionuclides content in foodstuffs consists in the following: ? the normative standards concern to 90Sr and 137Cs as biologically significant radionuclides; ? the internal exposure dose from ingestion intake of radionuclides with food should not exceed meaning of 1 mSv a-1 which is the intervention exception level concerning trading foodstuffs; ? for few consumed foodstuffs (wild berries, mushrooms, teas) is established, that the dose caused by their consumption is outside of dose limits of 1 mSv a-1 and it should not exceed 1 % for each product; ? the nutrition structure of population including seven basic components of a diet (bread and grain products, dairy products, potatoes, vegetables, meat, fish, fruit and berries) is taken into account as a source of ingestion intake of the radionuclides; ? The conformity to the established standard is determined on a parameter ?f the summary contents of 90Sr and 137Cs in foodstuff. With the purpose of the operative control of an internal exposure of population the permissible levels of specific activity of 90Sr and 137Cs in more than 120 kinds of foodstuff were developed. These standards are obligatory in Russia for domestic and imported foodstuffs. So, permissible levels of specific activity of 90Sr and 137Cs in bread make, accordingly, 20 and 40 Bq kg-1; in milk - 25 and 100 Bq kg-1; in meat - 50 and 160 Bq kg-1; in potatoes and vegetables - 40 and 120 Bq kg-1. Monitoring of contamination of foodstuffs by 137Cs and 90Sr is one of the basic measures on maintenance of radiation safety of population in Russia. State system of sanitary-epidemiological control carries out constant supervision over the content of the radionuclides in food production. By the carried out researches was shown that true levels of the contents of 90Sr or 137Cs in the main foodstuffs in territory of Russia, except for the territories, injures of the radiation accidents, make parts of one per cent from the normative limits. However, there are some regions among most polluted in result of Chernobyl accident territories, where the excess of the established specifications permissible levels of specific activity of 90Sr and 137Cs in some foodstuffs are observed. So, according to the data of radiation-hygiene pasportization (2000 year), 217992 samples of foodstuffs were tested in different regions of Russia, from which only 2,2 per cent did not correspond answer the hygienic requirements. The cases of excess of the permissible levels of 137Cs and 90Sr were marked, basically, in private sector, in dairy products and meat, and also in mushrooms and berries from two regions - Bryansk and Kaluga. Permissible levels of specific activity of 137Cs and 90Sr in foodstuffs are guaranteed provide safety of the population under the radiating factor and will be coordinated to the IAEA recommendations for foodstuffs sold in international trade. (Author)

[en] In 1960's, in the Northwest and Far East regions of Russia the technical bases of the Navy Fleet were built to maintain nuclear submarines by performing reloading of nuclear fuel, receiving and storing radioactive waste (RW) and spent nuclear fuel (SNF). In 2000, SevRAO enterprise in the northwest of Russia and DalRAO enterprise in the Far East were set up for the purposes of environmental remediation of the nuclear legacy sites. Regulatory supervision for radiation protection and safety at the nuclear legacy sites in Russian Far east and Northwest regions is one of regulatory functions of the Federal medical biological agency (FMBA of Russia). Improvement of the normative and regulatory basis has significant impact on effectiveness and efficiency of industrial projects aimed at reduction of nuclear and radiation hazard risk at the sites for the SNF and RW temporary storage (STS).To get unbiased comprehensive information on the current radiation conditions at the STSs and provide the effective response to changing radiation situation, the environmental radiation monitoring of the SevRAO and DalRAO facilities has been carried out during 2005-2013. The nature and peculiarity of the STS area radioactive contamination on the Kola Peninsula and in the Far East are the following: 1) high levels of radioactive contamination on the industrial site; 2) non-uniformity of the contamination distribution; 3) spread of contamination in the area of health protection zone. The following environmental components are contaminated: soil, vegetation, bottom sediments and seaweeds at the offshore sea waters. The dominant radionuclides are cesium-137 and strontium-90. At the facilities under inspection for the purpose of the dynamic control of the radiation situation the radio-ecological monitoring system was arranged. It presupposes regular radiometry inspections in-situ, their analysis and assessment of the radiation situation forecast in the course of the STS remediation main stages. The monitoring findings served as a basis for development of regulatory documents aimed at assurance of public and environment radiation protection and safety during RW management. Document available in abstract form only. (authors)

[en] The paper is concerned with the management of the nuclear legacy in northwest Russia, in particular the remediation of facilities, and related spent fuel and radioactive waste management, at the former Shore Technical Bases at Andreeva Bay and Gremikha Village. New regulatory guidance documents have been developed, necessary because of the special abnormal situation at these sites, but also because of the transition from military to civilian regulatory supervision and the evolving regulatory system in the Russian Federation. Works on-going in 2009 are described which involve development of the radio-ecological basis for identifying radiation supervision area boundaries and a system of recommended dose constraints and derived control levels. Unconditional guarantee of long-term radioecological protection serves as the basis for criteria development. Non-exceedance of these dose constraints and control levels implies compliance with radiological protection objectives related to the residual contamination. (author)

[en] The paper focuses on emerging regulatory challenges associated with regulatory supervision of remediation of nuclear legacy sites, notably facilities linked to research, development and application of nuclear electricity generation and military applications, including uranium mining and milling. The nature and remediation status of such sites is summarised as well as the stages of site remediation, in order to illustrate the complexity of safety management and the challenges for regulatory authorities. The experience gained in regulatory cooperation projects in Russia is then presented, noting the role of international organisations and interactions with authorities and experts from other countries, to highlight how those challenges are being met in the Russian Federation. In the light of that experience suggestions, are made for wider cooperation among relevant regulatory authorities within an international forum. (author)

[en] The paper discusses the management of the nuclear legacy in the Russian Northwest region in particular, the remediation of facilities, and related spent fuel and radioactive waste management, at the former Shore Technical Bases at Andreeva Bay and Gremikha Village. New regulatory guidance documents have been developed, which are necessary due to the special abnormal situation at these sites, and also due to the transition from military to civilian regulatory supervision and the evolving regulatory system in the Russian Federation. Also discussed is the ongoing work in 2009 on the, development of the radio-ecological basis for identifying radiation supervision area boundaries and a system of recommended dose constraints and derived control levels. Unconditional guarantee of long-term radioecological protection serves as the basis for criteria development. Non-exceedance of these dose constraints and control levels implies compliance with radiological protection objectives related to the residual contamination. (author)

[en] In the 1960s, two technical bases of the Northern Fleet were created in Northwest Russia, at Andreeva Bay in the Kola Peninsula and Gremikha village on the coast of the Barents Sea. They maintained nuclear submarines, performing receipt and storage of radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel, and are now designated sites of temporary storage (STSs). An analysis of the radiation situation at these sites demonstrates that substantial long-term remediation work will be required after the removal of the waste and spent nuclear fuel. Regulatory guidance is under development to support this work. Having in mind modern approaches to guaranteeing radiation safety, the primary regulatory focus is on a justification of dose constraints for determining acceptable residual contamination which might lead to exposure to workers and the public. For these sites, four principal options for remediation have been considered-renovation, conversion, conservation and liquidation. This paper describes a system of recommended dose constraints and derived control levels formulated for each option. The unconditional guarantee of long-term radioecological protection provides the basis for criteria development. Non-exceedance of these dose constraints and control levels implies compliance with radiological protection objectives related to the residual contamination. Dose reduction below proposed dose constraint values must also be carried out according to the optimisation principle. The developed criteria relate to the condition of the facilities and the STS areas after the termination of remediation activities. The proposed criteria for renovation, conversion, conservation and liquidation are entirely within the dose limits adopted in Russia for the management of man-made radiation sources, and are consistent with ICRP recommendations and national practice in other countries. The proposed criteria for STS remediation and new industrial (non-radiation-hazardous) facilities and buildings on the remedied sites had, until now, no analogues in the Russian system of regulation of radiation-hygienic standardisation. The proposals made here may serve as a basis for corresponding standards at other sites.

[en] Experience on restoration of contaminated areas in the past ten years reveals a specific problem in the general problem of solid radioactive waste management as a result of decontamination of the settlements. That specific problem concerns conventionally radioactive waste (CRW), which might be to some extent dangerous for human being. In the documents of IAEA and ICRP the approaches aimed at exemption or exclusion insignificant amount of radioactive wastes from regulatory control are actively being developed. In turn, Russia does not have so far either methodic or regulatory documents on management of very low level radioactive waste. Two approaches are considered in the paper under development of derived levels for CRW in case of restoration of contaminated areas. The first one is based on restriction of individual risk at level about 10^-6 per year (negligible level). The second one accounts for global man-made background and uses acceptable factor of excess of that background as a criterion.Under the first approach (restriction of individual risk) the lowest boundary of CRW is estimated to be equal to 3 Bq kg^-1 for ²³⁹Pu; 30 Bq kg^-1 for ⁹⁰Sr; and 300 Bq kg^-1 for ¹³⁷Cs, respectively. Those levels of specific activity approximately correspond to the areas contaminated by the above mentioned radionuclides 0.3 kBq m^-2, 3 kBq m^-2, and 30 kBq m^-2, respectively. Under the second approach if one accepts factor of 3 of excess of global man-made background, than the levels of specific activity will be 0.05 kBq m^-2 for ²³⁹Pu; 2.5 kBq m^-2 for ⁹⁰Sr, and 7.2 kBq m^-2 for ¹³⁷Cs. Comparison of the levels obtained according to the second approach shows that they will be several times lower than that according to the first approach. (author)

[en] This paper describes the findings of the radiation situation analysis on-site near Sysoeva and Razbojnik Bays. The results of radiation monitoring performed by radiological laboratory of DalRAO and studies performed by the experts from the Burnasyan Federal Medical Biophysical Centre have been used in the course of analysis. On the industrial sites, gamma dose rate reaches 60 μSv h^-1, and the specific activities of man-made radionuclides in soil reach 2.5ix10⁴ Bq kg^-1 for ¹³⁷Cs, 7.6ix10³ Bq kg^-1 for ⁹⁰Sr and 2.0x10³ Bq kg^-1 for ⁶⁰Co. Beyond the industrial sites, there are three local parts of the area on the coast and in the off-shore water area, contaminated with man-made radionuclides. Gamma dose rate reaches 8 μSv h^-1. The radionuclide contents in soil at this area reach 3.6x10³, 2.8x10³ and 19 Bq kg^-1 for ¹³⁷Cs, ⁹⁰Sr and ⁶⁰Co, respectively. At the remaining part of the area nearby Sysoeva Bay, the radiation situation complies with natural background. (authors)

[en] This paper outlines progress being made within the regulatory cooperation programme between the Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority and its sister organizations in the Russian Federation. Experience is drawn from work at nuclear technology legacy sites, such as the sites of temporary storage at Andreeva and Gremikha, and also on the remediation of uranium mining and milling facilities. The planned application of this experience to the enhancement of regulatory supervision in Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and the Kyrgyz Republic is described. Preliminary observations are made concerning how this work might feed into the development of international guidance. (author)