31 Jan 2022

Rostechnadzor Attends 27th Annual VVER Forum Meeting

The 27th annual meeting of the Forum of Nuclear Safety Authorities of the Countries Operating VVER Type Reactors (VVER Forum) took place from November 30 to December 2, 2021, via videoconference. The Rostechnadzor delegation took part in the meeting. The event was organized by the Hungarian Atomic Energy Authority (HAEA), the current chair of the VVER Forum. 

The meeting was also attended by senior officials and experts from the nuclear safety regulatory bodies of Armenia, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Finland, Hungary, Iran, Slovakia, and Ukraine, with Belarus, Germany and the IAEA participating as observers. The heads of the regulatory authorities of Egypt and Turkey, and a representative of the French Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN), a technical support organization, took part in the event for the first time as observers. 
The SEC NRS representatives took part in the meeting and informed on the activities of the Working groups as their chairs.
The participants:

  • made reports on operational occurrences at the VVER NPPs that were of importance and interest from the safety point of view; 
  • shared information on changes in the regulation of nuclear and radiation safety that have occurred in their countries since the 26th meeting of the VVER Forum (held in Pravets, Bulgaria, in June 2019);
  • discussed the activities of the VVER Forum Working Group on Probabilistic Safety Analysis, the Working Group on Reactor Physics, and the Working Group on Aging Management of VVER NPPs during the reporting period. 

A preliminary decision was also made to grant the Belarusian regulator the status of a full-fledged member of the VVER Forum. After approval of this decision by all members of the VVER Forum, it will be officially confirmed during the next plenary meeting. 

The next meeting of the Forum is to be held in 2022 in Hungary by personal attendance. 

The Forum of Nuclear Safety Authorities of the Countries Operating VVER Type Reactors was established in 1993 to help strengthen nuclear and radiation safety in interested countries by leveraging the collective experience, sharing information and joining forces of national regulators to address safety concerns and improve regulatory policies and practices. The meetings of the VVER Forum are held once a year alternately in the member countries of the Forum.

Contact

Andrey Balalaechnikov
Scientific and Engineering Centre for Nuclear and Radiation Safety Russia (SEC NRS)
balalaechnikov@secnrs.ru