IAEA Seminar on Governance of Uranium Production Activities

IAEA Seminar on Governance of Uranium Production Activities Copenhagen, Denmark 27 -28 May 2014 IAEA Safety Standards and Some Related Activities Pertaining to Uranium Production John Rowat and Zhiwen Fan Division of Radiation, Transport and Waste Safety Department of Nuclear Safety and Security International Atomic Energy Agency IAEA International Atomic Energy Agency

Outline • Statutory Obligations • IAEA Safety Standards • The Joint Convention • Definitions and Terminology • Some Related Activities IAEA 2

Statutory Obligations (1957) Article III, Functions “ To establish or adopt, in consultation and, where appropriate, in collaboration with the competent organs of the United Nations and with the specialized agencies concerned, standards of safety for protection of health and minimization of danger to life and property (including such standards for labour conditions), and to provide for the application of these standards …; “ Article VIII, Exchange of information The agency shall take positive steps to encourage the exchange among its members of information relating to the nature and peaceful uses of atomic energy and shall serve as an intermediary among its members for this purpose. IAEA 3

IAEA Safety Standards Programme • Programme initiated 31 March 1960 (INFCIRC/18). • Collection comprised of about 120 safety standards. • Covers nuclear, radiation, transport and waste safety. • Not legally binding on the Member States, but they can adopt them at their own discretion. • Legally binding on the activities of the IAEA Secretariat. • Published in the “IAEA Safety Standards Series”, and can be purchased as hardcopy, or downloaded free-of-charge. IAEA 4

Evolution of Safety Standards Programme • In the early years, IAEA safety standards were developed on an “as needed” basis. The programme was ad hoc, and far from being comprehensive. • It reflected practices of the time, for example, the long obsolete Radioactive Waste Disposal Into the Sea (1961). • Over a 50 year period the program has evolved into one that is structured and comprehensive. • The EU’s “radioactive waste” directive (Council Directive 2011/70/Euratom) is founded upon the articles of the Joint Convention and the IAEA Safety Fundamentals. The EU’s radiation protection directive is based upon the IAEA’s BSS. IAEA 5

Safety Standards Categories Fundamental Safety Principles Requirements – Legal, Technical, & Procedural Safety Imperatives Safety Fundamentals Guidance on Best Practice to Meet Requirements Safety. IAEA Guides 6

Safety Standards “Wheel” The IAEA Safety Standards “wheel” is a single graphic, provides an overview of the entire collection. The IAEA Safety Standards are comprehensive - cover the entire nuclear fuel cycle. They address the lifecycle management of facilities and activities. IAEA 7

Member State Committees for Safety Standards Development One commission and four safety standards committees (SSCs) oversee the development and approval of the IAEA safety standards. Commission on Safety Standards (CSS) Waste Safety Standards Committee (WASSC) Radiation Safety Standards Committee (RASSC) Transport Safety Standards Committee (TRANSC) Nuclear Safety Standards Committee (NUSSC) Member States nominate the committee members. IAEA 8

Safety Standards – Development and Approvals All IAEA Safety Standards are: • Drafted by experts from the Member States. • Approved by the Safety Standards Committees and the Commission for Safety Standards. • Sent for review and comment to the Member States for a period of 120 days. • Approved for publication by the Director General of the IAEA. The Safety Fundamentals and Safety Requirements have an additional step – approval by the IAEA Board of Governors. Several standards are jointly sponsored with other international organizations. IAEA 9

The Safety Fundamentals • There is only one fundamentals-level standard (SF-1). • Policy-oriented standard. • States the basic objectives, concepts and principles involved in ensuring safety. • Jointly sponsored by the IAEA, Euratom, OECD/NEA, FAO, ILO, IMO, WHO, UNEP and PAHO. IAEA 10

The Safety Fundamentals Comprised of the fundamental safety objective: “to protect people and the environment from harmful effects of ionizing radiation”, and 10 principles to be applied to achieve the fundamental objective. Examples: Principle 2: Role of government. An effective legal and governmental framework for safety, including an independent regulatory body, must be established and sustained. Principle 7: Protection of present and future generations. People and the environment, present and future, must be protected against radiation risks. IAEA 11

Standards applicable to uranium production Only a small number of the IAEA safety standards are written to be applicable specifically to uranium production. “General Safety Requirements”, those numbered “GSR” are applicable to all facilities and activities, including uranium production. “Specific Safety Requirements”, those numbered “SSR”, will have parts that are applicable to uranium production. The same topic, for example financial assurances, may be addressed in several standards. IAEA 12

Standards applicable to uranium production IAEA 13

Standards applicable to uranium production IAEA 14

Some other standards applicable to uranium production • Regulations for the Safe Transport of Radioactive Material 2012 Edition, IAEA Safety Standards Series No. SSR-6 (2012). • Regulatory Control of Radioactive Discharges to the Environment, IAEA Safety Standards Series No. WS-G-2. 3 (2000). • Environmental and Source Monitoring for Purposes of Radiation Protection, IAEA Safety Standards Series No. RS-G-1. 8 (2005). • Radiological environmental impact analysis for facilities and activities (DS-427)* * New standard under development IAEA

How Member States Apply the Standards • International benchmark used by regulators and operators. • “Newcomers” to nuclear power. • Basis for regulations. • Integrated Regulatory Review • • • Service (IRRS). Basis for peer reviews. Technical Cooperation Programme (TCP) work Inform national policies and decisions. IAEA 16

Safety Reports Series The “Safety Reports Series” are complementary to the IAEA Safety Standards. IAEA 17

Safety Reports Series In 1998, the “Safety Reports Series” replaced the ”Safety Practices Series”. IAEA 18

Joint Convention • The Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management came into force 18 June 2001. • Only international instrument for safety of spent fuel and radioactive waste management that is legally binding on its Contracting Parties. • Based upon the IAEA safety fundamentals of that time: The Principles of Radioactive Waste Management (IAEA Safety Series No. 111 -F, 1995). • Articles are comprehensive in scope (spent fuel, radioactive waste, decommissioning, technical and legal, existing facilities and past practices …. ). • IAEA assists Contracting Parties by providing secretariat. IAEA 19

Joint Convention • Applies to spent fuel as waste or as material for re-use, hence the designation “joint”. • Applies to facilities and activities of civilian programmes, and defence programmes when transferred permanently to civilian control. • Presently seventy (70) countries and EURATOM are contracting parties to the JC. • All EU countries are contracting parties to the JC. • Three year cycle of reporting - national report prepared every three years. • Fourth Review Meeting of the JC (May 2012) attended by more than 600 delegates from 54 contracting parties. IAEA 20

Joint Convention and Uranium Production Article 3. Scope of Application. 2. This Convention shall also apply to the safety of radioactive waste management when the radioactive waste results from civilian applications. However, this Convention shall not apply to waste that contains only naturally occurring radioactive materials and that does not originate from the nuclear fuel cycle, unless it constitutes a disused sealed source or it is declared as radioactive waste for the purposes of this Convention by the Contracting Party. Uranium production is part of the nuclear fuel cycle – reporting on the JC Articles as they apply to uranium production is mandatory. Reporting on NORM other than uranium and thorium is optional. IAEA 21

Uranium Producers who are Contracting Parties Many of the world’s uranium producing countries are Contracting Parties to the Joint Convention: • Australia • Canada • China • Kazakhstan • Russia • South Africa • Ukraine • USA • Uzbekistan The triennial reports of the JC Contracting Parties are a rich source of information. IAEA 22

Definitions and Terminology Definitions and terminology matter – what you call something has important practical consequences for how it is managed. The IAEA Safety Glossary is a compendium of definitions derived from the IAEA Safety Requirements, and hence contain definitions that are endorsed by the Safety Standards Committees, the IAEA Director General and IAEA Board of Governors. In public (and sometimes professional) usage, terms like storage versus disposal, as well as radioactive material versus radioactive waste, are often confused. IAEA 23

Definitions and Terminology Waste: material for which no further use is foreseen. Radioactive waste: For legal and regulatory purposes, waste that contains, or is contaminated with, radionuclides at concentrations or activities greater than clearance levels as established by the regulatory body. Decommissioning: Administrative and technical actions taken to allow the removal of some or all of the regulatory controls from a facility (except for a repository or for certain nuclear facilities used for the disposal of residues from the mining and processing of radioactive material, which are ‘closed’ and not ‘decommissioned’). Disposal: emplacement of waste in an appropriate facility without the intention of retrieval. Storage: the holding of radioactive sources, spent fuel or radioactive waste in a facility that provides for their/its containment, with the intention of retrieval. IAEA 24

Definitions and Terminology Radioactive material: Material designated in national law or by a regulatory body as being subject to regulatory control because of its radioactivity. [radioactive material has a much broader scope than “radioactive waste”, for example it can be re-used] NORM residue: material that remains from a process and comprises or is contaminated by naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM). A NORM residue may or may not be waste. Tailings: the residues resulting from the processing of ore to extract uranium series or thorium series radionuclides, or similar residues from processing ores for other purposes. IAEA 25

Remediation of Legacy Uranium Sites RSLS - International Forum for Regulatory Supervision of Legacy Sites. Forum to promote effective and efficient regulatory supervision of legacy sites. RSLS was launched in 2012 with an initial focus on remediation of legacy uranium production sites. In the future, RSLS wil expand to include other types of legacy sites. International workshops have been organized under RSLS at former uranium production sites. These workshops support information exchange and demonstrate how former uranium production sites were remediated. • 2012 international workshop held at former uranium production sites in Utah and Colorado, USA. • 2014 international workshop held at former uranium production site at Elliot Lake, Ontario, Canada. IAEA 26

Remediation of Legacy Uranium Sites CGULS - Coordination Group for Uranium Legacy Sites. IAEA led group to facilitate remediation of former uranium production sites in the Central Asian republics of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. CGULS coordinates the efforts of parties who are engaged with: • work to characterize the former uranium production sites, • environmental impact assessment of the sites. • efforts to plan for their remediation. • regulatory and technical capacity building in Central Asia, and • efforts to establish funding for remediation projects in Central Asia. About 15 Member States and a number of international organizations participate in CGULS (UNDP, EBRD, World Bank, OSCE, Eur. As. EC). CGULS is funded by the European Commission. IAEA 27

Capacity Building • The IAEA offers a wide range of specialist training courses and workshops • These can be organized at the national level, or sometimes they are conducted on a regional basis • Subject areas covered by such training events includes: radiation protection, waste and tailings management, decommissioning and remediation, safety assessment, environmental impact assessment monitoring • MSs are free to participate in any one of the dozens of training events we offer each year IAEA 28

Appraisal Services Appraisal services Appraisal – assessing a. Services Member State’s status with respect to international safety standards Integrated Regulatory Review Service (IRRS) – a peer review of regulatory infrastructure Thematic-based appraisals, such as: • Regulatory infrastructure • Occupational radiation protection • Waste safety • Decommissioning and remediation • Transport safety IAEA 29

Summary • An appropriate framework for safety of uranium • • production assures protection of human health and the environment and prevent future legacy sites. The IAEA has established safety standards which cover many aspects of uranium production. The IAEA can support MS’s capacity building for safety of uranium production. The Joint Convention offers a unique international instrument for Contracting Parties to take advantage of. Government needs to play its role in establishing and maintaining a legal and regulatory framework for safety of uranium production. IAEA 30

Thank you for your attention IAEA 31