(Note: Supporting information for this presentation is can be downloaded in a Powerpoint file [500 K]).

In addition to the "mainline" safety projects--simulators and training, fire safety, safety assessments, dry cask storage--several other initiatives are under way as part of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) work to improve international nuclear safety.

At Chornobyl nuclear power plant (NPP) in Ukraine, three bilateral activities deal with plant shutdown and deactivation, the Chornobyl Center, and the Chornobyl Shelter Implementation Plan. I will address the first two; Dennis Kreid and Carol Kessler will cover the third in their presentations.

A British study determined the decontamination and decommissioning facilities necessary to support the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for shutting down Chornobyl NPP. These include facilities for liquid and solid waste treatment and some fuel storage. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the European Union are providing support for these facilities.

The study also identified a heat plant as necessary to successful shut down of Chornobyl NPP. The heat plant will provide heat for the nuclear power plant site after reactor shutdown and through the decommissioning work. A partially constructed heat plant is on site at Chornobyl NPP. However, because of Ukraine's financial conditions, plant completion has been impossible. The U.S. team entered into an agreement with Ukraine in December 1997 to complete this heat plant by May 2000. Ukraine will manage this project and is contributing about $18 million. The U.S. contribution is $13 million.

Before these facilities can be used to support the decontamination and decommissioning (D&D)of Chornobyl, the plant's Unit 3 must be deactivated. With the $3.5 million from the U.S. Agency for International Development (U.S. AID) for support to Ukraine for the deactivation stage, DOE is working with Ukrainian experts to prepare the safety analysis for the regulator who must approve the decontamination and decommissioning plan before such activities can begin. Some general radiation surveys and other related efforts also are under way.

The second major bilateral activity is the Chornobyl Center for Nuclear Safety, Radioactive Waste and Radioecology. The center was established in April 1996 to

• address environmental and health issues for areas affected by the 1986 Chornobyl accident
• help mitigate socioeconomic impacts associated with Chornobyl closure
• develop sustainable operational safety programs for Ukrainian nuclear power plants
• help develop and maintain in-country expertise in nuclear science
• address shutdown and deactivation, spent fuel, and waste management issues at Chornobyl and elsewhere in Ukraine.

With DOE support, a building was renovated in Slavutych to house the Center's Slavutych Laboratory for International Research and Technology. The new facility will be dedicated in February. It includes a language laboratory with simultaneous interpretation capabilities. The Slavutych Laboratory will use the language laboratory capabilities in hosting an economic development conference in conjunction with the facility dedication.

Twenty-five former Chornobyl NPP employees now are involved at the Center in conjunction with some of the D&D activities. U.S. and Ukrainian scientists have completed three collaborative projects. The main one was a risk assessment of impact to Unit 3 if the Shelter were to collapse. The second was an assessment of need for remote systems technology inside the Shelter. The third involved an evaluation of data available for creating physical and computer models of the Shelter.

While the United States, through DOE, has been helping establish the Center, the United Kingdom also recently signed an agreement with the Center to provide some assistance in its development. In addition, Germany and France have entered into agreements to sponsor joint projects at the Center. Those projects are being developed. Italy also has shown interest in this work.

As these relationships develop, they will provide a model of how to generate interest in the Center and get additional work to be done. The work introduces companies from the United States and it introduces companies from these other countries as well. That these other countries have come forward since the facility was completed has provided much encouragement to the Center's new management team.

The Slavutych Laboratory's telecommunications capability, emplaced with DOE support, was used in summer 1997 for some interactive video conferences between students at schools in Slavutych and in Richland, Washington. That interaction then led to an exchange of some middle school students from the two towns. DOE is now considering the possibility of summer internships at DOE headquarters to continue to foster this kind of cooperation.

Armenia began working with DOE on cooperative safety projects in May 1996. In 1997, with $5 million received from U.S. AID, DOE began major efforts with Armenia in fire safety equipment and training, seismic-resistant emergency feedwater system, emergency heat removal system, and steam isolation valves. These efforts are in response to an EBRD study with Western experts to identify the major safety issues associated with operation of Armenia Unit 2.

Many other countries also are supporting the safety upgrades at Armenia NPP. In addition, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which began working with Armenia prior to DOE's involvement, has done some good work with the Armenia regulatory agency. DOE enjoys a very close cooperation with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in our projects there.

A third area in which DOE is working is in Russia, with the Russian International Nuclear Safety Center. The center is located at the Research and Development Institute of Power Engineering, research branch of NIKIET and main designer of RBMK reactors. The idea for the center was suggested by Secretary O'Leary at a speech made in Vienna. Russians picked up on the idea and developed the center. The center's work is to conduct research and development (R&D) activities, calculations, experiments, and design efforts to ensure nuclear power plant safety. Center specialists now are developing a strategic R&D plan for VVER and RBMK reactors. The Nuclear Energy Agency of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development will peer-review the plan.

Technical experts from the International Nuclear Safety Center based at Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois are cooperating very closely with this center. Some 18 institutes and organizations within Russia are participating in the center. The center is facilitating better communications and cooperation among Russian nuclear experts as they focus on nuclear safety. Instead of each institute getting business or interacting with people on its own, its representatives can tap experts from other institutes for a project team.

(Video played: Peņa Visit at the Russian International Safety Center in September 1997)

Russia attributes high importance to this center. As an indication, the Russians recently have matched the funding provided by DOE. With the hard economic times in Russia, this gesture is somewhat significant. In addition, Minister Mikhailov personally chairs the operating board for this committee. The board meets at least annually; the next meeting is in February.

DOE recently started some cooperative work in Kazakhstan after three agreements were signed by Secretary Peņa and Kazakhstani leaders. Two agreements deal primarily with work being done by DOE's Office of Nonproliferation and National Security (DOE-NN) involving the BN-350 reactor at Aktau. DOE-NN is funding activity to remove the fuel--especially the blanket material accumulated over the years--and relocate it, away from some of the politically volatile countries around the Caspian Sea. The DOE Office of Nuclear Energy is focused on working with Kazakhstani experts to establish a Kazakhstan Nuclear Technology Safety Center. Some training is under way to introduce Kazakhstani specialists to some U.S. computer codes used in preparing safety analyses for dry cask storage of the fuel currently at the Aktau site.

With the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), DOE's Office of Nuclear Energy is co-managing the DoD-funded project to convert the cores of three Russian reactors so that they produce power only, not weapons-grade plutonium. The Kurchatov Institute is involved heavily in this project as well. Members of the U.S. team helped obtain Russian signatures to three important agreements in September. Now the team is moving toward a design review in February.

Q: Does the Russian International Nuclear Safety Center get involved in selecting the projects for the Russian plants that are part of the DOE program?

MR. GIESSING: They do not. The DOE/Minatom Coordinating Committee makes the selections. Work at the Russian International Nuclear Safety Center is mostly research. Our commitment to the center is to help them get established, to do some initial projects.

Q: Why is the center in the RDIPE building?

MR. GIESSING: The location was chosen by leaders of the Russian nuclear institutes and organizations.

Q: How do you calculate the value of the host country contribution to a project?

MR. GIESSING: It depends on the project. On projects such as simulators and the like, we have a history of what it takes to complete the scope of work and the balance of what the host country is doing. And when we write our project plans, which include the work that the host country is going to do, we have a fairly good handle on the effort that it would take.

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