The 5th regional meeting of the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (USNRC) Radiation Sources Regulatory Partnership (RSRP) program took place from Wednesday September 9, 2015 through Friday September 11, 2015 in Chisinau, Moldova. The meeting was attended by 21 participants from regulatory authorities of Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan, observers from Belarus, experts from the Czech Republic and Lithuania, and representatives of USNRC and organizing companies Qi Tech, LLC. (USA) and Inoteh (Moldova).
The regional meeting addressed all aspects of the RSRP program, mainly to exchange experience and lessons learned within the program and discussed plans for the future. The meeting included presentations and panel discussions on source inventorization, relocation, and safe and secure storage and disposal of radiation sources, improvements and international harmonization of national legal system for radiation protection, exchange of practical experience in inspection procedures and enforcement, and support for technical improvements in the regulatory activities over radiation sources.
Participants were informed on the program’s progress during the past two years and with the other activities of regulatory authorities of participating countries including Belarus, Czech Republic and Lithuania.
Special session addressed introduction of the Advanced Regulatory Information System (ARIS), Version 2.1, steps required for its implementation, and user feedback and priorities for further development of the ARIS. Improved version of nuclear materials accounting system for countries without nuclear facilities, NUCMAT/LOF, Version 3.1, was presented. The ARIS and NUCMAT demos, user discussion forum, manuals and installation packages are available at http://aris.nrsc.am for registered users. After discussion, it was decided – due to specific security reasons – not to include NUCMAT into ARIS and continue to develop it as a self-contained software.
Participants recommended building another ARIS module focused on occupational exposure of radiation workers.
Representatives of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission acknowledged contribution from and progress achieved by all participants and expressed the hope for their continued participation in the program.
All participants considered the meeting to be beneficial, to effectively help in exchange of experience and to coordinate projects within the program. Participants recommended to continue these meetings.