January 23-25, 2018 - Peter Kelm of AdSTM visited Yerevan, Armenia to meet with Ashot Martirosyan, Chairman of the Armenian Nuclear Regulatory Authority (ANRA), and with Armen Amirjanyan, the Director of Nuclear and Radiation Safety Center (NRSC) and his staff.
Mr. Martirosyan highlighted his appreciation for the continuing US NRC support to ANRA, discussed ongoing activities and recent developments in Armenia. In November 2017 Armenia signed Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with the European Union and will harmonize its legislation consistent with the EU directives within the next few years. This includes nuclear safety and radiation protection and represents a significant challenge to ANRA and NRSC. Mr. Martirosyan appreciates recent RSRP support to develop the structure for the new revision of the Armenian Atomic Act, and discussed potential need of continued support for the harmonization effort.
Mr. Amirjanyan presented the status of the development of the new ARIS module OCCUDOSE (occupational exposure), that will be released in the summer of 2018 and the Spanish Language version of ARIS user interface.
Participants discussed potential RSRP activities for the 2018/2019 Action Plan that includes continuing ARIS User support, support for the development of the radiological laboratory, training and development of inspection procedures.