Safety of Soviet-Designed Reactors

Abstract

The potential problems posed by the nuclear power stations of the Former Soviet Union (FSU) raise some complex political and philosophical difficulties. On the one hand, these stations play a critical role in securing electricity supplies in large parts of the ex-USSR: for instance 25% of Ukrainian electricity, and 55% of Lithuania's electricity comes form nuclear plants. On the other hand, the poor maintenance and management record at the plants - and, in the case of the RBMKs, the questionable design of the plants themselves - has raised some dear concerns about the safety implications of continuing to operate these plants, both for local and indeed for more distant populations. What is clear is that - if the stations of the FSU are to continue to play their essential role, in sustaining energy supplies - some of them need urgent attention and remedial work. Dr Berke's talk reviews the current state of the nuclear park in the former Soviet Union, the safety issues raised by the various reactor types in use, the current assessments of the various stations' safety, by the international authorities which have considered the problem, and the necessary conditions for carrying out the required remedial studies and hardware improvements. Dr Berke's talk majors on the last of these aspects, and on the various political, financial and institutional obstacles which currently stand in the way of these urgently needed programmes. The specific issues which he examines in this connection are : The difficulties posed by the multiplicity of donors involved in the potential assistance programmes, and by the commercial sensitivities which parts of the assistance programmes inevitably entail; The key role of the G-24 Secretariat, in co-ordinating these various programmes, and the technical difficulty of the Secretariat's task; The roles of TPEG, ENAC, the EFCC, CASSIOPEE and other international organisations and consortia; The current financial restrictions on grant-funding (which in practice will not enable any major hardware improvements to be carried out), and the financial and political difficulties of loan-funded programmes (especially where there is an element of "conditionality"); Last and very crucially, the lack of any adequate and properly understood Civil Liability regime in most FSU countries, which opens up a perceived risk to donors that they themselves could be held financially accountable, if there wore a serious accident at a station where they were involved in remedial programmes. Dr Berke's talk puts forward some views on how these difficult problems could be addressed, and on how Western industry could best be helped to play the constructive role which it would like to, helping bring about the much-needed improvements in the FSU stations.