Government Regulation in the Field of Nuclear Safety: Changes in Response to the Fukushima Daiichi Accident

<p style="text-align: justify;">The organisations, structures and processes of regulatory authorities in the sphere of nuclear safety have evolved over the past 60 years. Major changes have been made following events such as Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima.<br />As in the past, events such as the recent criticality incident at Japan&rsquo;s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant will provide impetus for further reviews and changes.<br />Most regulatory authorities in the sphere of nuclear safety have begun to realise that in the near future, they will need to be more effective.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">The aim of the thesis is to identify the ways of improvements in the sphere of nuclear regulation in Russia considering international practices and lessons learned from Fukushima Daiichi Accident.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Taking into account the problem identified, the author has put forward a hypothesis, that there are some specific tools, mechanisms and approaches which can positively influence regulation in the sphere of nuclear safety in Russia.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">As a result of analysis and comparison between Russia and the OECD&#39;s civilian nuclear power countries better regulation approaches which can positively influence nuclear safety regulation in Russia were identified. Based on identified best practices and lessons learned from Fukushima Daiichi Accident following recommendations for improvement Russian regulation system in the sphere of nuclear safety were proposed:</p><ul><li style="text-align: justify;">Increase the autonomy of nuclear supervision from other types of supervision especially in terms of funding.</li><li style="text-align: justify;">Completion of updating process and improvement of Rostechnadzor&rsquo;s Quality Management System including replacement those parts previously approved by Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of the Russian and considering the reallocation of regulatory functions review in cooperation with other federal bodies and revision requirements for nuclear operators, in order to eliminate overlaps.</li><li style="text-align: justify;">Review of the categorization of facilities based on potential hazard to make it consistent with IAEA&#39;s requirements.</li><li style="text-align: justify;">The Government of the Russian Federation and Rostechnadzor should rectify the salary gap that exists between the employees of Rostechnadzor and the operating organizations. As a result Rostechnadzor will be able to recruit and retain competent staff, especially inspectors.</li><li style="text-align: justify;">Requirements, as a follow-up to the Fukushima Daiichi accident, the nuclear operators to conduct additional safety analysis for the major nuclear fuel cycle facilities that may pose offsite radiological risk.</li></ul>