THORIUM AS AN ENERGY SOURCE - Opportunities for Norway ...

”Section 4. (Licence for nuclear installation) 1
It shall be unlawful to construct, own or operate a nuclear installation 2 without a licence granted
by the Crown. The licence shall be valid for a specified place for operation. As a rule the duration
of the licence should be limited to a specific period. The transfer of a nuclear installation 2 or the
operation thereof to a new owner or operator 2 needs special licence..
A licence for the construction of a nuclear power plant should not be granted before the Storting
(translator's note: the Norwegian Parliament) has given its approval. The matter should be submitted
to the Storting when proposals for the construction site of the nuclear power plant are presented and
the question of the operator/ownership is clarified.”
“ 1 Cf. Sections 55: 56 and 58.
2 See Section l.”
]
”Section 10. (The Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority)
The Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority is the highest specialist agency as far as questions of
safety are concerned. It functions as the institution making recommendations and giving advice to the
Ministry concerned. The Authority shall prepare and submit recommendations on all applications
concerning licences and permits, and shall on its own initiative put into effect all such means measures
as it deems necessary for reasons of safety. It shall be the duty of the Authority to ensure that all rules
and conditions pertaining to safety precautions are complied with and put into effect, as well as such
orders that are given in pursuance of this Act.
1 Amended by Act no. 142 of 18 December 1992. ”
The
Ministry concerned with nuclear power plants is the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy and the
Ministry concerned with other nuclear installations is the Norwegian Ministry of Health and Care
Services.
Requirements
for licensing a nuclear reactor would include reactors using:
uranium fuel and
thorium based fuel, where uranium or plutonium is used in conjunction with thorium to maintain
the nuclear chain reaction.
A reactor based on using a mass accelerator and pure thorium fuel does not fall under the present
legal term "nuclear reactor" as such a system would be dependent on an external source of
accelerated protons or neutrons to maintain the nuclear chain reaction. The Act concerning Nuclear
Energy Activities would therefore need to be amended from its present form in order to incorporate
a thorium-based Accelerator-Driven System (ADS).
The
National Radiation Protection Authority
The role of the National Radiation Protection Authority
is described in several sections of The Act
concerning Nuclear Energy Activities, among others in Sections 10, 11, 13, 14. Section 10 is
quoted in the above paragraph, section 11 is quoted below:
”Section 11. (Construction and commissioning of nuclear installation).
2
\ The Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority shall exercise continuous supervision over the
construction of nuclear installations. In particular it shall ensure compliance with the terms and
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