here - Atomic Energy Regulatory Board

AERB also has co-operative activities with the
Regulatory Body of the Russian Federation. A workshop
on information exchange on nuclear safety was held
between Rostekhnadzor, the Russian Regulatory Body and
AERB, during February 2005 in Mumbai. During this
workshop, nuclear safety topics related to VVER-1000
reactors were discussed (Two VVER units of 1000 MWe
each are presently under construction at Kudankulam in
Tamil Nadu with Russian assistance). India has also joined
the WWER Senior Regulators Forum in which operating
and other experiences of countries operating/constructing
Pressurized Water Reactors are discussed annually.
In addition to the bilateral co-operation activities
AERB also participates in several activities of the IAEA.
These include IRS, INES based reporting of events,
Commission on Safety Standards (CSS), INSAG and the
work related to development of Safety Standards,
Coordinated Research Programmes (CRP), Conduct of
Training Workshops and Technical Meetings, etc. AERB also
participates in the IAEA annual meetings of Senior
Regulators of countries Operating CANDU type Nuclear
Reactors.
11.3 IAEA COORDINATED RESEARCH
PROGRAM
AERB has completed the IAEA sponsored CRP
on ‘Safety Significance of Near Field Earthquakes’. The
CRP was based on a number of shake table tests conducted
on the scaled down model of a concrete wall as part of
CAMUS experiments between 1996 and 1998 in the CEA
facilities in Saclay, France. The main aim of the CRP was
to understand the applicability of the recent engineering
practices developed for evaluating the seismic vulnerability
of the non-nuclear facilities in the seismic safety
assessment of nuclear facilities with respect to the effects
of near field earthquakes. About 20 institutions from
different countries were actively involved in the exercise.
Apart from linear analysis, CRP required the participants
to perform displacement-based methods as well as
non-linear time history analyses of the test specimens.
Based on the study, it was concluded that the
seismic response of structures predicted by deflection based
method agrees reasonably well with experimental values
for both far field and near field input motions. The
matching is good in case of overall performance of the
structure like top displacement. On the other hand,
agreement is poor in case of localized behavior like strain.
The method can be adopted with reasonable confidence in
seismic qualification as well as reevaluation of structures,
systems and components of NPP.
11.4 INSAG MEETING HOSTED BY AERB IN
MUMBAI
The 8 th meeting of the INSAG of IAEA was hosted
by AERB during 12 th to 16 th March 2007 in Mumbai. The
INSAG is a group of experts with high professional
competence in the field of nuclear safety, working in
regulatory organisations, research and academic institutions
and the nuclear industry. INSAG provides recommendations
and opinions on current and emerging nuclear safety issues
to the IAEA, the nuclear community and the public. The
members of the current INSAG are from Canada, China,
Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Japan, Republic
of Korea, Russian Federation, South Africa, Spain, United
Kingdom, United States of America and the OECD/NEA.
Presently Shri S.K. Sharma, Chairman, AERB is
the member of INSAG from India. Before him, Dr. Anil
Kakodkar, Chairman, AEC was the member of INSAG from
India.
Apart from the intensive meetings on 3 days, the
INSAG delegates visited TAPS and BARC. In BARC,
INSAG Chairman, Dr. Richard Meserve, Dr. Taniguchi,
Deputy Director General, Dept. of Nuclear Safety and
Security IAEA and Dr. Carlos Alejaldre, Deputy Director
General of ITER delivered technical talks under a special
Trombay Colloquium on ‘The Nuclear Renaissance’,
‘Global Partnership for Nuclear Safety and Security’ and
‘International Thermonuclear Experiment Reactor (ITER)’
respectively. A Press Meet was also organized at BARC on
15 th March 2007.
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