European Union provides ՀՀ European Union provides support to the Armenian Nuclear Regulatory Authority (ANRA) for regulatory harmonization and enhanced nuclear safety.
Armenia, October 18th, 2024
The European Union (EU) supports a new technical cooperation project with the Armenian Nuclear Regulatory Authority (ANRA) and its Technical Support Organization (TSO), the Nuclear and Radiation Safety Center (NRSC). The project aims at the promotion of nuclear safety by the approximation of the Armenian nuclear regulatory infrastructure, practices, regulations and rules with the EU Directives and will run for the next 2 years. The project will focus on the update and development of new approximated regulations, on the regulatory review of safety enhancement at ANPP and on the authorization of upgrades for radioactive waste management systems, with a particular focus on transferring the experience of peer EU Member States.
For this purpose, the EU awarded a 2-year service contract to an international consortium led by IDOM Consulting, Engineering Architecture S.A.U. (Spain) and the partner Teknologian Tutkimuskeskus VTT OY (Finland) supported by Bel V (Belgium), VUJE, A.S (Slovakia) and the Bulgarian Nuclear Regulatory Agency (Bulgaria).
The Kick-Off Meeting for the project took place on 17-18th October 2024, in Yerevan, Armenia. It was attended by the representatives of EU, ANRA, NRSC and the Consortium.
As Mr. Khachatur Khachikyan, Acting Chairman of ANRA, mentioned during the opening session “The project is very important for ANRA, as this is a step towards resolving the issue of approximation of the Republic of Armenia legislation with the relevant EU directives, considering also WENRA’s safety reference levels. The revision of the national legislation based on gap analyses and lessons learned from EU member states will allow it to get closer to the EU and to increase the confidence of the Armenian and international community in the country’s nuclear safety”.
NRSC participates in the project as a local sub-contractor and will be one of the main contributors to both approximation and safety review activities to be conducted under the scope of the project. As a TSO to the Regulatory Body it has large experience in the field, excellent understanding of the situation and existing challenges, and the Consortium will benefit a lot from the expert advice provided by NRSC in the course of project implementation.
The international expert team provided by the consortium is specialized in the development of nuclear regulatory frameworks and safety topics of concern. In-depth Project and Knowledge Management is implemented to ensure that the project targets are met. After the Kick-Off Meeting’s opening session, a series of technical workshops with ANRA / NRSC were conducted to reach mutual understanding on the actual needs and priority fields of interest on the one hand and the resources mobilized and opportunities offered by the Consortium on the other hand.
The project Kick-Off Meeting was conducted for 2 full days.
