In November 2010, members of AdSTM staff presented training to the Armenian Nuclear Regulatory Authority (ANRA) and the Armenian Nuclear and Radiation Safety Centre (NRSC) as part of the NRC sponsored International Reactor Development Partnership. The training was held at the offices of ANRA in Yeravan, Armenia, from November 15-19, 2010.
The training presented was two-fold and its goals were: 1) to describe to the Armenian regulators a licensing process that may be used effectively during the construction permit (CP) review and issuance phase; and 2) to present a methodology for reviewing a CP application that results in an efficient allocation of Authority resources.
The course spanned five days with the first day devoted exclusively to describing an efficient and effective CP application review process that could be used by regulatory bodies with limited staffs and resources during the review of an application for a CP. This portion of the course presented guidance on the extent to which the review by the regulatory body of country of origin of the reactor vendor may be accepted by the regulator in the country where the reactor is to be constructed and operated. It also provided guidance on the prioritization of review topics for a CP application, both essential considerations for regulatory bodies with limited resources.
The remainder of the course was devoted to providing the Armenia Nuclear Regulatory Authority with an understanding of the broad spectrum of technical and regulatory elements which enter into the review of a construction permit (CP) application for a nuclear reactor. The course included discussions of Probabilistic Safety Analysis, Severe Accidents, Deterministic Safety Analysis, Classification of Plant Equipment, System Safety Requirements and Safety Management.