OREANDA-NEWS. April 24, 2008. The head of the Federal Service for Ecological, Technological and Nuclear Supervision of the Russian Federation Konstantin Pulikovsky has decreed to introduce rules for the safe operation of nuclear reactors. The rules will take force on June 1 2008.

The rules have already been registered by the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation. Their registration number is 10951.

The rules cover nuclear reactors that are just being designed or built as well as the already existing ones.

The rules say that the nuclear safety of a nuclear reactor depends on its technical parameters and the quality and reliability of its components. Systematic testing and maintenance of equipment, close control of service processes and high qualification and responsibility of personnel are the key prerequisites for the safe operation of a nuclear reactor.

The construction of a nuclear power plant should be preceded by detailed design work. All parameters significant for safety – reliability, service life, operating conditions, control and testing modes — should be thoroughly analyzed.  

A reactor core should be designed in such a way as to prevent changes in the safety parameters of fuel elements in case of emergency or accident. A reactor should consist of control and protection systems regulating the reactivity of the reactor core and the capacity of the reactor, controlling the density and the speed of the neutron flow and the technological parameters essential for effective control of the reactivity of the reactor core and the capacity of the reactor and controlling the subcriticality of the reactor.

The design project of a reactor should specify, at least, two autonomous ways to stop it.