Improved nuclear safety through international standards.

In this shrinking world, what happens in an industry in one country can significantly affect the same industry elsewhere around the globe. In April 1986, a nuclear accident destroyed Unit 4 of Ukraine’s Chernobyl nuclear power plant, focusing worldwide attention on the dozens of Soviet-designed reactors still in operation. The Chemobyl accident led to public concerns about all operating nuclear power plants and, in some countries (e.g., Italy and Sweden), to proposals for nationwide plant closures or moratoriums on new construction. However, for most former Soviet Union countries, plant shutdown was and still is not a viable option—the plants produce a significant percentage of each nation’s total electricity, and those countries do not have sufficient economic resources to develop alternative power sources. In cooperation with similar programs initiated in Canada, Japan, and western European countries, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is conducting a comprehensive effort to reduce risks at Soviet-designed nuclear power plants until they can be shut down or brought into compliance with international standards. This paper describes DOE-supported initiatives with participating host countries to: • improve reliability and accuracy of nondestructive evaluation equipment used for in-service inspection • transfer technologies and infrastructure to improve in-service inspections • enhance management systems for training and certifying host-country in-service inspection personnel The goal of these initiatives to enhance the use of international standards (ASME, ASNT, European Standards EN, and ISO) in operating and regulatory practices at Soviet-designed nuclear power plants. © 2000 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]