The 6th regional meeting of the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (USNRC) Radiation Sources Regulatory Partnership (RSRP) program took place from Monday September 5, 2016 through Wednesday September 7, 2016 in Tbilisi, Georgia. The meeting was attended by 22 participants from regulatory authorities of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Tajikistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan, experts from the Czech Republic and Lithuania, and representatives of USNRC and Qi Tech, LLC. (USA).
The regional meeting addressed all aspects of the RSRP program, mainly to exchange experience and lessons learned within the program and discussed plans for the future. The meeting included presentations and panel discussions on source inventorization, relocation, and safe and secure storage and disposal of radiation sources, improvements and international harmonization of national legal system for radiation protection, exchange of practical experience in inspection procedures and enforcement, and support for technical improvements in the regulatory activities over radiation sources.
Participants were informed on the program’s progress during the past year and with the other activities of regulatory authorities of participating countries.
Special session addressed introduction of the Advanced Regulatory Information System (ARIS), version 2.2, steps required for its implementation, and user feedback and priorities for further development of the ARIS, especially version 2.5 expected to be released in January/February 2017. Improved version of nuclear materials accounting system for countries without nuclear facilities, NUCMAT/LOF, Version 3.2, was presented. The ARIS and NUCMAT demos, user discussion forum, manuals and installation packages are available for registered users at new support web sites http://www.aris.am.
Participants recommended building another ARIS module focused on occupational exposure of radiation workers.
Representatives of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission acknowledged contribution from and progress achieved by all participants and expressed the hope for their continued participation in the program.