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P R E S S R E L E A S E of the Hungarian Atomic Energy Authority

2006.09.07

The HAEA approved the elimination of damaged fuel assemblies at Unit No.2 of the Paks NPP The Hungarian Atomic Energy Authority Nuclear Safety Directorate (HAEA NSD) as of today has issued its approval for the commencement of the activities aimed at the elimination of the fuel assemblies damaged during the incident at the Paks NPP in April 2003. The decision approves the main steps, methods and conditions of the elimination activities and makes it possible to start the actual work. The approval includes nearly 30 conditions to be met during the elimination that were set by the nuclear safety, as well as the environmental and health protection authorities. Part of these conditions relates to activities to be performed prior to the start of the elimination, another part lists those documents that – in case of necessity – may only be modified after further approval of the authority. A third part of the requirements pertains to the activities that follow the actual elimination. The decision lists those steps which shall be performed under direct inspection of HAEA NSD. By issuing the approval, the HAEA NSD states that – under the conditions listed therein – the activity that follows the underlying documents shall comply with the safety requirements and legal provisions relevant to the application of nuclear energy. The HAEA NSD set up a special working group right at the beginning of the preparatory activities of the elimination in order to perform the related regulatory activities. The working group – that includes about 40% of the HAEA NSD technical staff – set the requirements that any application related to the elimination should comply with, as well as it elaborated the methodology of the assessment of such applications. The HAEA NSD performed a continuous supervision of the preliminaries of the NPP, took part in the inspection of the Russian manufacturers, supervised the related training, assessed the applications related to the elimination and set the conditions of the approvals. The HAEA NSD follows the elimination with great attention and performs a special inspection program to supervise the activity of the licensee.