Development of Physical Protection Regulations for Rosatom State Corporation Sites under the U.S.-Russian MPC&A Program

This paper describes issues related to upgrading the physical protection regulatory basis for Rosatom State Corporation sites. It is underlined that most of the regulatory and methodological documents for this subject area have been developed under the U.S.-Russian Material Protection, Control and Accounting (MPC&A) Program. According to the joint management plan developed and agreed upon by the parties in 2005, nearly 50 physical protection documents were identified to be developed, approved and implemented at Rosatom sites by 2012. It is also noted that, on the whole, the plans have been fulfilled. The documents cover all stages of the Physical Protection System (PPS) lifecycle: pre-design stage (vulnerability analysis, concept design), detailed design, PPS commissioning and operation. Additionally, a number of regulatory documents in the area of managerial issues, training personnel responsible for physical protection, protective forces, etc. have been developed. The documents in development are continuously discussed and improved due to the quarterly meetings of the U.S.-Russian Joint Working Group and special workshops (for example, a workshop on PPS effectiveness assessment). This paper briefly characterizes the approved agency level regulatory and methodological documents and describes new approaches to their development (model inter-agency documents, etc.). Based on the materials featured in this paper, a conclusion can be made on substantial progress in the area of the development of physical protection regulatory documents as one of the factors influencing a level of nuclear material and nuclear facility physical protection. This paper examines suggestions for the development of new regulations and the update of obsolete ones, which will result in a further increase of the Rosatom site PPS effectiveness.