ML20034E786
| ML20034E786 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 02/22/1993 |
| From: | Taylor J NRC OFFICE OF THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR FOR OPERATIONS (EDO) |
| To: | |
| References | |
| SECY-93-045, SECY-93-45, NUDOCS 9303010368 | |
| Download: ML20034E786 (4) | |
Text
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POLICY ISSUE l
(InfOrrnatiOn)
SECY-93-045 February 22, 1993 l
For:
The Commissioners From:
James M. Taylor Executive Director for Operations Harold R.
Denton, Director office of International Programs l
NRC PARTICIPATION IN STUDIES OF ENVIRONMENTAL Subiect:
AND HEALTH EFFECTS IN THE FORMER SOVIET UNION To inform the Commission of a proposal to expand
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Purpose:
l the role of government agencies in studies of I
environmental and health effects studies in I
radiologically contaminated areas of the former Soviet Union and to inform the Commission of NRC's proposed role in these studies.
I Backaround:
In June 1973, the U.S. and the Soviet Union entered into the Agreement for Scientific and Technical Cooperation in the Field of Peaceful i
l Uses of Atomic Energy.
The Agreement, which was most recently renewed in 1990 for a five-year l
period, has been endorsed by the Russian l
Federation.
Under this Agreement, both nations signed a Memorandum of Cooperation for civilian reactor safety in 1988 and formed the Joint Coordinating Committee for Civilian Nuclear Reactor Safety (JCCCNRS) to direct this effort.
The JCCCNRS established working groups (WG) to deal with specific topics of interest.
JCCCNRS assigned WG-7 to study the health effects and environmental protection considerations of the
Contact:
NOTE:
TO BE MADE PUBLICLY AVAILABLE Shlomo Yaniv, RES/DRA IN 10 WORKING DAYS FROM THE DATE OF THIS PAPER g ____.A92-3744
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t The Commissioners Chernobyl accident.
This WG was led by personnel from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and supported financially by DOE and NRC.
Since the Soviet Union disbanded in 1991, the newly independent states have begun releasing much more information about the environmental ccntamination and health effects from Chernobyl, Chelyabinsk, and other sites.
In a Remorandum to the Commissioners of November 19, 1992, H. Denton stated that the Russian Federation I
formed a State Committee, GOSCOMCHERNOBYL, chaired by Dr. Vassily Voznyak to oversee studies and the restoration of the effects of nuclear mismanagement and accidents in the former Soviet Union.
Discussion:
After a Spring 1992 U.S. exploratory mission led j
by DOE and NRC to the Chelyabinsk-South Urals region of Russia, Commissioner de Planque forwarded to the U.S.
State Department in July 1992 a " white paper" recommending the U.S.
i consider a joint U.S.-Russian study of the environmental and health consequences of earlier events associated with nuclear facilities and activities that seriously contaminated Russian territory.
To that end, the staffs of interested agencies have met together several times to prepare a j
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" strategic plan" to determine the scope and kind j
l of studies that night be performed and the agencies that might be interested.
Interested agencies have reviewed a November 1992 draft l
plan and have forwarded their comments to the State Department.
On November 20, 1992, i
representatives of these agencies met with the Chairman of GOSCOMCHERNOBYL to explore common interests.
Recognizing the interest of these agencies, j
the State Department staff prepared a first draft of a U.S.-Russian Memorandum of i
Cooperation (MOC) in the Field of Radiation Effects Research between the United States of America and the Russian Federation.
The State Department staff, modelled the MOC after the two MOCs, which had been written under the Peaceful Uses Agreement on the topics of civilian reactor safety (NRC, 1988) and I
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1 The Commissioners '
environmen'thl'TcStnration (DOE, 1990).
On January 14, 1993, reprbreatatives of intarested
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agencies assembled at the State Ospwrtment to discuss the draft.
They agreed to proceed and agreed that DOE be proposed as U.S.
lead The relationships of other U.S.
agency.
agencies proposed as participants would be stated in a separate interagency memorandum of understanding.
The proposed MOC would most likely subsume the WG-7 activities.
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The MOC would establish scientific cooperation
- 's %in' studies of environmental and health effects of r7c k Qon in territories exposed to long-tern radio 11]M contamination.
The international scientliit community first focused attention on the contamination u:rniting from the Chernobyl accident.
WG-7 coordinated related studies under the 1988 MOC.
Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the U.S. has obtained information about significant and long-term radi agical contamination that the former Soviet nuclear programs caused in other territories.
The territories with the most significant contamination are the southwest Urals region around the city of Chelyabinsk, the Altay region across the border from the Semipalatinsk weapons facility in Kazakhstan, and the northwest Arctic region including Novaya Zemlya.
The MOC in the field of Radiation Effects Research would estab.lish a Joint Coordinating Committee with equal representation from each country to coordinate and review all aspects of the MOC.
The areas of cooperation would be
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mutually agreed projects of research and
' 'ccalysis, subject to availability of funds and The personnel supplied by the participants.
U.S. participation in cooperative activities for this MOC will be limited by the availability i
of each participating agency's authorized funds, legislative authority, and personnel.
The State Department will refine the draft MOC f
anc initiate a Circular 175 process to obtain comments from agencies on the draft agreement and their assent to negotiate a final one.
The NRC staff has played a major role in expeditiously preparing for this agreement and would expect to participate in the program.
'i The Commissioners-However, the cost of the proposed activities is expected to be significantly higher than the cost of the more limited scope activities previously undertaken by WG-7.
NRC does not intend to be a " major funder" for the activities proposed by this MOC.
Should circumstances warrant for NRC to devote a significant the personnel effort or funds to this program, staff will request the Commission's approval.
l' The staff would consider an expenditure significant if it exceeded WG-7 expenditures from previous years.
The NRC expenditure to support WG-7 activities had been approximately
$150,000 annually.
The NRC will not allocate more resources for the Summary:
interagency MOC in the Field of Radiation Effects Research in the former Soviet Union than j
it had typically allocated for WG-7 activities under the 1988 MOC.
The staff expects that the expanded scope of the proposed radiation effects research will subsume the WG-7 activities.
The staff will request the Commission's approval before committing resources in excess of those described.
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JW, aylor Harold R.
Denton es 4.
Director, Office of xecutive Director International Programs for Operations DISTRIBUTION:
Commissioners OGC OCAA OIG OPA IP OCA OPP EDO ACRS ACNW ASLBP SECY