Progress in Developing Regulations for MPC&A in the Russian Federation: DOE Cooperation with Gosatomnadzor and Minatom

The Russian Federal Law on Use of Nuclear Energy assigns important roles in regulation for nuclear materials, protection, control and accounting (MPC&A) to the Federal Nuclear and Radiation Safety Authority of Russia (Gosatomnadzor or GAN) and the Ministry of the Russian Federation for Atomic Energy (Minatom). The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has established projects for cooperation with both Gosatomnadzor and Minatom to expand and accelerate work on the development of regulatory documents for MPC&A in these two agencies’ respective spheres of responsibility within Russia’s civilian and defense (non-weapons) sectors. Cooperation within these programs includes prioritizing the regulatory documents for development; bringing to bear technical expertise from Russian organizations in the drafting of MPC&A regulations; and analysis, review, and recommendations on draft regulations by U.S. technical experts. As a result of these activities, much of the regulatory base for MPC&A in the Russian Federation is now coming into place.