United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office Resources, Community, and Economic Development Division author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 2000-04-25 monographic deposited born digital 92 p. GA 1.13:RCED-00-97 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-97 P0b002ee18039536b f:rc00097 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-28 GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-97 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-97 RCED-00-97 Nuclear reactors International relations Nuclear powerplant safety Internal controls Financial management Safety standards Foreign governments Foreign technical aid Interagency relations Soviet Union Soviet RBMK Reactor Soviet VVER 440 Reactor DOE Nuclear Safety Assistance Program Ukraine Bulgaria Lithuania Czech Federal Republic Slovak Federal Republic Chornobyl Nuclear Powerplant (Ukraine) NRC Nuclear Safety Assistance Program Chapter Report RCED Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on Soviet-designed nuclear power reactors, focusing on: (1) how much money has been spent by the United States and other countries for assistance to improve the safety of Soviet-designed nuclear power reactors--and the types of assistance being provided--as well as planned U.S. expenditures; (2) experts' views on the impact of the assistance; (3) the status of efforts to close high-risk Soviet-designed reactors; and (4) the management of the Department of Energy's (DOE) and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) safety assistance activities.<p/>GAO noted that: (1) the United States and 20 other countries and international organizations contributed about $1.9 billion to improve the safety of Soviet-designed nuclear reactors; (2) the $1.9 billion includes contributions for improving operational safety by providing better training, procedures, and equipment and strengthening regulatory authorities; (3) the U.S. safety program, which provides most of its funding through DOE and NRC, has supplied assistance that includes safety evaluations and reactor upgrades, training, and fire safety equipment; (4) although DOE plans to complete its assistance efforts by 2005 at a projected cost of $709 million, the Commission has not determined when or at what cost it will complete its assistance efforts; (5) nevertheless, the Department of State believes that funding should continue for some time because the highest-risk reactors continue to operate; (6) nuclear safety experts from 32 countries and international organizations met in 1999 to assess the impact of the nuclear safety assistance provided to countries operating Soviet-designed reactors; (7) these experts concluded that progress has been made over the past decade in strengthening nuclear regulatory authorities, improving the operation of the nuclear reactors, and establishing safety improvement programs; (8) nevertheless, the experts maintained that further improvements are needed, particularly to strengthen the independence and effectiveness of nuclear regulatory authorities; (9) while safety improvements have been made, a major goal of the international donor community has not been realized--the permanent shutdown of the highest-risk Soviet-designed reactors; (10) although Ukraine decided to shut down one of its reactors at the Chornobyl nuclear power plant in 1996, the 25 reactors of greatest concern have continued to operate despite the efforts of the donor countries to obtain their closure; (11) many safety experts told GAO that countries will continue to operate these reactors as long as it is in their economic interests to do so; (12) DOE has funded several projects that may have worthwhile objectives but are not directly related to improving the safety of Soviet-designed nuclear reactors; and (13) in addition, DOE has funded several smaller projects or made other expenditures of program funds that some program officials believed were of questionable value in meeting the program's objectives. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-97/html/GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-97.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-97/pdf/GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-97.pdf GAO/RCED-00-97 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-97 Chapter Report GAO/RCED-00-97; Nuclear Safety: Concerns With the Continuing Operation of; Nuclear reactors International relations Nuclear powerplant safety Internal controls Financial management Safety standards Foreign governments Foreign technical aid Interagency relations Soviet Union Soviet RBMK Reactor Soviet VVER 440 Reactor DOE Nuclear Safety Assistance Program Ukraine Bulgaria Lithuania Czech Federal Republic Slovak Federal Republic Chornobyl Nuclear Powerplant (Ukraine) NRC Nuclear Safety Assistance Program