Improving research reactor accident response capability at the Hungarian nuclear safety authority

The paper describes the design and implementation of an on-line operation monitoring and accident response support system to be used at the CERTA emergency response centre of Hungarian Atomic Energy Authority (HAEA). The monitored facility is the Budapest Research Reactor (BRR), which is a tank-type thermal reactor having 10 MW thermal power. The basic reason for the development of the on-line safety information system is to extend the emergency response capability of the CERTA crisis centre to include emergencies related to BRR, as well. CERTA is operated by HAEA at its Budapest headquarters and the centre already has an on-line system for monitoring the state of the four units of Paks NPP, Hungary. The system is called CERTA VITA and it is able to monitor the four VVER-440/V213 units during their normal operation, and during emergencies (including severe accidents). Ensuring appropriate emergency response capabilities, as well as improving the presently available systems and tools was one of the important recommendations resulting from the analyses following the severe accident at Fukushima. This task is valid not only for the operators of the nuclear facilities but also for the nuclear safety authorities, therefore HAEA decided to launch a project - together with the Centre for Energy Research, the operator of BRR - to establish an on-line information system similar to the CERTA VITA used for monitoring the four units of the Paks NPP. It is believed that by the introduction of this new on-line system the accident response capabilities of HAEA will be further enhanced and the BRR emergencies will be handled at the same professional level as potential emergencies at Paks NPP.