ARPANSA - Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency

An application to construct the proposed replacement research reactor was received by the CEO in May 2001. In support of this application, ANSTO submitted a Preliminary Safety Analysis Report (PSAR) which provided much of the detail for the safety design.

Application for Construction

• Covering Letter of 18 May 2001, together with Facility Licence Application Form (PDF 328kb)
• Application for a Facility Licence, Construction Authorisation (PDF 1,317kb)

International Peer Review of Preliminary Safety Analysis Report (PSAR)

One of the recommendations of the Environment Australia Environmental Assessment Report for the proposed replacement research reactor at Lucas Heights was that the Preliminary Safety Analysis Report (PSAR), to be prepared at the detailed design stage, must be subject to independent peer review to the satisfaction of ARPANSA.

To facilitate this, ARPANSA assembled a team of international experts. The team comprised of individuals from Europe, America, and Africa. The review commenced in late May 2001 and concluded in mid July 2001. The final report from the International Peer Review Team has been presented to the CEO of ARPANSA and is now available to members of the public. In producing the final report, the International Peer Review Team raised a number of questions relating to the PSAR. ANSTO has since responded to these questions.

ANSTO Responses to Questions raised by the International Peer Review Team (PDF 140kb)

Nuclear Safety Committee Report

As part of the review process, the CEO of ARPANSA requested the Nuclear Safety Committee to advise him on a number of issues relating to the construction application. Consequently, they published the following report in February 2002

Nuclear Safety Committee - 'Report on the ANSTO application for a licence to construct a Replacement Research Reactor' (PDF 559kb)

ANSTO's Responses to Questions Raised by ARPANSA During the Reactive Review Process

The following table contains links to documents, in pdf format, which display replies from ANSTO to questions raised by ARPANSA during the Reactive Review Process. Questions were sent to ANSTO in batches on 9 July, 18 July, and on 9 August. The number of questions raised on each chapter of the PSAR from each group is highlighted in the table below. The table is updated regularly as ARPANSA receives responses from ANSTO. Further information is available in the ARPANSA media release dated August 20 2001.

ANSTO's Responses to Questions Raised by ARPANSA during the Reactive Review Process

Section	Number of Comments, Issues or Questions
	9 July	18 July	9 August
Application LBD-03 (PDF 28kb)	8	0	0
Preliminary Safety Analysis Report Chapter:
01 Introduction and General Description (PDF 58kb)	45	0	0
02 Safety Objectives (PDF 184kb)	101	0	0
03 Site Characteristics (PDF 12kb)	0	4	0
04 Buildings & Structures Part 1(PDF 81kb) Part 2 (PDF 33kb)	0	78	0
05 The Reactor Part 1 (PDF 189kb) Part 2 (PDF 147kb)	0	60	116
06 Reactor Coolant Systems (PDF 107kb)	0	0	56
07 Engineered Safety Features Part 1 (PDF 33kb) Part 2 (PDF 47kb)	0	0	32
08 Instrumentation and Control (PDF 93kb)	85	0	0
09 Electric Power (PDF 22kb)	18	0	0
10 Auxiliary Systems(PDF 147kb) Part 2 (PDF 19kb) Part 4 (PDF 46kb)	0	90	65
11 Reactor Utilisation (PDF 133kb)	0	0	65
12 Operational Radiological Safety Part 1 (PDF 128kb) Part 2( PDF 40kb)	41	0	14
13 Conduct of Operations (PDF 21kb)	0	13	0
14 Environmental Assessment (PDF 16kb)	0	10	0
15 Commissioning (PDF 24kb)	13	0	0
16 Safety Analysis Part 1 (PDF 126kb) Part 2 (PDF 215kb)	0	42	0
17 Operational Limits and Conditions( PDF 40kb)	0	0	6
18 Quality Assurance (PDF 88kb)	0	25	0
19 Decommissioning (PDF 30kb)	0	26	0
20 Emergency Planning & Preparedness (PDF 20kb)	8	0	0

• PSAR Appendix A - PSA (PDF 408kb) -  Responses to questions raised on 22 August 2001
• ANSTO's responses to questions raised on Spent Fuel (PDF 26kb)
  • Note: Although this document does not represent a particular chapter of the PSAR, it contains questions and responses which are relevant to the review process.
• ANSTO Responses to Questions raised by the International Peer Review Team (PDF 140kb)

Regulatory Assessment Report (RAR)

As part of the review process, ARPANSA staff performed an assessment of the information provided by ANSTO in their application. This assessment was summarised in the form of a Regulatory Assessment Report (RAR). Note that all of the following parts need to be collated to form the entire document.

• Regulatory Assessment Report - Title pages (PDF 74kb)
• Regulatory Assessment Report - Sections 1 and 2 (PDF 1,168kb)
• Regulatory Assessment Report - Sections 3 (PDF 1,215kb)
• Regulatory Assessment Report - Section 4 (PDF 202kb)

Issue of Licence

Talking into account all of the above information, as well as public submissions, international best practice, and other information required under the legislation, the CEO issued a licence to ANSTO to construct the RRR in April 2002.

• Construction Licence issued to ANSTO (PDF 1,394kb)
• Comments by the CEO on the reasons for issuing of the construction licence (PDF 483kb)

The image of the HIFAR reactor was provided by ANSTO.

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