CSCAP convened a Nuclear Energy Experts' Group at the Cooperative Monitoring Center of Sandia National Laboratories to examine potential nuclear transparency measures for the Asia Pacific.  As a continuation of policy-oriented discussions of cooperative regional mechanisms over the last two years, this Group sought to identify specific near term transparency activities.  The goal was to develop a "generic nuclear energy transparency system" in which the Group would design and offer a package of transparency technologies to regional nuclear industries.  The initial focus of the transparency package is on airborne radiation and facility safety issues; however, long term issues like spent fuel and waste disposition will be addressed as logical extensions of the initial concept. The level of data that is intended to be shared will be predominately suitable for wide distribution, with the caveat that distribution may be restricted during the start-up phase.

The Nuclear Energy Experts' Group included nuclear industry experts from all current Asia-Pacific nuclear energy producers--Canada, the Peoples' Republic of China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Russia, Taiwan, and the United States. Additional participants from Singapore and New Zealand added a broad regional perspective.  The group initiated the transparency web-site in two meetings at the Cooperative Monitoring Center, in October 1998 and January 1999. Since then, the group has met roughly twice a year to review progress and determine new goals. Brief summaries of the meetings follow with imbedded links to the complete reports and group photos.

At the October 26-30, 1998 Nuclear Energy Experts' Group meeting, participants reviewed existing Asia-Pacific nuclear energy production and research programs.  Particular emphasis was placed on any measures taken by power companies to reassure their neighbors as to the safety and security of their facilities, in order to identify precedents and norms for regulation, monitoring, and cooperation.  The intent was to build upon these individual programs and, through a careful assessment of available technologies, develop a generic system that could be adopted, in whole or in part, by interested nuclear energy facilities on a strictly voluntary basis.

At the conclusion of the first workshop, engineers from Sandia National Laboratories and Los Alamos National Laboratory prepared a draft design for the neric nuclear energy monitoring system.  This system drew from the outline or strawman prepared by the workshop participants and included a basic and augmented package to provide a phased approach option where desired.

At the January 1999 Nuclear Energy Experts' Group meeting, participants finalized the system design and developed a time table for presenting the concept to regional industry and governmental authorities.  Participants reviewed and modified a proposed prototype Asia-Pacific Nuclear Energy Transparency WebSite that would serve as a vehicle for providing basic data on Asia-Pacific nuclear energy operations and on the type of monitoring technologies available to enhance the transparency of such operations.  Participants also agreed to help build their respective WebSite pages.

The Group conducted visits to selected nations, institutes, industries, and organizations throughout the Asia-Pacific region to present the Group's findings and promote acceptance of the generic model where desirable.  The first of these occurred in May 1999 to the Republic of Korea and was combined with a meeting of the full Working Group on CSBMs. Results were also briefed at the May 1999 CSCAP Steering Committee meeting in Kuala Lumpur to provide broader exposure of the generic model to the academic and governmental security communities. The second regional presentation trip combined visits to Japan and Taiwan in July 1999. Several organizations agreed to cooperate with the transparency project and substantial additions to this website are continuing as a result.

Progress on the revisions and additions was reviewed in two more regional meetings of the Nuclear Experts Group, both the Seoul, in November, 1999 and February, 2000. As a result of this process the web-site received a final set of revisions before opening to the general public in April 2000. Primarily this consisted of constructing a more user-friendly opening page, featuring the airborne radiation monitoring data, and removing some out-dated items. Participation by the Republic of Korea and the Russian Federation also was enhanced during these sessions.

After opening the web site to public view, the full CSBM Working Group and Nuclear Experts Group met together in May 2000 in Washington, DC. Review of the web-site was one of several topics on the agenda, but several suggestions were made for further development. The airborne radiation data will be expanded to participation by the Russian federation in collaboration with MINATOM, the Moscow-based International Center for Environmental Safety (ICES), and Los Alamos National Laboratory. Greater Canadian involvement in this project will come in the near future.

By the summer of 2000, progress in sharing airborne radiation data was sufficient to suggest that transparency in the back end of the fuel cycle could be considered as a more advanced topic. In addition to the CSCAP Nuclear Experts, a wider group was needed to include both transparency and fuel cycle expertise. Therefore, in July 2000 the Cooperative Monitoring Center (CMC) and Pacific Forum CSIS conducted a four-day workshop for Asia Pacific Nuclear Experts on Transparency in the Back End of the Fuel Cycle. This workshop introduced transparency concepts into the development of repository and storage engineering. The Workshop’s agenda featured reviews of Asia-Pacific concerns and proposed alternatives to dealing with back end of the fuel cycle problems.  Also included was a visit to the Department of Energy's Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, NM. Attendees identified a number of transparency options for the CSCAP process to develop in the coming months. 

Participation of the People's Republic of China in the transparency project was enhanced by conducting the November 2000 Nuclear Experts Group meeting in Beijing. Principal topics were the Current Events feature, an update on the Chinese nuclear power program, and plans for new features. Potential use of new Virtual Tour technology opens up many new uses in the transparency arena. The Group concluded the meeting by visiting the Qin Shan nuclear power plant near Shanghai.

Further exploration of transparency in the back end of the fuel cycle was a primary topic of the May 2001 meeting in Misawa, Japan. This location allowed the Nuclear Experts Group to tour the Rokkasho-mura site where the Japanese nuclear industry has concentrated "backend" facilities. The group toured the high level and low level waste storage sites as well as the (under construction) reprocessing/MOX fuel facility. For the first time an expert from Vietnam joined the group.  The IAEA was also represented.

Progress in transparency was examined again when the Nuclear Experts Group met in Winnipeg, Canada May 22-25, 2002. The September 2001 terrorist attacks in the U.S. have affected transparency in various ways in the Asia Pacific. In particular, little material has been removed from nuclear information web-sites and several new virtual tours have recently been added. The group concluded that transparency is still an important and viable activity in peaceful nuclear development. New participants in the transparency project from Australia, Canada and China were noted. The group also considered specific transparency activities suitable for the back end of the fuel cycle and developed options to be discussed with the respective authorities. Among the 17 participants were representatives from seven of the Asia-Pacific region's eight current nuclear energy producers. The three-day session featured a visit to the Underground Research Laboratory (URL) in Lac du Bonnet, Manitoba, courtesy of Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL).

Continuing with a focus on problems of nuclear waste, the Nuclear Experts Group met in Vladivostok, September 15, 2002 in conjunction with a Ministry of Atomic Energy (MINATOM) of the Russian Federation meeting on “Ecological Problems in Nuclear Submarines Decommissioning and Nuclear Power,” September 16-19. Country committee reports touched on progress with reactors in the DPRK, inspection problems in Japan, progress towards licensing Yucca Mountain in the US, and overviews of Australian, Canadian, and European programs. Particularly newsworthy was the just-started transmission of airborne radiation data from Russia’s Bilibino power plant to the CSCAP web-site. A new suggestion for transparency monitoring (Russian and English) around the submarine dismantlement facilities was also favorably considered. Two comprehensive reports are attached on the nuclear submarine problem itself, written by Ron Smith , University of Waikato, and Brad Glosserman, Pacific Forum.

Geologic disposal of spent nuclear fuel or other radioactive waste is a pressing problem for each nuclear industry represented in CSCAP. In the US the Yucca Mountain Project in the State of Nevada is well on the way to licensing to accept spent fuel. The Nuclear Energy Experts Group met in Las Vegas, Nevada May 7-10, 2003 and enjoyed underground and aboveground tours of the site. Of particular interest was the thermal test tunnel where electrical heaters allow geological scientists to study the effects of simulated nuclear heating on rock dynamics and moisture. Twenty-two experts attended and shared information regarding their respective nuclear industries. Timely issues such as the problem of nuclear proliferation in North Korea were featured in discussions. Commemorating five years of effort, the group has decided to devote the next meeting to a review of progress made toward institutionalizing nonproliferation cooperation in the Asia Pacific

 

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