Some Gaps in the Regulatory Requirements for Establishing a Sanitary Protection Zone for a Nuclear Facility Some Gaps in the Regulatory Requirements for Establishing a Sanitary Protection Zone for a Nuclear Facility

Some gaps in regulatory requirements have been identified that create conditions for an unjustified (excessive) increase in the size of sanitary protection zones at nuclear facilities. As a result, the line between the criteria for defining a radiation facility’s sanitary protection zone and the requirements for its technical safety systems, which limit radiation exposure to the population during a design-basis accident, is blurred. This leads to a weakening of the requirements for the effectiveness of safety systems. Under these conditions, radiation safety of the population can be achieved not by improving the efficiency of the facility’s technical systems, but by including the environment in the defense-in-depth system as an additional physical barrier. Establishing an excessively large sanitary protection zone also leads to significant image losses. Specifically, it creates a false impression of the insufficient effectiveness of normal operating systems (elements) and the need to include the environment in the radiation protection system. This also leads to negative public opinion regarding nuclear energy and the Russian industry. The authors proposed changes to regulatory documents establishing requirements for determining the size of the sanitary protection zone of a nuclear facility.