On 18 September 2024, during the 68th IAEA General Conference in Vienna (Austria), a working meeting was held between Head of SNRIU - Chief State Inspector for Nuclear and Radiation Safety of Ukraine Oleh Korikov and Director General of the Norwegian Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (DSA) Per Strand. During the meeting, the heads of the national nuclear regulators of Ukraine and Norway discussed the implementation of a number of joint projects, two of which were launched in 2024. 

The first project, NORM, is a joint effort to develop regulations for the safe management of non-nuclear natural radioactive materials. This comprehensive project covers a wide range of aspects aimed at analysing industrial enterprises that generate non-nuclear natural radioactive materials and analysing existing shortcomings in this area in Ukraine. This project should result in the development of four regulatory documents to be applied in our country.

The second project, ARGOS, involves the transfer of relevant software and training of Ukrainian specialists to strengthen the emergency preparedness and response system for radiation accidents. The project is currently under implementation: training and software setup are ongoing.

"I would like to express my deep gratitude to DSA, which remains one of our most reliable partners, for the constant support of the SNRIU, which is especially important in the context of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by russia, which continues and creates serious challenges for both Ukraine and the world community in general. We can confidently talk about the effectiveness of our cooperation, as it is confirmed by a number of successfully implemented joint projects", SNRIU Chairman said.

It should be noted that the history of cooperation between the SNRIU and DSA began in 2014. The SNRIU and DSA joint projects launched after 24 February 2022 cover the following important areas

development of policies and procedures to restore regulatory control over nuclear facilities affected by the occupation and hostilities;

survey of territories affected by hostile military occupation;

management of critical knowledge necessary to protect personnel, the public and the environment during nuclear or radiation incidents caused by military operations;

providing equipment for radiation survey in the previously occupied territories, etc.