The Integrated Safety Assessment for Research Reactors (INSARR) team also found areas for safety improvements, such as in organisational aspects and in operational safety programmes.
The team called for strengthening the organisational structure for operation by clarifying staff roles and responsibilities to avoid potential conflicts of duties and authorities.
It said the reactor’s ageing management programme should be broadened to include experimental devices, irradiation facilities, radiation monitoring systems and the reactor’s civil structures.
Procedures to respond to abnormal situations such as flood, seismic events and total loss of electrical power supply need to be strengthened and the operational radiation protection programme improved.
The review was the first IAEA safety review mission to take place since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The LVR-15 is the Czech Republic’s first and largest research reactor. It was first commissioned in 1957 and has undergone extensive refurbishments starting in 1989 and continuing in recent years.
The reactor is operated by the Research Centre Řež (CVR) about 10 km north of Prague. It is used for medical radioisotope production, research and development, material irradiation and neutron activation analysis. The Czech Republic has three research reactors in operation.
