Latvia

Nuclear regulatory authority

The Radiation Safety Centre of the State Environmental Service is the single authority in the field of nuclear safety and radiation protection. RDC is in charge of supervising the nuclear and radioactive facilities in Latvia, overseeing every phase in each facility, from licensing and operation through to decommissioning. Since July 2009, it has been the central department of the independent body of the state administration which is supervised by the Ministry of Environment.

Nuclear activities

Latvia has no nuclear power plant or nuclear fuel-cycle facility. It has one pool type 5 MW IRT research reactor which, has been permanently closed since 1998 and is currently in the early stage of decommissioning. All spent HEU fuel was sent back to the country of origin (the Russian Federation) in 2008. The main use of radioactive isotopes and radiation generators in more than 900 facilities is for medical, scientific and industrial purposes. All are subject to prior authorisation, inspection and control. There is developed system of regulation which covers all major applications with radioactive substances, nuclear material and radiation generators.

Radioactive waste and spent fuel management

Main legal instruments

The main legal instruments on these issues are:

The Law on Radiation Safety and Nuclear Safety has been modified several times since 1994, most recently in June 2009 due to changes of the legal status of RDC.
The Regulation Radiation Safety Centre Statute  No. 123 of 2005 loss validity in July 2009 and the Statutes of State Environmental Service No. 962 of 23 November 2004 were amended accordingly on 1 July 2009.
The Regulations On the Procedure of Issuing of a Special Permit (Licence) or Permit for Activities Involving Ionising Radiation Sources and Procedure for Public Dispute on the Establishment of Ionising Radiation Facilities of State Significance or on Essential Modifications thereto, No. 301 of 3 July 2001;
and the Act on Environmental Impact Assessment of 30 May 2001 (with last amendments on 1 January 2008).