Nuclear Committee
The Nuclear Technical Committee ( KTA ) was founded in 1972 based on the model of the German Steam Boiler Committee (DDA, 1923). It has the task of establishing safety rules and promoting their application in the areas of nuclear technology in which, on the basis of experience, a unified opinion of experts from manufacturers, builders and operators of nuclear facilities , experts and authorities is emerging .
These rules, which are marked with the abbreviation “KTA” (similar to, for example, German standards with “ DIN ”), serve to specify the safety requirements for nuclear facilities and are part of the nuclear regulations. The KTA rules therefore stipulate in a binding manner which measures the operators of nuclear facilities have to take in order to achieve the necessary precautions against damage according to the state of the art in science and technology .
Members
The KTA consists of 35 (until 2012: 50) members. A 5/6 majority (30 votes) of the appointed members is required for the adoption of KTA rules. Each of the five KTA groups (manufacturer, operator, authorities, experts and others) thus has a blocking minority and there is a “need to reach consensus”.
The KTA consists of:
- 7 representatives of manufacturers and builders of nuclear facilities;
- 7 representatives of the operators of nuclear facilities;
- 7 representatives of the nuclear regulatory authorities, including
- 5 representatives of the responsible ministries or senators of the federal states and
- 2 representatives of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety ;
- 7 representatives of the expert and advisory organizations, including
- 4 representatives of the Association of Technical Monitoring Associations (VdTÜV) e. V .;
- 1 representative of the Society for Plant and Reactor Safety (GRS) mbH;
- 1 representative of the Reactor Safety Commission (RSK);
- 1 representative of the Radiation Protection Commission (SSK);
- 7 representatives of the following authorities, organizations and bodies:
- 1 representative of the Federal Minister for Economics and Technology ;
- 1 representative of the working group of ministers responsible for building, housing and settlement in the federal states;
- 1 representative of the nuclear research institutions and research reactors;
- 1 representative of the statutory accident insurance provider ;
- 1 representative of the trade unions;
- 1 representative of property and liability insurers;
- 1 representative of the German Institute for Standardization (DIN) e. V.
organization
The execution of the business of the KTA is the responsibility of an office (KTA-GS), which is led by a managing director in accordance with the instructions of the KTA Presidium and which is responsible for the Federal Office for Nuclear Waste Disposal Safety (BfE) (since January 2017; previously: Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS )) is affiliated to the administrative organization.
The regular work takes place in sub-committees and associated working bodies to which the five parliamentary groups send experts free of charge (currently seven sub-committees, 45 working bodies and working groups with a total of approx. 800 members). Currently (as of May 1, 2017) there are 97 KTA regulations, 28 of these regulations are being revised. KTA regulations are checked every five years at the latest to determine whether they need to be changed or whether they are still valid.