June 2000 Highlight

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Russia

The Russian nuclear regulatory agency Gosatomnadzor (GAN) requires that electronic systems be tested and their performance verified before being placed into operation at Russian nuclear power plants. Earlier this year, VNIIAES proposed to establish a facility for conducting such tests at its headquarters in Moscow. VNIIAES plans to upgrade an existing analytical simulator for use in ex-plant testing of new automated control systems. VNIIAES also proposes to use an actual project--upgrade of the control system for Kalinin NPP’s special water purification process--as the pilot demonstration for the new facility. At the request of Russia’s Ministry of Atomic Energy, the U.S. team is working with VNIIAES to implement the testing platform concept by helping transfer technology for control system testing.

In mid-June, project team members from VNIIAES, Kalinin NPP, the U.S. Department of Energy, and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory met in Oradell, New Jersey, with representatives of Burns & Roe Enterprises, Inc., to discuss developing specifications of the equipment needed to transfer the testing technology. Participants agreed on the scope of the control equipment needed for test demonstration purposes at the VNIIAES facility. They agreed also that the Kalinin special water purification control system upgrade would be the pilot system for demonstrating the VNIIAES test facility. Following the meeting, one specialist each from VNIIAES and Kalinin NPP remained at Burns & Roe offices for an additional week to develop the specifications for the control system. (Grigory Trosman, DOE, 301-903-3581; Ron Wright, PNNL, 509-372-4076)

Specialists from Russia and the United States met June 19 through 23 to finalize plans for developing the safety parameter display system for Novovoronezh Unit 5. Participating in the discussions were representatives of Rosenergoatom, Gosatomnadzor, Novovoronezh NPP, the Russian design organization ConSyst, and U.S. contractors Burns & Roe Enterprises, Inc., Data Systems & Solutions, and Western Services Corporation. A specialist from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory also was involved.

The group spent two days at the Moscow headquarters of ConSyst, discussing roles, responsibilities, and schedule for the effort. ConSyst, primary Russian contractor for this project, is working in collaboration with Burns & Roe.

The group then spent two days on site at Novovoronezh NPP, which included a morning-long walkdown of Unit 5 to evaluate hardware locations for the system. A key outcome sought for the meeting was agreement on the date by which a detailed description of the system, particularly the number of hardwired input sensors, would be finalized.

Novovoronezh Unit 5 is the first Soviet-designed VVER-1000 reactor to have been constructed in the former Soviet Union. The reactor began operating in April 1980. Unit 5 now also will become the first VVER-1000 in Russia to develop and install a safety parameter display system.

Unit 5 is the third reactor at Novovoronezh to be outfitted with the safety-enhancing system. In 1999, Science Applications International Corporation and ConSyst completed work on safety parameter display systems installed in Novovoronezh Units 3 and 4 (VVER-440 reactors). (Rich Reister, DOE, 301-903-0234; Rich Denning, PNNL, 614-424-7412; Frank Panisko, PNNL, 509-372-4472)

Participants in the in-depth safety assessments under way at Soviet-designed nuclear power plants in Russia met for two days in mid-June to review progress and status on those projects. Meeting at VNIIAES facilities in Moscow, attendees included representatives of Minatom, Rosenergoatom, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and Kola, Leningrad, and Novovoronezh NPPs. U.S. team members from the U.S. Department of Energy and Argonne National Laboratory also participated. Discussions included schedules and issues related to writing the in-depth safety assessment reports for Novovoronezh and Kola NPPs. (Walt Pasedag, DOE, 301-903-3628; Phil Pizzica, ANL, 630-252-4847)