Kursk :	|	Operating History	|	Technical Activities	|	Accomplishments	|

Kursk Operating History

In 1991, Unit l's lifetime average capacity factor was 72 percent, that of both Units 2 and 3 was 71 percent, and that of Unit 4 was 78 percent. In March 1994, however, the plant was reportedly operating at only about 50 percent capacity because of a shortage of nuclear fuel.

In May 1992, Minatom announced the oldest two Kursk units would probably be the first RBMKs in Russia to be decommissioned for safety reasons.

In November 1995, two employees at Unit 4 received radiation doses above the permitted annual limit when they were extracting a fuel assembly from a fuel channel after a plug in a fuel rod had ruptured. The incident was classified as a Level 2.

Kursk Unit 5--which was 60-percent complete at the time of the Chernobyl accident--was scheduled to be completed in 1995, but early in the year a Rosenergoatom official said that a lack of funds was preventing its completion.

A safety assessment was performed in 1992 and again in 1995 by an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) ASSET team. The latter assessment focused on preventing incidents and found that actions taken following the 1992 assessment had helped in preventing incidents. However, the team noted a safety culture problem that could be remedied by strengthening these weaknesses:

• surveillance testing of operating and maintenance personnel for safety awareness and qualifications for performing tasks
• training programs that include safety awareness for workers and supervisors
• three feedback loops (personnel proficiency, equipment operability, and procedure adequacy) that are assessed each year for plant safety performance.

Source: Source Book: Soviet-Designed Nuclear Power Plants in Russia, Ukrane, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic, Hungary, and Bulgaria, 4th edition. Nuclear Energy Institute. 1996. (online)

Kursk :	|	Operating History	|	Technical Activities	|	Accomplishments	|