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Smolensk : | Operating History | Scope of DOE Activities | Accomplishments |

Smolensk Operating History

In February 1994, a transformer caught fire outside the plant complex. The fire was extinguished within 30 minutes, and the plant did not shut down.

Between 1983 and 1993, the plant's availability factor averaged 76 percent. But financial difficulties have reduced output at the plant. In August 1994, some 350 of the plant's employees refused to leave the plant in protest over a four-month delay in payment of salaries. In September 1994, the plant reportedly had only one unit on line. The other two units were down for maintenance and awaiting spare parts. Cash shortages were said to be delaying the units' return to service.

As part of a 1993 International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspection of the safety of RBMK reactors, eight areas of concern were examined at Unit 3, with some requiring improvements:

  • The feasibility of installing an additional reactor shutdown system should be examined.
  • Accident analysis results should be further validated.
  • Plant protection and control functions should be separated.
  • The number of valves in the primary circuit should be reduced without affecting the function of the circuit or the ease of maintenance.
  • Fire protection measures should be improved.
Observers found the Unit 3 safety systems had a good level of redundancy and that there were no seismic problems with structures or equipment. Moreover, reactor operators were skilled and experienced, though they had to make frequent manual adjustments to control power levels and channel flow. Also, the safety practices at the unit were dictated mostly by outside organizations, creating a passive attitude toward safety.

According to a Russian news agency report in late January 1995, the Smolensk plant was operating at about 50-percent capacity and had enough fuel for only another 10 days of operation.

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)

Smolensk : | Operating History | Scope of DOE Activities | Accomplishments |


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