February 1999

- Armenia - Bulgaria - Czech Republic - Hungary - Kazakhstan

- Lithuania - Russia - Slovakia - Ukraine - United States

- Cross-Cutting Activities - Planned Activities - Previous Activity Reports

The February Activity Report documents safety improvements achieved in late January and February at Soviet-designed nuclear power plants through U.S. and host-country cooperation. To request a hard-copy version or to provide comments or suggestions, send an e-mail message to andrea.currie@pnl.gov.

Highlights of the Month

San Onofre Hosts Workshop for Ukrainian Nuclear Power Specialists. A U.S. nuclear power plant recently served as an outage maintenance university--offering classes, instructors, and field trips in one setting. The scene was a refueling outage at San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, San Clemente, California. A dozen nuclear specialists and support staff from across Ukraine gathered for a week-long workshop February 8 through 12. The specialists, including three maintenance managers, will take back safety and quality assurance lessons to Chornobyl, Zaporizhzhya, South Ukraine, and Rivne nuclear power plants (NPPs), as well as Energoatom. Workshop materials and resulting Ukraine procedures will be shared with Khmelnytskyy NPP.

Refueling outage work is critical to maintaining safety and efficiency of nuclear power plants. During an outage, maintenance staff check out the complex plant systems, upgrade equipment, and refuel the core. Careful planning and procedures guide the work so that it can be accomplished efficiently, safely, and within the limited time available before the plant is restarted. Well-planned and -executed outages mean increased attention to detail and improved safety.

The goal of the workshop was to standardize approaches for planning outages, on-line maintenance, and general maintenance work at Ukrainian NPPs. At the end of the week-long workshop, the Ukrainian participants had outlined tasks and assigned responsibilities for drafting guidelines and procedures related to planning maintenance work at their plants.

During a week-long workshop at San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, participants signed a protocol that will guide efforts to improve quality assurance in maintenance activities at Ukrainian nuclear facilities. From left, Ian Seddon, British Energy; Irina Mitichkina, Energoatom; Oleksandr Kozlov, Ukraine State Scientific and Technical Center/Nuclear Power Plant Operations Support Institute; and Lief Erickson, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, workshop organizer.

John Fee (second from left), San Onofre maintenance manager, discusses with Ukrainian visitors the planning of maintenance work during an outage. Here, he makes a point about how his team is organized to achieve its goals.

The three Ukrainian maintenance managers saw firsthand how U.S. maintenance managers plan and implement outage-related work. The managers took back to Ukraine observations and practices that they can implement in their plants.

The workshop group pauses during one of several tours to gain firsthand experience on aspects of maintenance work during an outage. From left, Mykola Ponomarenko, maintenance, Rivne NPP; Anatoliy Ilatovkiy, maintenance, South Ukraine NPP; Stanislov Sergeyev, quality assurance, Chornobyl NPP; Victor Ostapov, quality assurance, Rivne NPP; Larysa Veselskaya, interpreter, Chornobyl Union; Bob Babione, Scientech; Natallya Kosmataya, interpreter, Energoatom; Irina Mitichkina, Energoatom; Fred Simma, engineer, and Galina Eakins, contract engineer, San Onofre; Volodomyr Zhludenko, maintenance, Zaporizhzhya NPP; Valeriy Kotelenets, quality assurance, South Ukraine NPP; Mykhaylo Shuster, quality assurance, Zaporizhzhya NPP; Oleksandr Kozlov, SSTC/NPP OSI; and Ian Seddon, British Energy.

One area of particular importance was San Onofre's approach to assessment. Line organizations perform self-assessments rather than relying totally on quality assurance staff for assessments. Self-assessments help instill quality assurance attitudes in each worker. Ukraine will model this approach and involve the recently trained managers in the Ukraine quality assurance working council's development of maintenance planning procedures.

This workshop also introduced the concept of qualifying commercial equipment and materials for safety-related applications. In the United States, this approach has proven itself in certain areas, especially where commercial-grade equipment must replace safety-related equipment that no longer is available from original suppliers.

Various presenters contributed to the success of the workshop. San Onofre's maintenance manager opened and closed the workshop and conducted tours and discussion sessions. The plant's outage planning supervisor coordinated the week's activities. Some 20 personnel from the plant acted as presenters and assistants. An outage specialist from the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations (a loaned employee from Arizona Power's Palo Verde site) presented details on U.S. industry programs for outage planning, as well as specifics on Palo Verde programs. The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory project manager for Ukraine quality assurance organized the workshop and coordinated activities and logistics during the week. A quality assurance representative from British Energy participated in discussions related to ongoing and new tasks for implementation of quality assurance principles throughout the Ukrainian nuclear industry. Staff of Scientech, Inc., presented planning concepts and terminology, participated in project discussions, recorded notes for the workshop, and assisted with logistics.

The meetings during this workshop reinforced the importance of continuing coordination and collaboration among Energoatom, British Energy, and the U.S. team to implement a quality assurance system in Ukraine. (Dennis Meyers, DOE, 301-903-2370; Lief Erickson, PNNL, 509-372-4097)

Chornobyl Safety Parameter Display System Completes Site Acceptance Tests. The safety parameter display system for Chornobyl Unit 3 successfully passed site acceptance tests on January 27. Unit 3 operators will begin a trial use period when plant management restarts the reactor after its current maintenance outage. According to the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Nuclear Safety of Ukraine, restart of Chornobyl Unit 3, which has been under repairs since December15, is postponed until March 6 due to the need to complete an increased scope of work.

A control room operator checks out the computer display of data provided by the safety parameter display system installed recently in Chornobyl Unit3. The system passed site acceptance tests on January 27 and will undergo a trial use period under actual conditions when Unit 3 is restarted this spring.

The prototype safety parameter display system for plants with RBMK reactors was installed at Russia's Kursk Unit 2 in May 1997. Parsons Power Group, Inc., is the principal contractor for all safety parameter display system projects at participating plants with RBMKs. The U.S. equipment supplier and principal design organization is Westinghouse Electric Company. The Russian organization NIKIET designed the system displays, purchased the alternating-current power supply system, and developed the system-specific software. WESTRON, a Ukrainian organization, was responsible for assembly of the system. Workers at Chornobyl NPP contributed much of the installation equipment and were responsible for the physical installation of the system. (Norman Fletcher, DOE, 301-903-3275; Rich Denning, PNNL, 614-424-7412)

Insights from Probabilistic Risk Assessments Lead to Changes at Leningrad. A steering committee gave formal approval of a safety assessment project at Leningrad NPP on January 29, following week-long meetings at the Swedish International Programs offices in Stockholm. Plant staff and international partners place high confidence in the first western-style probabilistic safety assessment for a Soviet-designed RBMK within Russia. Insights from the safety assessment are leading immediately to low-capital-cost changes in plant maintenance schedules, procedures, and equipment. Future capital improvements also will be guided by the assessment.

The Leningrad NPP probabilistic and deterministic safety assessments are multilateral efforts involving Sweden, Great Britain, Russia, and the United States. Leningrad NPP is developing the in-depth assessment of Unit 2 to meet current Russian Federation requirements for a long-term operating license for the plant.

Leningrad NPP managers are using information from the recently completed probabilistic safety assessment to guide immediate changes in plant maintenance schedules, procedures, and equipment.

The United States provided technical and financial support to Leningrad NPP and other Russian safety organizations to produce plant-specific system descriptions, component failure data, and deterministic analysis to support the future activities of the probabilistic safety assessment, including production of an in-depth safety assessment.

Leningrad NPP managers have identified important near-term corrective actions:

• development of improved operator guidance during critical plant events
• increased testing of support system components
• improved frontline system component cooling
• diversification of coolant inventories and supply
• reduction in the potential for system functional loss due to a single component failure.

In addition, Leningrad plant representatives are using insights gained during the safety assessment to evaluate the safety impact of near-term reconstruction activities at the plant. The Leningrad NPP probabilistic safety assessment has been shown to be an effective tool for guiding the plant's safety-related decisions.

The overall in-depth safety assessment for Leningrad NPP builds on the experience and technology of a more limited-scope assessment project. The in-depth safety assessment involves probabilistic, deterministic, engineering, and institutional studies designed to assess the major safety aspects of the facility. The United States is to provide management, financial, and technical assistance to Leningrad NPP throughout the in-depth assessment. (Walt Pasedag, DOE, 301-903-3628; Sam McKay, PNNL, 509-372-4059)

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Physical Security Improvements Reviewed for Kalinin. In early February, an international team met to review the physical security measures at Russian nuclear power plants of concern to Rosenergoatom, in particular Kalinin NPP. The goal of the review is to identify areas for possible cooperative efforts to upgrade physical security at this and other Russian plants. The effort is part of a comprehensive assessment of security at civilian nuclear facilities in the countries of the former Soviet Union. Representatives of Rosenergoatom, Kalinin NPP, design organization Dedal, and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory met and toured the plant. The team identified the following areas for possible upgrades, subject to final agreement and availability of funding: video assessment and surveillance systems, maintenance of communications systems, quality assurance for physical protection equipment, the access control system, and explosives detectors. (Andrei Glukhov, PNNL, 509-375-3961)

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Khmelnytskyy Simulator Exercise Guides Transferred to Zaporizhzhya. During the first week of February, a team of specialists in simulator training worked to adapt Khmelnytskyy NPP's simulator exercise guides to Zaporizhzhya NPP. The team consisted of training staff from Khmelnytskyy NPP, the Engineering and Technical Center for the Training of Nuclear Industry Personnel, Zaporizhzhya NPP, and a U.S. specialist from Path Training Corporation. Both Zaporizhzhya and Khmelnytskyy share the same VVER-1000 design. The exercise guides will be used for training Zaporizhzhya reactor operators using the plant's full-scope simulator. (Peter Kohut, BNL, 516-344-4982)

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Potential Physical Security Improvements Reviewed. In late January, an international team reviewed the physical security measures at Armenia NPP. The goal of the review was to identify areas for possible cooperative efforts to upgrade physical security at Armenia NPP, as part of a comprehensive assessment of security at civilian nuclear facilities in the New Independent States. Representatives from the Ministry of Energy, Nuclear Regulatory Authority, Armenia NPP, design organization Elbrus, and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory met and toured the plant. The team identified the following areas for possible upgrades, subject to final agreement and availability of funding: the access control system, internal alarm system and central alarm station, communications system, video assessment systems, material surveillance systems, dry fuel storage area protection, and perimeter upgrades. (Andrei Glukhov, PNNL, 509-375-3961)

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Drafts Completed for Kozloduy Emergency Operating Instructions: Thermal-Hydraulic Analysis Under Way. A complete set of draft emergency operating instructions (EOIs) now is complete for each of the reactor types (VVER-1000 and VVER-440/230 units) at Kozloduy NPP. The EOI analytical team for Kozloduy NPP met in Sofia, Bulgaria, the week of February 15. Energoproekt hosted the meeting. In attendance were representatives from Kozloduy NPP, the Institute of Nuclear Reactors and Nuclear Energy (INRNE, Bulgarian scientific institute involved in nuclear research and development, safety analysis work for Bulgarian reactors), Energoproekt, the Bulgarian regulatory agency, Science Applications International Corporation, and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. INRNE and Energoproekt presented the results from the thermal-hydraulic analysis performed for the first 6 of 13 bounding modes that will validate operator actions for the VVER-1000 EOIs. The analysis is being done utilizing the code RELAP5.

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Safety Centers Plan Personnel Exchanges, Other Collaborations. The directors of the U.S. and Russian International Nuclear Safety Centers and key representatives of the fledgling Kazakhstan Nuclear Technology Safety Center held discussions in Moscow on January 29. Talks covered start-up activities, possible areas of collaboration, and information and personnel exchanges between the INSCs and the Kazakhstan center. The spokespersons for the three centers agreed to cooperate on computer networking and database developing, and laid initial plans for personnel exchanges. (George Imel, ANL-West, 208-533-7559)

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Ignalina Developing Improved Training Methods and Expertise. Training specialists from Sonalysts, Inc., and the International Atomic Energy Agency worked with Ignalina NPP trainers from February 1 through 12 to finalize and implement a pilot course for control room reactor operators at the plant. Ignalina trainers had sought assistance in developing the course for reactor operators based on the Systematic Approach to Training. As plant trainers help develop the course, they also will increase their knowledge and understanding of the Systematic Approach to Training, which will help them develop future training materials and programs at Ignalina NPP. (Peter Kohut, BNL, 516-344-4982)

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Database Compatibility Reviewed at Workshop. Developers of the Russian and Ukrainian reliability databases gathered at the offices of VNIIAES in Moscow in mid-February to exchange information about their respective database structures and other technical details of the developmental efforts. They spent one day tracing through the various diagrams and reviewing user interfaces. This meeting was important to ensure that the developers have a clear understanding of each other's database format and construction so that the two databases will be compatible when they are completed. Database compatibility is essential to ensure the success of compilation efforts and future plans to share this information among plant personnel at all Soviet-designed nuclear power plants in all host countries. (Grigory Trosman, DOE, 301-903-3581; Thomas Vehec, PNNL, 509-372-4072)

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* indicates the event is a new item or has been changed from the last report.

* March 1-12 -- Ignalina NPP, Lithuania

Training. Training specialists from Sonalysts, Inc., the International Atomic Energy Agency, and Ignalina NPP will hold the first of four working sessions in support of the transfer of a pilot training program for senior foremen for the reactor equipment maintenance shop. During this session, the training specialists will analyze the tasks associated with the senior foreman position and begin designing the training program. (Peter Kohut, BNL, 516-344-4982)

Cross-Cutting. The International Atomic Energy Agency's International Conference on the Strengthening of Nuclear Safety in Eastern Europe will review the results of national and international programs to enhance the safety of VVER and RBMK nuclear power plants. Additional specific information about the conference is available at http://www.iaea.org/worldatom/thisweek/preview/1999meet/infcn75.html

* October 12-14 -- Slavutych, Ukraine

Chornobyl Initiatives. The International Chornobyl Center will hold its annual conference, to facilitate the exchange of information on scientific and technical international cooperation at the Chornobyl site and on nuclear and radiation safety issues. The conference also seeks to coordinate and integrate efforts of the World Community. Abstracts are due June 1, 1999. (Elena Tolkach, Secretary of the Organizing Committee, P.B. 151, Slavutych, Kyiv Region, 255190, Ukraine, telephone: 38-(044)-79-23016; fax 38-(044)-79-28144; e-mail elena@chctr.pnl.gov)