INSP: Ukraine - Activity Report for May 2000

Ukrainian specialists representing the Engineering and Quality directorates at Energoatom and the Nuclear Power Plant Operational Support Institute (NPP OSI) participated in a U.S.-supported workshop May 15 through 19.

Ukrainian nuclear specialists and their interpreter at Palo Verde NPP near Phoenix, Arizona, for the second half of their workshop on design basis documentation. Standing (left to right) are Evgeny Bogdantsev, Nuclear Power Plant Operational Support Institute; Larysa Veselska, interpreter; Iryna Mitichkina, Energoatom; Viktor Klochko, Energoatom; and Viktor Alekseyev, Nuclear Power Plant Operational Support Institute.

Using this information, the NPP OSI specialists will develop a plan for handling design basis documents at Ukraine’s four VVER nuclear power plants. After Energoatom approves the plan, documents will be developed for each plant in Ukraine. When completed, the design basis documents will provide easily accessible information on critical plant structures and systems. Such information will facilitate accurate operating procedures, efficient maintenance, and effective design improvements for Ukraine’s nuclear power plants. (Walter Pasedag, DOE, 301-903-3628; Lief Erickson, PNNL, 509-372-4079)

Ukrainian and U.S. specialists successfully completed the installation and site acceptance testing for Zaporizhzhya NPP’s newest safety parameter display system on May 30. Representatives of the Ukrainian organizations Energoatom, Westron, and the Nuclear Power Plant Operational Support Institute worked with U.S. contractors Burns & Roe Enterprises and Westinghouse Electric Corporation to complete the effort on May 30.

The new system–installed in Zaporizhzhya Unit 3–is the second of six ultimately planned for Zaporizhzhya NPP, one for each of the plant’s VVER-1000 reactors. Unit 5 was the first to receive a safety parameter display system, in October 1999 (see October 1999 Activity Report). Unit 2 likely will receive its system this summer; site acceptance testing is scheduled for completion in October 2000. Unit 4 is scheduled to receive its system near the end of 2000. The U.S. team plans to install systems in Units 1 and 6 in spring 2001. (Richard Reister, DOE, 301-903-0234; Rich Denning, PNNL, 614-424-7412; Frank Panisko, PNNL, 509-372-4472)

On June 1, the U.S.-provided safety parameter display system for South Ukraine Unit 2 successfully completed site acceptance tests at the plant. The system is the second of three to be installed at the operating VVER-1000 reactor units at South Ukraine NPP.

In July 1999, Ukrainian and U.S. specialists completed final installation work and acceptance testing for the Unit 1 system. The project team expects to complete installing the third system–this one for South Ukraine Unit 3–late this year following the scheduled fall outage. Key members of this team include Energoatom, the Nuclear Power Plant Operational Support Institute, and Westron of Ukraine, as well as U.S. contractors Burns & Roe Enterprises and Westinghouse Electric Corporation. (Richard Reister, DOE, 301-903-0234; Rich Denning, PNNL, 614-424-7412; Frank Panisko, PNNL, 509-372-4472)

Training and technical specialists from Ukraine’s Khmelnytskyy and Rivne NPPs, the Engineering and Technical Center for the Training of Nuclear Industry Personnel, and Sonalysts, Inc., implemented a pilot training program for control room reactor operators at Rivne NPP during the week of May 21. Trainees in the new class were incumbent control room reactor operators and supervisors. Implementation of the program at Rivne NPP supports the U.S. team’s efforts to improve training methods at Ukraine’s nuclear power plants with Soviet-designed reactors. (John Yoder, DOE, 301-903-5650; Don Draper, PNNL, 509-372-4079)

At a nuclear power plant site, the capability to effectively determine the root cause of events and report on lessons learned is important to prevent the escalation of minor problems into serious accidents. In support of the pilot implementation of event analysis procedures at Zaporizhzhya NPP, specialists from Ukraine’s Crimea Scientific and Engineering Center conducted a training seminar for Zaporizhzhya staff during the last week of May.

Technical specialists from the Crimea Center and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory introduced the topics and summarized U.S. experience following the accident at Three Mile Island NPP. The seminar, held in Scholkino, focused on how to apply procedures for nuclear power plant event analysis and reporting to Energoatom. The trainees were 14 Zaporizhzhya staff members who represented the plant’s reliability laboratory, dispatchers, operations instrumentation shop, technical department, radiation safety, turbine shop, and maintenance engineering. Three personnel from Energoatom’s surveillance and operating experience departments also attended the seminar. (Dennis Meyers, DOE, 301-903-1418; Lief Erickson, PNNL, 509-372-4079)

To encourage awareness and acceptance of Energoatom’s new quality assurance program, the U.S. team supported a seminar for Khmelnytskyy managers on May 30 and 31 at the plant site. Representatives of Energoatom and the Nuclear Power Plant Operational Support Institute (NPP OSI), members of the Ukraine Quality Assurance Working Group, and an executive consultant from British Energy participated in the seminar.

Quality assurance personnel from Energoatom described the basis for the Energoatom quality assurance program and the normative document standard developed by the working group. They also reviewed the development of International Atomic Energy Agency safety codes on which the Energoatom program is based; the quality assurance safety code also was discussed. The NPP OSI representative described Energoatom’s implementation plan and summarized principles of safety culture. Working group members described how quality assurance is implemented at the nuclear power plant sites in Ukraine, and the British Energy representative described how quality assurance contributed to making the British nuclear power plants cost-effective and profitable.

The seminar was an important step in expanding involvement of key personnel in implementing the new Energoatom quality assurance program. Consistent implementation of the program at all of Ukraine’s nuclear power plants will improve plant safety by improving the quality of work and reducing errors. (Dennis Meyers, DOE, 301-903-1418; Lief Erickson, PNNL, 509-372-4097)

Near-term plans for the safety-analysis code repository center at the Slavutych Laboratory for International Research and Technology (SLIRT) were discussed in a mid-May meeting at SLIRT. The SLIRT director, deputy director, and system administrator participated in the discussions with a technical specialist from Argonne National Laboratory.

Technical specifications for a Hewlett-Packard workstation have been finalized. A suite of modern safety analysis codes used in in-depth safety assessment work in Ukraine will be installed and maintained on computers at SLIRT. The next step would be a series of code maintenance workshops in Ukraine to train SLIRT experts on how to maintain and use the codes.

SLIRT specialists will participate in an upcoming workshop on the CONTAIN and MELCOR codes tentatively scheduled for July-August 2000. They also likely will be involved in a July-August workshop on RELAP5, to be presented by specialists from the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory. Establishment of the code repository and the subsequent training will help SLIRT analysts to develop marketable expertise in nuclear power plant safety assessment work within Ukraine. (Walter Pasedag, DOE, 301-903-3628; Igor Bodnar, ANL, 630-252-8336)