October 2000 Contents Highlights

Armenia Bulgaria Czech Republic Hungary

Kazakhstan Lithuania Russia Slovakia

Ukraine United States Cross-Cutting Activities Planned Activities

Ukraine

International Nuclear Safety Program Coordinating Committee meets to discuss future activities

Officials from the U.S. Department of Energy and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory representing the International Nuclear Safety Program (INSP) participated in the bi-annual Coordinating Committee meetings in Kyiv on October 23 and 24. Representatives from EnergoAtom, the Nuclear Power Plants and other industry organizations were involved in discussions on the scope of INSP activities related to FY 2001 authorized funding. (Rich Reister, DOE, 301-903-0234; Dan Couch, PNNL, 509-372-6415)

Rivne safety assessment progress reviewed

In late September, the U.S. assistant technical coordinator for the Rivne NPP in-depth safety assessment activity participated in the September 2000 project review held at the Kyiv office of SCIENTECH, the technical assistance contractor for the project. Members of the Ukrainian team that participated included staff from the Rivne project; the Ukrainian technical support organization, Energorisk; and the International Chornobyl Center Safety Analysis Laboratory. The participants reviewed the status of work on project tasks, and progress on all current tasks was found to be satisfactory. Also, the U.S. team began working with Rivne NPP staff to develop the scope of future tasks identified in the work plan for the project. (Walt Pasedag, DOE, 301-903-3628, Igor Bodnar, ANL, 630-252-8336)

Inspection equipment production facility planned for Ukraine

Representatives from EnergoAtom, the Ukraine Nondestructive Training and Certification Facility, and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory met October 7 through 13 in Kyiv to discuss development of a fabrication facility for eddy-current probes used to inspect steam generator equipment. In the past, the U.S. Department of Energy has provided steam generator inspection equipment including eddy-current probes to Ukraine. However, the probes wear out over time so they must be replaced. The cost of purchasing new probes in the quantities needed is higher than Ukraine's nuclear plants can afford. Therefore, the U.S. Department of Energy through its Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Ukraine agreed to support a cooperative effort to develop a fabrication facility capable of manufacturing eddy-current probes for in-service inspection of VVER steam generators. During the discussions in Kyiv, the Ukrainian and U.S. representatives agreed to cooperatively support this activity.

The United States will

• Support renovation of an existing fabrication facility and provide the basic equipment necessary to fabricate eddy-current probes.
• Assist the design of an eddy-current probe by providing
  • support for developing an initial design for the probes
  • support for laboratory testing for the initial design
  • support for field validation of the initial design.
• Purchase the initial lot of eddy-current probes fabricated at the facility. This initial lot will be used for in-service inspection at Ukraine nuclear power plants.

Ukraine has agreed to

• Develop a planning document that describes how the fabrication plant will be started up and how the plant will be operated to ensure a sustained and affordable supply of probes. Ukraine also will develop a schedule for starting the facility. This task will be completed by the end of December 2000.
• Arrange for state-required licensing of the eddy-current probe design and for all state-required approvals for business two months after the completion of the planning document.
• Complete any state requirements for approval of technical requirement documents for eddy-current testing in nuclear power plants.
• Ensure the assistance and cooperation of Ukrainian nuclear power plants in validation testing for the probes.
• Provide assistance in translation of technical documents from English to Russian and Russian to English.

(Grigory Trosman, DOE, 301-903-6899; Tom Taylor, PNNL, 509-375-4331)

Zaporizhzhya staff trained to use Event Analysis Database

Two representatives of Novator-Kyiv and 33 staff members from Zaporizhzhya NPP met October 9 and 10 at Zaporizhzhya for a training session on the use of the Event Analysis Database. The representatives from Novator-Kyiv, the Ukrainian subcontractor that developed the Event Analysis Database, conducted the training for the Zaporizhzhya staff members. This activity is part of the pilot implementation of event analysis and reporting procedures and practices that will enable sharing of information among all Ukrainian nuclear power plants. (Dennis Meyers, DOE, 301-903-1418; Lief Erickson, PNNL, 509-372-4097)

Training material for emergency operating instructions developed for Ukrainian plants

Representatives from Ukraine's Engineering and Technical Center for the Training of Nuclear Industry Personnel (ETC); Zaporizhzhya, Khmelnytskyy, Rivne, and South Ukraine NPPs; and two U.S. companies, Sonalysts, Inc., and Human Performance Analysis Corporation, met in mid-October at ETC headquarters to begin development of training material for instructors at the Ukrainian nuclear plants. The training material will focus on how to implement emergency operating instructions (EOI) and will be used initially to train the instructors responsible for teaching operations personnel at Zaporizhzhya NPP and subsequently at the other Ukrainian nuclear plants on how to implement EOIs.

The representatives from ETC and the Ukrainian nuclear plants provided insights regarding the EOI development process and integration of developed EOIs into training programs. Representatives from the U.S. companies shared their insights regarding the development of effective programs for EOI training. (John Yoder, DOE, 301-903-5650; Al Ankrum, PNNL, 509-372-4095)