March 2001 Contents Highlight

Armenia Bulgaria Czech Republic Hungary

Kazakhstan Lithuania Russia Slovakia

Ukraine United States Cross-Cutting Activities Planned Activities

Highlight

Mr. Walter Pasedag, U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), and Mr. Samuel L. McKay, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), participated in the Leningrad Unit 2 In-Depth Safety Assessment (ISA) Project technical committee and steering committee meetings held March 12-14 at the Swedish International Program offices in Stockholm, Sweden. Participants included project and government representatives from Russia, Finland, Sweden, Great Britain, and the United States.

The project technical committee met March 13 and 14 to discuss project status and prepare the steering committee agenda and progress report. The production dates for all the ISA summary reports and reference materials were reviewed and updated to reflect current production. The format and content of all summary reports were finalized. The sequence of summary report (draft and final) reviews, supporting a project completion date of June 30, was proposed and adopted. The project schedule will be updated weekly to reflect actual production between now and the end of the project. The technical committee agreed to meet at Leningrad nuclear power plant in May and June to assess production and provide closure of all critical production areas.

The project steering committee met March 14 to discuss project status and review the funding available for the Unit 1 ISA project. The steering committee noted that the production schedule between now and completion of the Unit 2 ISA is extremely tight, but it can be met with close coordination among all project participants.

Leningrad plant management expressed a desire to initiate production of the Unit 1 ISA as soon as possible, which will require the earliest possible production (contracting) of reference materials. Leningrad’s regulatory commitment requires completion of the Unit 1 ISA by June 2002, so these ISA activities must be initiated as soon as possible. Mr. Pasedag indicated U.S. support of the Unit 1 ISA project provided the Unit 2 ISA is completed on schedule and funds are available.

Mr. McKay also participated in a meeting with Dr. Yuri Garoussov, Leningrad plant’s chief engineer, concerning organizational changes that support the proposed emergency operating instruction (EOI) technical justification project. Dr. Garoussov reported that a new organization is being established at the Leningrad plant to oversee near-term coordination of activities involving EOI development, simulator model development, the reconstruction program, and probabilistic safety assessment modeling development activities. This organization will be managed by a “yet to be appointed” deputy chief engineer and will report to the Office of the Chief Engineer. Dr. Garoussov noted, “Creation of this new organization represents Leningrad nuclear plant’s dedication to safety improvement.” Dr. Garoussov is organizing a meeting in April with representatives from PNNL and the new deputy chief engineer. (Walt Pasedag, NNSA, 301-903-3628; Sam McKay, PNNL, 509-372-4059)