March 2001 Contents Highlight

Armenia Bulgaria Czech Republic Hungary

Kazakhstan Lithuania Russia Slovakia

Ukraine United States Cross-Cutting Activities Planned Activities

Russia

In early March, U.S. representatives from NNSA and Argonne National Laboratory traveled to Prague to participate in the coordination and steering committee meetings for the ISA project at Kola nuclear plant in Russia. The design basis accident analysis is complete with the exception of approval of the final summary report. Progress on the Unit 2 probabilistic risk assessment (PRA), jointly supported by NNSA and the Swedish International Project, has been good and will reflect the as-built condition of the Kola plant as of December 2002, including the influence of reconstruction activities. The preliminary PRA quantification is expected by June 2001, and the final report is scheduled for completion in November 2001. (Walt Pasedag, NNSA, 301-903-3628; Phil Pizzica, ANL, 630-252-4847)

Nuclear plant safety enhancement meetings held at REA

Mr. Robert L. Moffitt from PNNL, Deputy Manager of NNSA’s International Nuclear Safety Program, traveled to Moscow in mid-March to meet with managers at Rosenergoatom (REA) and various other project managers to discuss the status of and outstanding issues associated with various projects being conducted to improve safety at operating reactors in Russia. Specific discussions focused on development and implementation of EOIs for VVER reactors, conduct of fire surveys, transfer of circuit breaker technology, and completion of ISAs at Novovoronezh. In general, progress on the majority of the safety improvement projects at Russian plants continues to be good.

While in Moscow, Mr. Moffitt also attended the REA conference on “Nuclear Power Safety Efficiency and Economics.” The conference was well attended with representation from the Russian nuclear plants and technical support organizations and from many of the other countries that have operating Soviet-designed reactors, including Ukraine, Lithuania, Armenia, and Bulgaria. The focus of the conference was to review the status and activities that are under way at Russian nuclear plants to

• improve operating efficiency and reliability and increase capacity factors
• improve understanding, management, and mitigation of relevant aging mechanisms
• enhance operational safety.

This two-day conference consisted of several plenary sessions in which speakers addressed the general status of these activities and eight breakout sessions in which specific activities were described in much greater detail. (Rich Reister, DOE, 301-903-0234; Bob Moffitt, PNNL, 509-372-4108)

Simulator normative document workshop held at VNIIAES

In mid-March, technical specialists from PNNL traveled to Moscow to participate in a one-week workshop on simulator normative documents. Technical and training specialists from the Russian organizations involved in simulator activities—the Russian Institute for Nuclear Power Plant Operations (VNIIAES), Novovoronezh Training Center, and Balakovo, Kursk, and Novovoronezh nuclear power plants—also participated in the workshop. The workshop was held to involve the Russian organizations in discussions about normative documents for simulators and the information that needs to be included in the documents. The workshop agenda included discussions on development and format of a normative document for simulators, topics to be covered, and issues related to normative documents for full-scope and multifunctional simulators. The participants also discussed progress made on normative documents since the last workshop, which was held December 11-15, 2000, and future directions and plans associated with normative document development and implementation.

The PNNL specialists provided a perspective on U.S. simulator normative documents and discussed lessons-learned in the United States related to the development and implementation of such documents. The Russian participants discussed the status and current plans regarding development and issuance of normative documents for their simulators. (John Yoder, DOE, 301-903-5650; Al Ankrum, PNNL, 509-372-4095)