April - June 2001 Contents Highlight

Armenia Bulgaria Czech Republic Hungary

Kazakhstan Lithuania Russia Slovakia

Ukraine United States Cross-Cutting Activities Planned Activities

Ukraine

Ukrainian reliability database progresses toward centralized system

Representatives from Energoatom; Khmelnytskyy, Zaporizhzhya, and South Ukraine nuclear power plants; Information Technologies Incorporated, the primary Ukrainian reliability database (URDB) development contractor; and PNNL met to more clearly define goals for the URDB project. Discussions included Energoatom's eventual responsibility for the URDB after NNSA sponsorship ceases, at which time the URDB will evolve from a stand-alone plant application to a centralized system based on a nationally accepted standard. Energoatom's role, including the role of the Zaporizhzhya plant, is being developed and defined and will be promulgated in a new memorandum of understanding. (Grigory Trosman, NNSA, 301-903-3581; Tye Blackburn, PNNL, 509-372-4092)

In mid-April, a PNNL technical specialist met with Ukrainian Nuclear Electricity Generating Company (Energoatom) representatives to help evaluate proposals to select the Ukrainian integrating contractor for the NNSA-sponsored design basis documents project. The selection process provided Energoatom with feedback on input and score differences from other evaluators.

Representatives of Energoatom and PNNL also met to discuss the upcoming coordinating committee meeting and the host-country contractor selected by PNNL for Zaporizhzhya's design basis accident work. They discussed future indefinite deliverable/indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contracting for NNSA-sponsored ISA activities at all the Ukrainian nuclear plants. Discussions included input to the bidders' list and technical evaluation criteria from Energoatom and the plants.

In subsequent activities, a PNNL representative conducted a bidders' conference in mid-May to provide additional information about the IDIQ process to representatives from the utility, plants, and interested vendors. In mid-June, the PNNL representative met in Kyiv with specialists from the Ukrainian nuclear plants to mentor and proctor their technical evaluations of proposals on seven IDIQ contracts. These meetings solicited the plants' input to the contractor selection process and provided information to the plant representatives concerning the contracting process. Even though there was very short notice, all four plants sent a representative who was trained and subsequently participated in the evaluation process. (Walt Pasedag, NNSA, 301-903-3628; Tye Blackburn, PNNL, 509-372-4092)

In April, representatives of Energoatom; the Engineering Technical Center (ETC); each Ukrainian nuclear power plant including the Chornobyl plant and the Chornobyl Shelter Training Center; the Main State Inspectorate (MSI); the Sevastopol, Odessa, and Kyiv Institutes; and PNNL participated in the Energoatom Training Managers Conference in Kyiv. Following are the important issues addressed at the meeting:

• Prioritized lists of project activities with current and future funding were developed for the simulator and training area.
• Items brought up by Energoatom for future consideration were analytical simulators for Zaporizhzhya Unit 3 and South Ukraine Unit 2, simulator plant process computer (PPC) upgrades if the PPCs are upgraded, and U.S. assistance for possible new simulators for Khmelnytskyy Unit 2 and Rivne Unit 4.
• Topics addressed during the training conference included:
  • Three of the four nuclear plant training centers have licenses. Rivne currently does not have a license but is in the process of obtaining one now that its full-scope simulator and training facility are complete. The license should be issued this fall.
  • The status of training and simulators at each of the nuclear plants.
  • The status of the development of training material for 10 training center licensed job positions. One of each of the training center's biggest problems is the development of training material.
  • There was a considerable amount of open discussions between the training managers and the regulatory representatives.
  • The training managers and the MSI presented some performance statistics on events related to personnel error.

While in Kyiv, the PNNL representatives also visited Energotraining, which is the manufacturing facility where the Rivne 2 control panels are being manufactured. The final shipment of wiring materials has arrived at Energotraining and the panels are scheduled for completion in July. (John Yoder, DOE, 301-903-5650; Joe Cleary, PNNL, 509-372-4094)

Training simulators turned over to Rivne and South Ukraine plants

The Rivne Unit 3 full-scope simulator was formally turned over to the plant's training organization on May 17, and on June 26, the full-scope simulator developed for South Ukraine Unit 1 was turned over to the plant. U.S. firm GSE Power Systems was the primary contractor, and Russian and Ukrainian subcontractors were involved in the construction and installation of the equipment. PNNL was the overall project lead for NNSA.

Plant-specific, full-scope simulators, used for operator training in the United States since the early 1980s, were not used at Soviet-designed reactors in the Ukraine until 1993, when Ukraine's first simulator was installed at the Zaporizhzhya nuclear plant. Since then, NNSA's program has installed four simulators in Ukraine. A full-scope simulator uses full-sized physical replicas of actual control room panels complete with equipment such as switches, controllers, indicators, and recorders. Each simulator is designed to replicate a specific plant control room and is used to train reactor operators and supervisors on handling both normal and off-normal plant operations. PNNL Director, Dr. Lura Powell, attended the turnover ceremony for the South Ukraine simulator. (John Yoder, DOE, 301-903-5650; Joe Cleary, PNNL, 509-372-4094)

Operational safety issues discussed at SPDS conference

South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant and Westinghouse jointly hosted the SPDS conference May 22-24 at the South Ukraine facility. Representatives from all the Ukrainian nuclear plants and from plants in Russia and Bulgaria participated in the conference. Three of the most significant operational safety issues identified at the conference were:

• The VVER-1000 SPDSs in Ukraine have not been accepted for commercial operation and the regulator's plans for putting them into operation is not clear.
• The plants requested additional training on how to interpret the results displayed by the SPDS. They received SPDS "functionality" training but need additional training support to allow them to more effectively use the information.
• The plants not currently involved in the emergency operating instruction (EOI) program have concerns about how to fully use their new SPDS without EOIs. Each of the plants represented at the SPDS conference very much want to be included in the EOI program.

(John Yoder, DOE, 301-903-5650; Joe Cleary, PNNL, 509-372-4094)

Training material transfer continues at Khmelnytskyy and Rivne

In late May, a two-week working session was held at Rivne Nuclear Power Plant to continue the transfer of the Control Room Turbine Operator (CRTO) training program to the Khmelnytskyy and Rivne nuclear plants. During this visit, training and technical specialists from the U.S. firm Sonalysts Inc. and ETC worked with training specialists from the Khmelnytskyy and Rivne plants to modify and transfer existing CRTO training material for implementation at each site. (John Yoder, DOE, 301-903-5650; Don Draper, PNNL, 509-372-4079)

Rivne ISA project status reviewed

A project coordinator from Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) traveled to Kyiv in mid-June to participate in an ISA project meeting with project management and technical staff from Rivne Nuclear Power Plant and project participants from Energorisk, the International Chornobyl Center/Safety Analysis Laboratory (ICC/SAL), and the U.S. firm Scientech Inc. Energorisk's progress on their limited-scope Level 1 Probabilistic Risk Assessment and Design Basis Analysis task orders continues to support August 2001 as the analysis completion date for both tasks. Progress on the Internal and External Hazards Data Collection task orders also continues. Prior to the meeting, Rivne staff had completed a "verbal translation" of the Russian-language Rivne Unit 1 EOIs. Following the formal ISA project meeting, representatives from ANL, ICC/SAL, Rivne, and Scientech met for the rest of the week to initiate ICC/SAL work under the EOI Analytical Justification-Phase I task order. (Walt Pasedag, NNSA, 301-903-3628; Charles Dickerman, ANL, 630-252-4622)

Quality assurance at Ukrainian nuclear plants discussed

In early June, a PNNL representative met at Energodar with representatives of the Quality Assurance (QA) organizations at Zaporizhzhya, South Ukraine, Rivne, and Khmelnytskyy nuclear power plants. The PNNL representative selected 9 of 25 QA elements for discussion during one-on-one interviews. Based on these interviews, he will prepare a report that summarizes the progress of QA implementation at each site. The PNNL representative also met with a representative of British Energy to discuss continued cooperation on Ukraine QA activities and with the Energoatom quality director and his staff to discuss the interviews and progress on project tasks. Energoatom is preparing proposals for consideration by their internal coordinating committee and the U.S.-Ukraine Coordinating Committee, including a request for a new project to support development of their corporate information system. Funding for the new project will be sought from multiple sources, including the United States. (Walt Pasedag, NNSA, 301-903-3628; Lief Erickson, PNNL, 509-372-4097)

Ukrainian VVER safety assessment projects reviewed

In late June, a specialist from ANL chaired a meeting with Energoatom, the State Scientific and Technical Center for Nuclear and Radiation Safety, the Ukrainian nuclear power plants, and other Ukrainian organizations. The purpose of the meeting was to reach agreement on an updated working schedule for ISA tasks for Ukrainian VVER reactors. Representatives from Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and Gesellschaft fur Anlangen und Reaktorsicherheit mbH (GRS) also participated in the meeting. In general, the Ukrainian representatives agreed with the proposed draft schedule and signed a protocol to that effect. The new schedule accounts for new contracts that will soon be established for probabilistic and deterministic analyses. A major focus of the meetings was the establishment of a process for performing peer and regulatory reviews for ISA reports. The meeting participants agreed with a general approach that maintains the independence of the peer and regulatory reviews, but allows the possibility for the regulatory review team to receive, for information only, reports that have yet to be peer reviewed. The final regulatory review must consider the peer-reviewed reports submitted by the nuclear power plants.

Subsequent meetings were held with representatives from BNL, GRS, ANL, and Engineering Technologies and Developments (ETD), the Ukrainian company that performs the peer reviews for ISA products. GRS and ETD are proceeding with separate reviews of the South Ukraine Unit 1 level-1 internal event probabilistic risk assessment (PRA). The reviews are identifying some technical issues and questions related to the quality of the PRA. ETD is planning to issue a final report that incorporates the GRS findings by the end of 2001. A meeting to discuss the peer review findings and disposition of reviewer's comments by the power plant is planned for mid-January 2002. (Walt Pasedag, NNSA, 301-903-3628; Mark Petri, ANL, 630-252-3719)