February 19, 1997

April 1997
PNNL-11547
UC-500

1.0 Introduction

This report summarizes a meeting held on February 19, 1997, in Washington, D.C. The meeting was held primarily to exchange information among the contractors involved in the U.S. Department of Energy's efforts to improve the safety of Soviet-designed nuclear power plants. Previous meetings have been held on December 5-6, 1995, and May 22, 1996. The meetings are sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and coordinated by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.⁽⁾

The U.S. Department of Energy works with countries to increase the level of safety at 63 Soviet-designed nuclear reactors operating in Armenia, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Lithuania, Russia, Slovakia, and Ukraine. The work is implemented largely by commercial companies and individuals who provide technologies and services to the countries with Soviet-designed nuclear power plants.

Attending the meeting were 71 representatives of commercial contractors, the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Department of State, national laboratories, and other federal agencies (see Appendix B).

The presentations and discussions that occurred during the exchange are summarized in this report. While this report captures the general presentation and discussion points covered at the meeting, it is not a verbatim, inclusive record. To make the report useful, information presented at the meeting has been expanded to clarify issues, respond to attendees' requests, or place discussion points in a broader programmatic context. Appendixes A through F contain the meeting agenda, list of attendees, copies of presentation visuals and handouts, the Strategy Document discussed at the meeting, and a summary of attendees' post-meeting evaluation comments.

As with past information exchanges, the participants found this meeting valuable and useful. In response to the participant's requests, a fourth information exchange will be held later in 1997.

NOTE: the following appendices are available in hardcopy format from Nancy Jackson, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, P.O. Box 999, K7-74, Richland, Washington, 99352, U.S.A., E-mail: nancy.jackson@pnl.gov, Phone: (509) 372-4679, Fax: (509) 372-4411:

• Appendix B - List of Attendees
• Appendix C - Presentation Visuals Provided During the Information Exchange (list of presentations)
• Appendix D - Enhancing Technology Transfer - Handout Papers
• Appendix E - Strategy Document
• Appendix F - Evaluation of Information Exchange by Attendees