# Presentation: 128083

## Management and Operational Safety

**Management and Operational Safety**

***Objective***
**Increase the safety of day-to-day operations at Soviet-designed nuclear power plants**
***Projects***
**Increase the ability of plant personnel to operate reactors safely**
***Projects organized into following areas*****:**
**Conduct of operations**
**Operator exchanges**
**Simulators and training**
**Emergency operating instructions**
**Emergency management and planning**
**Maintenance technology transfer and training**

## Management and Operational Safety

**Management and Operational Safety**

***Conduct of Operations***
**Formal, written procedures for routine operations are developed to improve the safety culture at Soviet-designed plants.**
**Historically, daily business of operating Soviet NPPs was based on knowledge and experience of operators**
**Use of formal written procedures improving safety culture in plants.**
**Prescribe specific actions for workers to follow**

## Management and Operational Safety

**Management and Operational Safety**

***Activities***
**Completed 16 draft guidelines based on "good practices" standards developed by U.S. Institute of Nuclear Power Operations**
**Balakovo (Russia) and Zaporizhzhya (Ukraine) designated as pilot plants **
**Procedures are finalized, approved by regulator, and issued to other Soviet-designed nuclear plants**
**Three approved and issued to all Russian plants**
**Six approved for all Ukrainian plants**

## Management and Operational Safety

**Management and Operational Safety**

***Operator Exchanges***
**Nuclear plant personnel visit U.S. nuclear plants to observe firsthand the U.S. approaches for safe operations, then adapt these practices for use in their own plants.**
**Isolation of NPP personnel in former Soviet Union limited opportunities to learn from counterparts in other nations.**
**Since 1995, 50 personnel from 7 Russian plants/nuclear organizations, and 42 Ukrainians from 3 plants have visited U.S.**
**Institute of Nuclear Power Operations determined reactor staff from host countries have taken specific actions observed at U.S. plants and applied them at their own plants.**
**Program has led to increased number of safety personnel****on shift at Balakovo (Russia) and****Zaporizhzhya (Ukraine) plants.**

## Management and Operational Safety

***Training***
**Focused on the Systematic Approach to Training (SAT)**
**Skills and information is transferred to trainers in the host countries, who teach their colleagues at Soviet-designed plants. **
**Host-country training centers to accelerate transfer of skills and information to workers**
**Training personnel travel to U.S. to learn teaching methods and participate in development of training courses**

## Management and Operational Safety

**Management and Operational Safety**

***Activities***
**Nuclear training centers established at Balakovo (Russia) and Khmelnytskyy (Ukraine) plants. Joint effort with Russia and Ukraine.  **
**More than 800 nuclear power plant personnel have participated in training courses**
**Paks Training Center (Hungary) is using evaluation tools transferred through the cooperative program to improve simulator training for control room operators**
**Slovakia's Trnava Training Center identified****training needs.  U.S. experts have provided****initial courses in instructor training.**

## Management and Operational Safety

**Management and Operational Safety**

***Simulators***
**Simulators are effective,****efficient training and****testing tools**
**Two types of simulators:**
**Full-scope - full-sized, replica****of actual control room panels****(switches, controllers, indicators, recorders)**
**Analytical - use computer screens, graphic displays to****represent plant systems.  Operators enter computer****commands to "operate" equipment.**

## Management and Operational Safety

**Management and Operational Safety**

***Activities***
**Analytical Simulators**
**Balakovo**
**Chornobyl**
**Novovoronezh**
**Full Scope Simulators**
**Kola**
**Khmilnitskyy**
**South Ukraine**
**Rivne**
**Kalinin**

## Management and Operational Safety

**Management and Operational Safety**

***Emergency Operating Instructions (EOI)***
**Symptom-based emergency operating instructions are customized for use at Soviet-designed reactors.**
**Two types:**
**Event-based instructions - require operators to identify cause****of problem before responding (typical in the U.S. before****Three Mile Island accident)**
**Symptom-based instructions - faster, more effective decision making based on responses to changes in plant parameters. ****Used at all U.S. plants and many others around the world.**

## Management and Operational Safety

**Management and Operational Safety**

***Activities:***
**The Novovoronezh (Russia) plant has implemented the first set of 22 symptom-based EOIs**
**Zaporizhzhya (Ukraine) plant has drafted complete set of 48 EOIs**
**Rivne (Ukraine) plant has drafted 19 or 38 EOIs**
**Symptom-based EOIs also being developed for Kozloduy (Bulgaria), Dukovany (Czech Republic),****Paks (Hungary), Ignalina (Lithuania)****and Bohunice (Slovakia) plants.**

## Management and Operational Safety

**Management and Operational Safety**

***Emergency Management and Planning***
**Technical support is provided to improve the emergency management and planning capabilities in Russia.**
**Can reduce risk of health and environmental impacts from a nuclear accident**
**Emergency management and planning workshops held in U.S.**
**Russian Institute for Nuclear Power Plant Operations is leading project to compile and translate Kalinin NPP emergency management documentation to facilitate review by U.S. team members.**

## Management and Operational Safety

**Management and Operational Safety**

***Maintenance Technology Transfer and Training ***
**Transfer of technology and advanced methods for maintaining critical safety systems**
**Reduce risks through improved maintenance programs**
**Two elements:**
- Technology Transfer: provides tools such as vibration monitoring and laser alignment equipment to enhance performance
- Training: equips personnel with advanced maintenance and repair skills
**Maintenance improvement initiative - oversight and****direction for maintenance technology transfer and****training activities at all plants**

## Management and Operational Safety

**Management and Operational Safety**

***Activities:***
**Purchased vibration analyzers for****all RBMK reactors and converted****their readouts to Russian (detect****misalignment and imbalance in****rotating machines)**
**Laser shaft alignment equipment****is scheduled for delivery to each****plant by the end of 1996**
**Reactors will receive valve****seat resurfacing equipment**
**Ignalina received an urgently****needed pipe lathe/weld****preparation machine for****replacing corroded pipes**

## Management and Operational Safety

**Management and Operational Safety**

***Lessons Learned***
**Regulator involvement**
**Easier project review and approval**
**Plant involvement**
**Plant ownership and sustainability**
**Plant visits**
**Excellent training through observation**
**Banking issues**
**Transfer of funds can be difficult**
**Single country projects**
**Coordination of multiple countries****is demanding**

## Engineering and Technology

**Engineering and Technology**

***Objective***
**Improve the performance of safety systems in Soviet-designed nuclear power plants by transferring the equipment and procedures necessary to upgrade the safety of these plants**
***Projects***
**Fire protection **
**Radiation confinement **
**Reactor safety systems**

## Engineering and Technology

**Engineering and Technology**

***Fire Protection***
**Capabilities are improved by transferring equipment, technology and methods**
**Fire can result in damage to the reactor core and cause release of radioactive materials**
**Many Soviet-designed NPP lacked essential fire protection**
- Unprotected electric circuits
- Conducting wires sprayed with flammable material
- Wood fire doors, gaps around frames
- No emergency water supply
- Striving to meet international requirements at NPPs

## Engineering and Technology

**Engineering and Technology**

***Activities***
**Completed guidelines to assess****fire hazards and identify most****important and cost-effective changes**
**Provided fire-retardant materials for****the Smolensk (Russia) and****Zaporizhzhya (Ukraine) plants (coat****cables and seal room-to-room****penetrations)**
**Russian company is manufacturing****400 fire doors for Smolensk plant**
**Ukrainian company is manufacturing****125 fire doors for the Zaporizhzhya plant**
**Zaporizhzhya received 50 sets of fire****brigade gear, 260 fire and smoke****detectors and other fire equipment,****including 1,200 sprinkler heads**

## Engineering and Technology

**Engineering and Technology**

***Activities***
**Ukrainian companies are under contract to deliver fire extinguishers and 300 units of a self-contained breathing apparatus**
**Ukrainian personnel will receive fire hazards evaluation training**
**Modern fire detection system installed at Smolensk and Leningrad (Russia) NPPs**
**2 fire trucks, firefighting equipment, protective suits, communications equipment to Kozloduy (Bulgaria)**
**Fire-resistant floor coating, fire and smoke****detectors, and fire-resistant doors to****the Armenia Nuclear Power Plant.**

## Engineering and Technology

**Engineering and Technology**

***Radiation Confinement***
**Improving the system and structures that monitor and****confine the movement of radioactive materials resulting from an accident.**
***Activities***
**U.S. experts have worked with Kola staff to seal leaks in the radiation confinement system, install confinement isolation valves and set up a****post-accident radiation monitor to trigger****the valves.**

## Engineering and Technology

**Engineering and Technology**

***Engineered Safety Systems***
**Key safety-related systems are provided or upgraded**
**If earthquake or other emergency disrupts power supplies at a nuclear plant, a backup power system must be available.  Backup not reliable at many Soviet-designed plants.**
**Russia's older RBMK and VVER-440/230 plants had limited capability for providing feedwater to the plant in an emergency**
**NPPs have lacked adequate instrumentation for recognizing****abnormal conditions**

## Engineering and Technology

**Engineering and Technology**

***Activities***
**Safety-grade direct current batteries mounted on seismically qualified racks have been installed at Kola (Russia) and Kursk (Russia)**
**Mobile pumping system for emergency water supplies was sent to Kursk (Russia)**
**Emergency water supply system for Novovoronezh (Russia)****under way**
**Safety parameter display systems****are being provided to 10 of the****15 operating RBMK reactors**
**Safety parameter display system****being developed for Novovoronezh****Unit 3, a VVER-440/230 plant**
**Additional SPDS projects are being****developed for other VVERs**

## Engineering and Technology

**Engineering and Technology**

***Lessons Learned***
**Customs Issues**
**Documentation verifying technical aid is needed**
**Information from plant rather than government organizations**
**Plant has accurate information on current status**

## Plant Safety Evaluations

**Plant Safety Evaluations**

***Objective***
**Improve the in-country capability of designers, operators, and regulators of Soviet-designed reactors to evaluate the safety of their plants using internationally accepted computer codes, standards and methods.**

## Plant Safety Evaluations

**Plant Safety Evaluations**

***Projects***
**Probabilistic risk assessments and safety evaluations **
**Assess plant systems and operator actions that are important to safety**
**Historically, Soviet design and research organizations performed safety evaluations for Soviet NPPs with little involvement from plant personnel**
**Internationally accepted computer codes, standards and methods are transferred**
**Evaluation results are used to set priorities for future upgrades, establish safe operating limits, quantify safety margins, and identify risks**

## Plant Safety Evaluations

**Plant Safety Evaluations**

***Activities***
**Internationally accessible plant-specific database****(http://www.ra.anl.gov/INSP) **
**Kola, Leningrad and Novovoronezh (Russia) and Zaporizhzhya Unit 5 and South Ukraine Unit 1 (Ukraine) are designated lead sites for in-depth safety evaluations**
**Four-day workshop held in Czech Republic on computer models for probabilistic risk assessment. Attended by specialists from Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Russia and Ukraine. **
**Information Exchange Forum held at the Institute of Physics and Power Engineering in Obninsk, Russia.  Forum focused on analysis methods and computational tools for conducting safety assessments at Soviet-designed NPPs.**

## Plant Safety Evaluations

**Plant Safety Evaluations**

***Activities (continued)***
**Specialists from Kola plant and Russia's****Kurchatov Institute completed training in****probabilistic risk assessment**
**RELAP5 thermal-hydraulics code, used for****commercial nuclear power plants in the****United States, provided to all countries**
**Leningrad Unit 2 (Russia) plant risk analysis****is assessing the impact of recent safety****improvements to Unit 2**
**Computer model was used to predict how the****Kozloduy's reactor Units 5 and 6 equipment would hold up under various earthquake levels**
**A plant safety evaluation is under way at Dukovany****(Czech Republic)**
**Lithuanian Energy Institute is using a nuclear plant analyzer to predict heat and flow conditions that could affect safety**

## Plant Safety Evaluations

**Plant Safety Evaluations**

***Lessons Learned***
**International coordination**
**Prevent overlap of projects and confusion at the plant**
**Plant leadership**
**Ensures plant-specific project and plant ownership **

## Fuel Cycle Safety

**Fuel Cycle Safety**

***Objective***
**Improve activities associated with fabricating and irradiating nuclear fuel and storing and disposing of radioactive waste or spent nuclear fuel**

## Fuel Cycle Safety

**Fuel Cycle Safety**

***Projects***
**In Ukraine, projects are directed at ensuring the safe storage of spent nuclear fuel by transferring the technology and equipment to design, manufacture, regulate, and safely operate dry storage systems for spent nuclear fuel**
**Zaporizhzhya NPP (Ukraine) needs additional space in its storage pools for spent fuel**
**Concrete dry-storage casks have proven to be a safe and less-costly alternative to other options.**
**The program is working with Ukraine to establish a dry cask system for handling, moving and storing spent fuel. **
**Each cask will be filled with 24 spent fuel assemblies, back filled with inert helium gas and welded shut**
**Projects are being developed in Russia**

## Fuel Cycle Safety

**Fuel Cycle Safety**

***Activities***
**Equipment has been delivered for****building three dry-cask storage****units for Zaporizhzhya's spent fuel**
**Zaporizhzhya staff poured a****mockup concrete cask**
**Transporter for moving filled****casks to concrete storage pads**
**Experts have trained Zaporizhzhya staff to operate****the cask system and manufacture 12 casks per year**
**Cooperative technology transfer agreements****with the nuclear and radiation safety****authority in Russia**

## Fuel Cycle Safety

**Fuel Cycle Safety**

***Lessons Learned***
**Construction processes and standards**
**Construction technology may not meet international standards**

## Nuclear Safety Legislative andRegulatory Framework

**Nuclear Safety Legislative and****Regulatory Framework**

***Objective***
**Support the development of legislative and regulatory frameworks in the host countries**
***Benefits***
**Adherence to international nuclear safety and liability conventions or treaties**
**The establishment of strong, independent regulatory bodies**
**Domestic protection from liability for nuclear-related malfunctions or accident**

**Work is coordinated with U.S. Nuclear****Regulatory Commission.**

## Nuclear Safety Legislative andRegulatory Framework

**Nuclear Safety Legislative and****Regulatory Framework**

***Activities***
**August 1996, GAN representatives received training in the United States on emergency preparedness and they toured the emergency response facilities at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory**
**GAN representatives participated in workshops on quality assurance and safety analysis for research reactors and fuel-cycle facilities**

## Nuclear Safety Legislative andRegulatory Framework

**Nuclear Safety Legislative and****Regulatory Framework**

***Lessons Learned***
**Communications and translations**
**Processing of untranslated documents is slow**
**In-country purchase of equipment**
**Builds host country capability and ensures in-country warranty**

## Chornobyl Initiatives

**Chornobyl Initiatives**

***Objective***
**Reduce risks at Ukraine’s Chornobyl plant**
***Projects***
**Establishment of a Ukrainian International Research Center on Nuclear Safety, Radioactive Waste and Radioecology at Slavutych**
**Enhance the near-term safety of the reactors that continue to operate at the Chornobyl plant (projects already discussed are also addressing Chornobyl)**
**Supporting an international effort to upgrade****the shelter at Chornobyl's destroyed Unit 4**

## Chornobyl Initiatives

**Chornobyl Initiatives**

***Activities:***
**Participate on European Commission Shelter Project**
**Short-term mainenance support**
**Long-term shelter upgrades**
**New project supporting Chornobyl decommissioning**
**Chornobyl Center for Nuclear Safety, Radioactive Waste and Radioecology**
**Formally established by presidential decree in April, 1996**
**Supports all Chornobyl activities (including economic recovery)**
**Projects: shelter hazard assessment, project database,****damaged fuel characterization, spent fuel options**