Extension or On-site Assistance to Zaporozhye NPP, U1.03/10, Ukraine

The EU TACIS programme, expired with the Action Programme 2006, was replaced by the Instrument for Nuclear Safety Cooperation (INSC). The INSC regulations were established by the Council Regulation (EURATOM) No 300/2007 on 19 February 2007. Under the INSC, the EU activities in support of the Ukrainian operator have been reoriented towards safety management and operational safety projects. At present improvements in management and operational safety represents the highest added value which can be obtained from EC programme support. The support to the nuclear operator under the INSC focuses on these aspects which are highly safety relevant and will crosscut through all nuclear power plants. One major factor for success of the new orientation under the Instrument for Nuclear Safety Cooperation is the continuation of the on-site assistance. The on-site assistance will proceed from assistance to cooperation but with an on-site presence of the on-site assistance consultant.

The aim of the on-site assistance continuation at the Zaporozhye NPP is to transfer an operational safety culture and to support the implementation of nuclear safety improvement projects. This is achieved by combining the experience of the consultant with the experience and needs of the beneficiary country nuclear power plant operator, with a view to:

• ensure a general operational assistance;
• carry out specific safety related projects, which also includes equipment supply (hard on-site assistance);
• Improve the nuclear safety culture within ZNPP by providing a soft OSA programme concerning the enhancement of the radioactive waste characterization methodology and services for improvement of the primary water chemistry regime and certification of the ZNPP management system including the following specific tasks agreed with the end user:
• Improvement of the primary water chemistry regime
• Radioactive waste characterization methodology
• Analysis of the intermediate results and recommendations for the objective of certification of the NFP management system at Zaporozhye NPP

Hard on-site assistance
Continuation of the plant improvement project (PIP) implementation for the radwaste processing complex by full collaboration with all project stakeholders. The PIP project envisages the following scope of equipment:

Lot 1 “Incinerator facility”

Lot 2 “Emission Monitoring System for the Incinerator lot1”

Lot 3 "Two Supercompacting facilities” - one for ZNPP and one for RNPP

Lot 4 "Fragmentation & Sorting facility"

Results

A permanent Site Coordination Unit (SCU) was assigned to the tasks and responsible experts from the consortium and ZNPP were nominated.The soft OSA activities divided into separate phases

Visioning/fact finding phase i.e. comprehensive exchange and review on current situation between experts of ZNPP and consortium experts using initial status reports prepared by ZNPP experts

Phase of in-depth transfer of know-how , best practices, identification and recommendations for areas of improvement, distribution of intermediary report

Development, training and refinement phase i.e. implementation of measures proposed and agree in the intermediary report
Those activities were executed in workshops and supplemented with site visit, workshops and training at contractors NPPs and facilities. Due to the EC/EA decision to reduce the soft OSA activities in favour for the radwaste project implementation, a budget re-allocation process has been implemented. The outcomes of those activities were:

Improvement of primary water chemistry regime
In frame of S-OSA 1 the consultant developed/ provided ZNPP with recommendations to modify the water chemistry regime at ZNPP in close cooperation with the regulator SNRCU. The specific objectives for modification of the water chemistry were

Reduction of liquid, solid and gaseous radioactive waste and optimization of the related costs for treatment, conditioning and treatment of this kind of waste;

Reduction of ZNPP personnel dose rates;

Reduction of radioactive discharges to the environment;

Simplification of operational procedures and optimizations during start-up and shut-down phases;

Consideration of the ALARA principles in this area.
The consortium performed:

A comparative analysis concerning the reasons for the use of chemicals and the sources for radioactive wastewater at ZNPP and RWE NPPs;

An analysis of possible variants for dosing of gaseous hydrogen and of lithium hydroxide

A recommendation report concerning requirements for the NPP systems and equipment for the use of hydrogen and of lithium hydroxide in the primary circuit.

Radioactive waste characterization methodology
S-OSA 2 included the recommendations for improvement of the waste management concept at ZNPP by improving the situation concerning RW characterization. It is significant for ensuring safety during release of radioactive materials from regulatory control and safe treatment during long-term storage and final disposal of radioactive wastes. This activity will be an important contribution to the normal operation of the radioactive wastes treatment complex being created in frame of the PIP project.
The consortium performed:

A review of the existing RW characterization procedures at ZNPP;

A study and exchange experience;

A definition of the best methods;

A methodical guidance;

A training course.

A recommendation report;

Analysis of the intermediate results and recommendations for the objective of certification of the NFP management system at Zaporozhye NPP Hard On-Site Assistance
The S-OSA 3 activity resulted in provision of recommendations for improvement and methodological guidance in the field of management certification. The following objectives have been achieved:

Comprehensive exchange on ZNPP existing internal strategy and RWE Biblis experience for a ISO 9001 certification process;

Identification by ZNPP of the topics of main interest for the exchange;

Identification of problems encountered by RWE Biblis during the certification process;

Concept development based on the results of the analysis;

Support for ZNPP to further enhance the already existing strategy and concept for a certification process of the ZNPP management system;

Definition of the existing deviations from international standards;

Pilot training for the ZNPP QA management about the necessary implementation process;

Recommendation report;
The hard on-site projects concerned the implementation of specific projects aimed at improving the intrinsic safety of the installation. The service contract stipulates the continuation of implementation of the plant improvement project (PIP) including specific activities immediately after the service contract commencement date. According to the consultant, all these obligations of project performance in frame of the on-site assistance extension were fulfilled and partially even more than planned. The PIP projects included also a contribution financed by the beneficiary NPP operator, NNEGC “Energoatom”, which is in this respect mainly the re-construction of an existing radwaste building and the design and construction of a new radwaste building.
The large projects licensing procedure has been supported by the EC by means of the so-called “2+2 project”. The 2+2 project, and hence all licensing support, has been coordinated by the EC so that it is synchronised with the implementation of the supply project on of the radioactive waste treatment building at ZNPP to be ready for the equipment installation.
The PIP project within the subject OSA extension included the continuation of four supply projects’ (Lot 1 to 4) implementations designed to furnish ZNPP with important safety equipment for a radioactive waste treatment complex, as follows:
U1.03/06A1 - Lot 1 “Incinerator facility” contract no. 154814 – contractor consortium Iberdrola, Spain
At the commencement date of this service contract, the Lot 1 project was still in the design phase with about 1 year delay due to the fact, that the design review and approval took much longer than planned. In addition to this service contract starting situation, the new radwaste building had also a large delay of almost 18 months. EA/ZNPP developed a modified implementation schedule for all Lots, which had to be discussed with the supplier. Also the manufacturer re-assessed the manufacturing period and had to postpone the FAT and the delivery. The equipment installation started in August 2013 and continued with the erection of the radwaste building into 2014.
The equipment was finally installed and commissioned in November 2015. The site acceptance test (SAT) was performed in November 2015 and the provisional acceptance certificate (PAC) was signed in December 2015.
U1.03/06A1 - Lot 2 “Emission Monitoring System for the Incinerator lot1” contract no. 132884 - Contractor: Envinet, Czech Republic
At the commencement date of this service contract, the Lot 2 project was still in the design phase with appr. 2 years delay due to the fact, that the design review and approval took much longer than planned. In addition to this service contract starting situation, the new radwaste building had also a large delay of almost 18 months. EA/ZNPP developed a modified implementation schedule for all Lots, which had to be discussed with the supplier.
The equipment has been delivered in April 2013 and has been stored at ZNPP warehouse waiting for completion of the radwaste building and incinerator installation.
The equipment was finally installed and commissioned in September 2015. The site acceptance test (SAT) was performed in October 2015 and the provisional acceptance certificate (PAC) was signed in October 2015.
U1.03/06A1 - Lot 3 – Super compactor facility - contract no. 156141 – Contractor consortium Nukem, Germany
Lot 3 was smoothly performed (design/ manufacturing phase, successful factory acceptance tests, delivery to the site) until storage of the delivered equipment at ZNPP in accordance with the supply contract. The final installation of the equipment at the place of operation was dependant from the co-financed project of radwaste treatment building construction. The Super compactor was installed and tested during the erection phase of the radwaste building in the compartment. After issuing the provisional acceptance certificate in February 2012 the super compactor has been preserved and has been waiting for the finalisation of the radwaste building. Monthly start-up operations were performed as agreed on. The final acceptance certificate was signed in March 2013.
U1.03/06A3 - Lot 4 - Fragmentation & Sorting facility - contract no. 171966 - Contractor: Vuje, Slovakia
Lot 4 was performed in accordance with the supply contract (design/ manufacturing phase, successful factory acceptance tests, delivery to the site, storage, installation, training, provisional acceptance tests, warranty) until final acceptance in July 2012.Conclusions
The project has been successfully completed as per ToR requirements and all expectations were met. The objectives of the project, enhancement of nuclear safety and transfer of knowledge were fully achieved.