Project Gamma Ukraine Belarus

A pilot radiation early warning system, intended to provide priority protection to the population in Ukraine and Belarus territories around three nuclear power plants, has been implemented in the frame of the TACIS project named GAMMA-1. The system had been operating for some time so it was possible to identify the new equipment and related services required in order to ensure the continuous efficient operability of the system (GAMMA-2).

Results of and comments about the Provisional Acceptance Tests for Gamma 1 project in Belarus and Ukraine in August / September 1996 and the first months of experimental operation of Gamma 1 system in both countries showed difficulties concerning following aspects:

Need for deeper computer knowledge at different levels of involved staff of the Beneficiaries;
Low efficiency and performance of some gamma sensors from other vendors as well as difficulties with stocking and distribution of contracted spare parts (different locations);
Necessity to help the Beneficiaries to deal with cost problems for communication lines from regional to central response centers;

After preliminary discussions with PMU, EC and Beneficiaries in December 1996 HORMANN was asked to prepare a proposal for rectification of a.m. problems.

During Steering Committee Meeting for Gamma 1 project in June 1997 in Kiev the need for Training Centers to train new staff members outside of their day-to-day business of running emergency systems was additionally taken into account. The revised version of HORMANN’s proposal was issued in October 97.

The Commission placed two contracts to provide assistance with the implementation of the Gamma 2 project:

1. Contract 24981, with the objective of providing assistance with the technical preparation of the operative plan of the Gamma 2 project
2. Contract 24982, for a Procurement Agent to act on behalf of the Commission to organise the purchase of the required equipment and services based on the operative plan

The aim of the project was to assist the Commission in the technical preparation of the operative plan of the GAMMA-2 project and on its implementation.

The tasks performed inside the project were:

• assist the Commission in the definition of the technical specifications for the equipment supply
• organize technical meetings (up to 3) and make the needed visits in-situ (up to 10 working days in the recipient countries) for the correct follow-up of the project
• supervise the delivery of the equipment
• organize the Steering Committee meetings

The contractor submitted to the Commission quarterly reports during the period of the project implementation (6 months) containing a full description of all activities performed as well as the final report at the end of the contract period.

All reports and documents were prepared in the English language.