Project U1.02/97 - on-site assistance South Ukraine

This project is the continuation of TACIS OSA (On-Site Assistance) at South Ukraine NPP (see U1.02/96).

The TACIS nuclear programme is dedicated to the enhancement of the safety of NPPs in CIS (Commonwealth of Independent states) countries. The execution of this TACIS nuclear programme is based, among others, on the creation of close partnership between a NPP from the CIS and a nuclear Utility from EU (“On-Site-Assistance”).

The general objective of the project was to improve operational and design safety at South Ukraine NPP.
For that, it was requested to provide general on-site assistance in operation and maintenance activities containing:

• Overall coordination of the interfaces in the project;
• Permanent exchange of operational experience;
• Common identification and definition of issue topics;
• Improvement of safety culture;
• Training activities;
• Implementation of the following tasks:
• Radiological protection assessment;
• Spare parts diagnosis of valves without valve dismounting;

QA auditors training and qualification.
Carry out specific supply and services projects (U1.02/97A, U1.02/97B and U1.02/97C) through assistance in:

• Preparation and revision of equipment technical specifications;
• Support in tendering process;
• Evaluations of the tenders during tender evaluations;
• Follow up of contracting, manufacturing, acceptance tests and delivery of equipment;
• Project follow-up, mainly for operational procedures package, training programme, documentation supply and commissioning activities.

Several meetings were held for progress monitoring of OSA at South Ukraine NPP, and for necessary induced decisions. A number of addenda have been signed during the progress of this project: most of these addenda were dealing with the prolongation of the contract.

Operational assistance (so called “soft OSA”):
3 topics have been worked in the frame of soft OSA:

Training and certification of QA auditors: a seminar at South Ukraine NPP has been organised in September 1999. Several experts from different departments of South Ukraine NPP attended it. Discussed topics were: audit and inspection, general about ISO 9000, practical cases, internal audit procedures, non conformance management, corrective and/or preventive actions.

Radiological protection assessment: the purpose of this activity was to support South Ukraine NPP in performing the analysis of all the current work practices, as well as health physics control and radiological surveillance. The aim was to achieve the reduction of radiation dose exposure by using ALARA principles. For that, a mission took place at South Ukraine NPP in April 1999 with a detailed presentation of ALARA methodology. Then experience exchange was organised between South Ukraine NPP and Spanish NPPs.

Spare parts diagnosis of valves without dismantling: scope of this activity was agreed in November 1999. A training course at South Ukraine NPP was organised in July 2000: it was aimed at presenting the basic knowledge concerning the measurement of the containment isolation system leakage rates. In December 2002, four experts from South Ukraine NPP and Energoatom attended a training course at Spanish Almaraz NPP about practice in this plant. In December 2002, TECNATOM sent testing equipment for containment isolation leakage rate measurement was given to South Ukraine NPP.
Specific projects (so called “hard OSA”):

U1.02/97A Replacement of primary circuit thermal insulation for unit 3: this project started officially in November 1998. A first version of TS (Technical Specification) was handed over in January 1999. After updating process, TS was approved by South Ukraine NPP in April 2000 and by JRC in December 2000. A call for tenders was launched in February 2001, and, after evaluation, no bid was found compliant with requirements. Then, it was decided to undertake a new tendering process based on a more realistic budget. A new version of TS was issued in May 2002, with a reduced scope of supply (steam generators were not requested any more to be insulated). The last revision, taking into account Ukrainian NRA and RISKAUDIT comments, was accepted by all parties in May 2003, and this project has been reprogrammed in TACIS year 2003 (new project reference: U1.02/03B). Call for tenders was still not launched yet and the end of this U1.02/97 general OSA project.

U1.02/97B Mmodernisation of manipulator SK-187, phase II: this project started officially in October 1998. It was named initially “reclassification of pressuriser safety valves for water flow – all units”; TS for pressuriser safety valves were developed and updated.

In April 2000, Energoatom asked for the total modification of the project dealing with pressuriser valves into a project dealing with manipulator SK-187, phase II, as the continuation of project U1.02/94H (phase I). This scenario had been already proposed by DTN in October 1998, but Energoatom had rejected it at that time. EC accepted this reallocation in February 2001, and a contracting by direct agreement with Ukrainian company NIKIMT was decided (the technology requested for the new U1.02/97B was totally dependent from NIKIMT, the supplier for U1.02/94H).
Then, a new TS had to be developed from May 2002, and it was approved by all parties in June 2002. Then, a draft contract was prepared by the procurement agent, and was approved by Ukrainian counterpart in October 2003. At the end of this U1.02/97 general OSA project, the draft contract was not accepted by EC yet.

U1.02/97C Spare parts for imported safety equipment: this project started officially in October 1998. The project is subdivided into two parts:

U1.02/97C-I: Supply of spare parts for valves

During the kick-off meeting the detailed scope of supply was defined, and it was agreed that supply contracts would be signed by direct agreement with relevant suppliers (spare parts for valves can be only supplied by relevant valve manufacturers). Authorisation from EC for direct agreement was issued in August 2000. In the meantime, procurement agent had prepared draft contracts with companies IBL, KSB and SEMPELL. In September 2000, the detailed list of spare parts to be supplied was prepared jointly with DTN and South Ukraine NPP. Supply contracts were signed with IBL in May 2001 and with KSB and SEMPELL in May 2002. IBL spare parts were delivered at South Ukraine NPP in August 2001, and acceptance certificate was issued in September 2001. KSB spare parts were delivered at South Ukraine NPP in July 2002, and acceptance certificate was issued in January 2003. SEMPELL spare parts were delivered at South Ukraine NPP in March 2003, and acceptance certificate was issued in April 2003. The sub-project is now completed.

U1.02/97C-II: Replacement of 6.3 kV breakers in safety systems.

During the kick-off meeting the detailed scope of supply was defined. First version of TS was issued in November 1998. After many updates, TS was approved by JRC in January 2001. Call for tenders was launched in August 2002, and evaluation took place in December 2002. Company ELOX was awarded. After some juridical problems, at the end of this U1.02/97 general OSA project, the contract with ELOX was still not signed by all parties yet.

Comments

Specific projects had many difficulties and delays. The main ones are the following:

U1.02/97A was reprogrammed in TACIS year 2003. This is mainly due to the fact that a first tender evaluation failed. A new TS had to be developed and approved with a reduced scope of supply. The second tender evaluation should take place in April 2006.

Scope of U1.02/97B was totally modified after 2 years on request of Energoatom, which led to 2 year loss of time. Contracting process by direct agreement took also a long time, i.e. 1 year.
U1.02/97C-I: getting the approval from EC for contracting by direct agreement took 1 year, and contracting process itself took nearly 2 years for two out of the three suppliers (KSB and SEMPELL).
U1.02/97C-II: approval of TS by all parties took nearly 2 years, and process of contract signature took at least one year.

For soft OSA, activities consist in 4 seminars and the supply of testing equipment for containment isolation valves.

Further information

Further information on the project results could be sought from Energoatom and South Ukraine NPP.

The Project Final report is available at the JRC-IE archive.