R1.07/04 OSA to Novovoronezh NPP during the implementation of the PIP (ref AP 7.1.1.1)

Novovoronezh NPP (NvNPP), located in the Voronezh region of Russia, comprised 5 power units. Units 1 and 2 were VVER-210 and VVER-365 respectively. These were prototype VVER reactors and they operated from 1964 and 1969 until they were shutdown in 1984 and 1990, respectively. Units 3 and 4 were VVER-440, model 179 reactors. These were the first-of-a-kind VVER-440 reactors and were forerunners of the standard series VVER-440 model 230. They started operation in 1971 and 1972, respectively. Unit 5 was a VVER-1000 model 187, which again was the prototype VVER-1000. It started operation in 1980. Units 3, 4 and 5 were still in operation at the time of this contract.
The On-Site Assistance (OSA) programmes were a corner stone of the TACIS nuclear safety co-operation with the Russian Federation. Companies or consortia with experience of NPP operation in the EU were contracted by the EC to work on site at nuclear power plants of the Beneficiary country. The aims were to provide the transfer of know-how, in particular through soft assistance, which addressed the human element of safety (i.e. safety culture, quality assurance, maintenance, management and training,…), and to upgrade the safety of the plant through the supply of equipment. Through the TACIS programme, OSA projects were implemented at seven NPPs in Russia (Kola, Balakovo, Kalinin, Leningrad, Smolensk, Beloyarsk and Novovoronezh).
In the framework of the “TACIS 2004 Nuclear Safety Programme” the European Commission (EC) signed a consulting contract with the consortium Iberdrola/TVO to continue on-site assistance and safety improvement of the operation of NvNPP.

The aim of the On-Site Assistance programme at NvNPP was to transfer operational safety culture and to support the implementation of nuclear safety improvement projects. This was to be achieved by combining the experience of the OSA Consultant with the experience and needs of the Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) operator in order to:
improve the operational safety of the NvNPP through the transfer of know-how and operational best practice (soft OSA);
carry out specific safety related projects which include the supply of equipment required to improve the safety of the power plant (hard OSA).
The activities to be implemented under the 'soft' and 'hard' OSA headings were:
Soft On-Site Assistance
Human Factors / human error prevention.
Optimisation of existing Emergency Operating Procedures (EOPs).
Development of Severe Accident Management programme guide.
Reduction / cleaning of fuel assembly sediment deposits (Crud).
Radioactive waste management.
Monitoring of risk at operation and maintenance.
Containment tightness improvement.
Hard On-Site Assistance
Follow-up the implementation of the large-scale equipment supply project R1.07/04D "Emergency Feedwater System for Unit 5" comprising four lots of equipment that had been recently tendered:
o R1.07/04D, Lot 1: Motor pump sets.
o R1.07/04D, Lot 2: Stop, check and control valves.
o R1.07/04D, Lot 3: Pipelines and associated equipment.
o R1.07/04D, Lot 4: Electrical and I & C equipment.
Follow-up the implementation of other equipment supply projects started under the previous OSA contract:
o R1.07/03A, Lot 1: Spare parts for the diesel generators, Unit 5.
o R1.07/03A, Lot 4: Spare parts for safety valves, Unit 5.
o R1.07/03B: Replacement of feedwater control valves, Unit 5.

The contract with Iberdrola/TVO was signed on 2nd May 2007 and ended on 1st September 2010.
Soft On-Site Assistance
Soft On-Site Assistance in the present contract comprised the transfer of experience and know-how on a significant number of issues through workshops, presentations, preparation of technical documents, visits to nuclear plant and facilities, training courses and on-the-job training.
Human Factors/Human error prevention
The overall objective of the Human Factors/Human Error Prevention Task was to provide the NvNPP with a structured and systematic process for review of the past significant events involving problem of human performance, development of human error analysis methodology and human error prevention tools and techniques and finally for Safety Culture Self-Assessment and enhancement. The objective was achieved through scientific visits, workshops and meetings and by development of various documents. The execution of the project provided much valuable information related to Human Factors / Human Error Prevention.
Optimization of existing Emergency Operating Procedures (EOP)
The overall objective of this task was to provide the NvNPP with a review of the existing EOPs and recommendations for improvement. The major part of the Task was to identify those areas of EOPs that could be improved. The activities performed were mostly carried out through organized meetings between the international experts and the plant's experts. Workshops were organised both at Novovoronezh and Olkiluoto, Finland, and covered a wide range of relevant topics. The task resulted in a review report of the existing EOPs for the NvNPP Unit 5 and in recommendations and an action plan for improvement of existing EOPs.
Development of Severe Accident Management Program Guide
The general objective of the task was to continue the efforts of NvNPP in the area of Severe Accident Management, and more specifically, to provide an Accident Management Guide for handling Beyond Design Basis Accidents (BDBA) and Severe Accidents at NvNPP. The activities performed were mostly carried out through organized meetings between the international experts and the plant's experts. Workshops were organised both at Novovoronezh and Olkiluoto and covered a wide range of relevant topics. The documentation produced as a result of the task included the Accident Management Guide as well as training course documentation. The Accident Management Guide was intended as a model to help the NvNPP experts to prepare further documents and to support development of tools and practices for NvNPP. As the current Accident Management Programme, AMP, at NvNPP was not complete due to missing SAMG, the Consultant provided recommendations for future work, including the need to develop SAMG taking special care regarding proper handling of transition from EOP to SAMG.
Reduction / cleaning of fuel assembly sediment deposits (CRUD)
The objective of this task was to develop and implement a CRUD management strategy in NvNPP Units 3&4 in order to avoid all the significant safety and operational consequences related to the deposition of sediments on fuel assemblies. In addition to presenting to NvNPP experts the state of the art on the fuel cleaning technology and the experience of Western (mainly Spanish) plants, the OSA team organized a Seminar in Asco-Vandellos NPPs to exchange knowledge directly with the Spanish Experts in the use of the Ultrasonic Technique for Cleaning (UTC) fuel assemblies. This Seminar provided good feedback to the NvNPP experts regarding the use of the Asco-Vandellos NPPs' UTC machines, expected decontamination factor, time schedule for use, troubleshooting experiences, etc. As a result of the activities performed, NvNPP concluded that the Spanish experience in fuel cleaning was fully applicable to NvNPP and decided to fabricate a fuel cleaning installation for Units 3 and 4.
Radioactive Waste Management
The objective of this task was to provide guidance and assistance in developing radioactive waste management policy and practices at NvNPP. The objective was achieved through scientific visits, workshops and meetings and by development of various documents. These include documentation supporting the development of NvNPP waste management policy, strategy, practices and quality management as well as waste minimisation. Documents on the best international practices in radioactive waste management in European NPPs, proposed methods for solid and liquid radioactive waste management at NvNPP and a conceptual proposal with recommendations for radioactive waste management at NvNPP were prepared as models to help the NvNPP experts to prepare documents and to support development of waste management guidelines, practices and strategy at NvNPP.
Monitoring of Risk at Operation and Maintenance
The objective of the task was to assess the quality of NvNPP PSA, recommending necessary changes to the model in order to permit the implementation of Risk Monitor to evaluate the impact on overall risk due to equipment/system unavailabilities during power operation. The review of the PSA was completed and recommendations for improvement were included in an evaluation report. A Risk Monitor seminar was organised for informing NvNPP experts and a Risk Monitor Implementation Guide was prepared. Further activities, planned for the follow-on contract for OSA at NvNPP, can only be performed when the recommended improvements to the PSA have been implemented by the NPP.
Containment Tightness Improvement
The objective of the task was the improvement of the containment tightness at Novovoronezh NPP Unit 5. The Consultant subcontracted the work to be performed to Czech company VUEZ. The work comprised an analysis of NvNPP Unit 5 experience, specification and analysis of tests to be performed during refuelling outage and development of a strategy for improvement of leak-tightness to be achieved at subsequent outages. As a result of the work reports were issued describing the activities performed and the results obtained, as well as recommendations for additional work to be performed in forthcoming refuelling outages. Recommendations for improving leak testing procedures and evaluating containment leakage rates, identification of locations where leakage rates should be improved and proposed measures to increase leak-tightness were provided to NvNPP in the task reports.

Hard On-Site Assistance
Concerning the different Lots of the large-scale project (R1.07/04D), the Technical Specifications, evaluation criteria and Tender Dossiers had been prepared in the framework of the previous OSA contract (R1.07/00 – contract 30564) and tendering had been successfully carried out. The contract for Lot 2 was signed in February 2007, just prior to the start of the present OSA contract, but the contracts for Lots 1, 3 and 4 were still under negotiation at that time.
Projects R1.07/03A, Lots 1 and 4, and R1.07/03B were contracted and manufacturing was underway at the start of the present contract.
The status of the different equipment supply projects at the end of the present contract was as follows:
R1.07/04D "Emergency Feedwater System for Unit 5":
o R1.07/04D, Lot 1: Motor pump sets: Factory Acceptance Tests (FAT) performed and equipment delivered in September 2009. Equipment installation completed in June 2010. Site acceptance testing performed and Provisional Acceptance Certificate issued. See contract 99580.
o R1.07/04D, Lot 2: Stop, check and control valves. FAT performed and equipment delivered in December 2009. Equipment installation completed in June 2010. See contract 129848.
o R1.07/04D, Lot 3: Pipelines and associated equipment. FAT performed and equipment delivered in stages from December 2009 to June 2010. Equipment installation from March to June 2010. Site acceptance testing performed and Provisional Acceptance Certificate issued. See contract 129486.
o R1.07/04D, Lot 4: Electrical and I & C equipment. FAT of I & C equipment and calibration bench performed and equipment delivered in November 2009 and January 2010 respectively. Scope of supply contract modified to include advanced automatic Steam Generator (SG) level controllers and removal of circuit breakers. FAT for level controllers still outstanding. See contract 129486.
R1.07/03A, Lot 1: Spare parts for the diesel generators, Unit 5. Equipment delivered January 2008. Spare parts installed in two outages in July/August 2008 and July-September 2009. Further installations to be performed in future outages. Provisional Acceptance Certificate issued in August 2008. Final Acceptance certificate issued in September 2009. Project completed. See contract 108096.
R1.07/03A, Lot 4: Spare parts for safety valves, Unit 5. Equipment delivered June 2008. Spare parts installed in two outages in July/August 2008 and July-September 2009. Further installations to be performed in future outages. Provisional Acceptance Certificate issued in August 2008. Final Acceptance certificate issued in September 2009. Project completed. See contract 108127.
R1.07/03B: Replacement of feedwater control valves, Unit 5. FAT performed November 2007 and equipment delivered December 2007. Equipment installed during outage in August 2008. Site Acceptance tests performed satisfactorily and provisional Acceptance Certificate issued in October 2008. See contract 76768.
The activities related to the further follow-up of the equipment supply projects R1.07/03B and 04D were performed in the framework of the follow-on contract for On-Site Assistance to Novovoronezh NPP (see contract 247271).