U1.01/00 On-site technical assistance ROVNO NPP

ROVNO NPP (RAES) is composed of 3 reactors in operation (2 WWER 440/213 and 1 WWER 1000/320). In addition to the general co-ordination and the support necessary to implement the follow up and surveillance of related Specific TACIS projects, the present General Operational Assistance contract concerns:

Assistance to the Plant Staff in the implementation of the NPP’s Modernisation Programme.
Identify, propose and implement after agreement by the End User and the EC, activities related to Job experience interchange.
Provision to ROVNO NPP of support with the strengthening of their Quality Assurance Programme implementation and control.
Organise Experience Exchanges on specific topics on NPP operation.
This contract is the continuation of the General Operational Assistance programmes covering the different final phases of TACIS 95, 96, 97 and Direct Agreement (Contracts referenced n 96.5312.00, 97.0703, 99.0110 and 98.0352 - U1.01/95, U1.01/96 ).

This project aimed at improving the Operational Safety of ROVNO NPP, in particular:

to carry out the Specific Safety Related projects taking into account the steps revealed from the feedback of other projects and to be performed on these Specific Projects including equipment supply,
to implement General Operational Safety Assistance (GOSA) activities, including technical exchanges with twinned GOLFECH NPP and methodological exchanges on specific topics,
to support ROVNO NPP in the field of the Safety Improvement including supporting the licensing process through the 2+2 approach,
to give Assistance and/or Surveillance during implementation of the different project tasks.

Despite of the short duration of the General Operational Assistance, several technical methodological exchanges were organised by the EDF OSA team with ROVNO NPP engineers and technicians:

Secondary Water Conditioning
During several meetings held in May, June and July 2002 with ROVNO chemists, the following topics were discussed:

presentation of technical papers presented by EDF at the international conference “CHEMISTRY 2002” organised by the French Nuclear Society (SFEN) in Avignon (France);
several papers concerning international and EDF experience feedback on ethanol-amine conditioning were translated into Russian. A CD-ROM was handed over to ROVNO chemists;
EDF experience feedback concerning morpholine conditioning. The procedure of analytical measurement of morpholine content was translated;
EDF experience feedback concerning ethanol-amine conditioning. The procedure of analytical measurement of ethanol-amine content was translated into Russian;
presentation of test results of Saint Alban NPP. The conclusion of the final report as well as the French technical justification documentation submitted to the French Safety Authority were translated and transmitted to ROVNO NPP;
comparison between morpholine and ethanol-amine on liquid effluent volume produced.
Fuel Sipping Test
During a technical meeting, organised by EDF OSA on the 1/10/02, the following topics were presented and discussed:

EDF requirements and instructions for a clean core (DI 024). This document was translated into Russian.
Test method and equipment implemented on site by EDF and by ROVNO NPP.
International experience feedback on fuel test system used on WWER (Balakovo, Bohunice, Kozloduy and Paks).
In addition to the General Operational Assistance, several technical methodological exchanges were organised by the EDF OSA team with ROVNO NPP engineers and technicians that involved technical exchanges on safety culture conducted at GOLFECH NPP in July 2002.
Safety risk analysis on safety components
As done for the implementation of SG Safety Valve replacement, a Safety Risk Analysis has to be conducted on Safety Related Components in order to have confidence in the organisation adopted to implement the new equipment.
Non-conformance reports have to be issued in common between ROVNO NPP, the Supplier and the EU Contractor for each deviation that was pointed out during the implementation phase. These non-conformance reports insure that corrective measures were taken to solve the deviations.

Identification of future methodological exchanges
Within the framework of the new P.I.P. TACIS project, the following future methodological exchanges were identified in common with ROVNO NPP :

management of projects,
qualification of sub-contractors.

4) Comments
This project was fully completed in October 2002 with the issuance and signature of the Certificate of the Final acceptance.

Further Information
Further information on the project results could be sought from the beneficiary organizations.

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