U1.01/06 On-Site assistance to Rovno NPP

The aims of the On-Site Assistance at the RNPP have been:

1. to improve operational safety culture of the RNPP (Soft OSA) through general On-Site Assistance to RNPP eg.

Assistance to the plant, upon their request, in any aspect related to nuclear safety; assessment and/or improvement or plant operation;
Short term training activities/courses on nuclear safety issues
and through implementation of specific operational safety actions including the following specific tasks:

• a) Improvement of existing maintenance system at Rivne NPP.
• b) Near misses reporting system
• c) Development of Alarm sheets for the main control room of both VVER 440 and 1000 reactors
• d) Radwaste management
• e) Decommissioning strategy

2. Hard On-Site Assistance for the implementation of the Plant Improvement Project (PIP) and follow-up of the installation of the first PIP equipment project 
Implementation of the Plant Improvement Project (PIP) by
Developing of Tender dossiers for the processing of RNPP Solid radioactive waste with the use of high-technology equipment:

• Retrieval equipment
• Different treatment processes (identification, segmentation, sorting)
• Compactor and ancillary equipment
• Radiochemistry equipment including spectrometric waste characterisation
• Cementation facilities
• Finalising of first PIP equipment supply

U1.01/01A (Reconstruction of the Primary circuit overpressure protection system at unit 1 & 2).

A permanent Site Coordination Unit (SCU) was assigned to the tasks and responsible experts from the consortium and RNPP were nominated.
The SOFT OSA activities were made up in separate phases

• Visioning/fact finding phase i.e. comprehensive exchange and review on the current situation between experts of RNPP and consortium experts using Initial Status Reports prepared by RNPP 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 visits, workshops and training at contractors NPPs and facilities. The outcome of those activities were:

a) Improvement of existing maintenance system at Rivne NPP by

• provision of maintenance system software useful for future integration into the RNPP system
• provision of a preventive maintenance analysis and recording tool

The Reliability Centred Maintenance (RCM) System has been used on two pilot systems and the results and recommendations has been discussed and reported in final topic report.

b) Near misses reporting system by

• provision of a sophisticated system based on British Energy operational experience feedback (OEF)

Near miss reporting procedures have been developed and approved by RNPP. The plant started a pilot project on the implementation of the developed procedures.

c) Development of Alarm sheets for the main control room of both VVER 440 and 1000 reactors

• Presentation of operational proven German and UK methods and tools on Alarm Sheets in electronic format at the main control room
• Provision of 150 Alarm sheets for unit 1 and 240 alarm sheets at unit 2

A guideline for the development of RNPP alarm sheets was prepared in close cooperation with the RNPP experts. All agreed and developed alarm sheets were verified and validated with the use of the full-scope simulator and approved by RNPP.

d) Radwaste management

• transfer of best methods for solid & liquid radwaste management developed specific for VVER design
• A recommendation report was developed and a final report covering three technical areas of the rad waste management were issued.

e) Decommissioning strategy

• Presentation of the UK strategic planning system (SPS) and VVER Decommissioning Management System (DeManS) implemented and proven in practice

A draft of a decommissioning concept was developed and discussed with RNPP.
All the recommendations and activities of the SOFT OSA topics were reported in the relevant topic reports.

The Hard On-Site Projects concerned the implementation of Specific Projects aimed at improving the intrinsic safety of the installation. This included the finalization of several projects financed under previous TACIS budgets that started before signature of the Contract. The Hard On-site Assistance activities were as follow:

• Finalising of first PIP equipment supply

The safety valves delivered under the co-financed project "U1.01/01A - Primary Circuit Overpressure Protection" were installed under the supervision of the contractor in October 2007 at unit 1 and in November 2007 at unit 2. The supply project has been successful completed with issuing of the Final Acceptance Certificate in December 2008.

• Developing of Tender dossiers for the processing of RNPP Solid radioactive waste with the use of high-technology equipment

In the frame of a previous service contract an overall concept and technical specification for five lots of the new Solid Radwaste Treatment Facility have been developed in cooperation with Energoatom. In cooperation with the stake holders The technical specifications were revised and the Tender procedure EuropeAid/125185/D/SUP/UA for Lot 1-5 was published in September 2007. The five lots were as follow:

1. Lot 1: U1.01/06A-Lot1 “Retrieval facility”
2. Lot 2: U1.01/06A-Lot2 “Fragmentation and sorting facility”
3. Lot 3: U1.01/06A-Lot3 “Super Compaction facility”
4. Lot 4: U1.01/06A-Lot4 “Activity measurement”
5. Lot 5: U1.01/06A-Lot5 “Cementation facility”

For Lot 4 a contract was awarded. The tender procedure for Lot 1, 2, 3 and 5 failed as well as the similar tender procedure for the Radwaste project for Zaporozhye NPP. The Tendering strategy has been changed with the direct consequence of modification of Tender documents and retendering. The contract was adjusted with an additional task "re-tendering" by an addendum. The consortium modified the radwaste concept for RNPP and developed the Tender documentation. The tender procedure was launched in two sequences.

Sequence 1: EuropeAid/126869/D/SUP/UA - Solid Radioactive Waste treatment complex at Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant Project U1.03/06A1 Energodar, Zaporozhye Region – Ukraine and Solid Radioactive Waste Treatment Facility for Rovno Nuclear Power Plant Project U1.01/06A1 Kuznetsovsk, Rovno Region – Ukraine

1. Lot 1 “Incinerator facility” - for Zaporozhye NPP
2. Lot 2 “Emission Monitoring System for the Incinerator lot1”
3. Lot 3 "Two Supercompacting facilities” - one for Zaporozhye NPP and one for Rovno NPP

The tender procedure was successful and the supply contracts were signed in November 2008.
Sequence 2: EuropeAid/127041/D/SUP/UA - Solid Radioactive Waste Treatment Facility for Rovno Nuclear Power Plant – Retrieval, Fragmentation & Sorting Facility Project U1.01/06A2 Kuznetsovsk, Rovno Region – Ukraine

1. Lot 1 “Retrieval facility”
2. Lot 2 “Fragmentation and sorting facility”

The tender procedure was successful and the supply contracts were signed in December 2008.

• Support and supervision of the Implementation of the radwaste project

The SCU supported, coordinated and supervised the implementation of radwaste project. The contractor arranged the Kick-off meeting for each supply project, coordinated the workflow between supplier, RNPP, Energoatom, Design Institue and the Regulator. Specific attention was given to the modification and preparation of the existing radwaste building necessary for the installation of the equipment. By the end of this service contract the implementation of the radwaste project was ongoing.