U2.01/04 - Scientific, technical and organisational support to the institute SE-SETC (ref AP 7.2.2.1) at Kiev, Ukraine

Ukraine has established a comprehensive programme on modernization and safety improvement of operating NPPs addressing safety requirements of national norms, codes and standards, IAEA recommendations on safety improvement of NPPs with VVER-type reactors and measures of further NPP safety improvement.
To receive scientific and technical support in these nuclear safety related issues, Energoatom established a special sub-division (SE) called ‘Scientific and Technical Centre’ (SE-STC) on 27 March 2003. The purpose of the SE-STC has been to provide sound technical expertise in operation, maintenance, safety and reliability assessment, reactor physics and radiochemistry of the nuclear power plants. The SE-STC was also supposed to implement an internal quality management system according to ISO 9000 with the aim to get ISO certificate.
To achieve adequate performance of SE-STC according to all expectations, Ukraine requested technical assistance from the EU in development of specialized technical skills as well as quality management system at the SE-STC. The European Commission therefore launched the U2.01/04 project on scientific, technical and organisational support to SE-STC (End User of the project).

The objective of the project was to establish a set of internal capabilities including an ISO-based QA system at SE-STC for the SE-STC to satisfy Energoatom’s specific needs for technical support. In addition to the general project management (Task 1), the following technical tasks had to be implemented according to the project Terms of Reference (ToR):
Task 2 - Improvement of SE-STC organizational processes including:
2.1 - Review of the internal SE-STC organizational structure and identification of main processes at SE-STC to be addressed in the Quality Assurance system,
2.2 - Recommendations for the development of safety management system at SE-STC – transfer of knowledge in dealing with challenging issues in NPP design,
2.3 - Development of SE-STC Quality Assurance system,
2.4 - Training of STC personnel on QA management and requirements;
Task 3 - Improvement of existing systems of configuration management of Ukrainian NPPs and equipment reliability analysis including:
3.1 - Review of the existing system of design configuration management of Ukrainian NPPs, identification of potential issues and transfer the actual western know-how,
3.2 - Review of the existing system for reliability analysis of mechanical, electrical and I & C components at NPPs in Ukraine, recommendations for improvement of the existing system or development of a new one and preparation of a methodical guidance for component failure data collection, definition of component boundaries, and establishment of reliability criteria.

The project was implemented in 28 months from 18 January 2008 to 17 May 2010.
On 27.4.2009, the Contract Addendum No.1 was signed replacing the originally required subtask 3.1 “Review and improvement of existing system for data collection and analysis of operational events from all Ukrainian NPPs” by the “Review and improvement of existing system of engineering support to configuration management for Ukrainian NPPs”. The reason for this replacement was that due to organizational changes, the operational event analyses had not been in SE STC portfolio of activities anymore at that time. The originally planned project duration of 24 months was extended by 4 months in the contract addendum No. 2 signed on 15 January 2010.
Within the Task 2, the Consultant performed the following:
For the Subtask 2.1, the Consultant evaluated actual organizational structure and management processes at SE STC against the WANO Performance Objectives applicable to support organisations like SE-STC and provided recommendations for elimination of apparent deviations from the objectives. In addition, a Questionnaire on the safety management system for the upper management has been prepared and example of processes in Technical Support Organization for Spanish NPPs has been delivered to the SE-STC.
For the Subtask 2.2, the Consultant described approaches at Spanish NPPs to safety culture indicators, outlined methods of company performance self-assessment in Iberdrola, explained development of strategic plans and distribution of STC-like engineering activities within Iberdrola Group and reviewed STC development plan. In addition, 2 one-week study tours to Madrid and Cofrentes NPP were organized for SE STC personnel in May 2009 (3 SE STC managers) and June 2009 (4 SE STC staff members).
For the Subtask 2.3, the Consultant compared the existing SE-STC quality management system, with the requirements of the standard (ISO 9001:2008) and prepared a draft quality manual and set of new QA procedures complementing the existing ones to produce a complete and coherent set of QA documents for SE STC.
For the Subtask 2.4, the Consultant provided training to SE-STC staff on the requirements of ISO 9001 and specific features introduced in the SE-STC Quality Management System; training materials were prepared and two one-week training courses were organized in Beneficiary premises in Kiev in June and July 2009.
As follows from the above summary, results of the subtasks 2.1 and 2.2 were not fully compliant with the original ToR objectives; however, they were approved and accepted by the Beneficiary and End User.
Within the Task 3, the Consultant performed the following:
For the Subtask 3.1, the Consultant presented a general overview and requirements of plant design configuration management (CM) processes (using IAEA, INPO guidelines) and provided examples on western plant configuration change management systems (EPRI, Cofrentes NPP guidelines). A study tour to discuss with relevant experts about practical issues of CM implementation was organized for 2 SE STC staff members at Cofrentes NPP in March 2010.
For the Subtask 3.2, the Consultant presented to the End User a Spanish system for collection of component reliability data, examples of the data format and content of the reports (logs) used in Spain to collect basic reliability information. The Consultant then analysed a data sample from the Ukrainian Reliability Database (UBDN) (number of failures of specific equipment over a period of time and unavailability time over that period) and made recommendations on improving UBDN deficiencies (like data incompleteness). The Consultant also provided a Methodological Guide for a component reliability data collection, including types of components, component reliability database information, information sources, component codes and generation of reliability data for PSA.
Results of the technical tasks have been presented in 6 technical reports and delivered to the Beneficiary and EC.