OREANDA-NEWS. August 27, 2012.  From 15 till 24 August 2012 a commission of Rosenergoatom conducted an integrated safety check at Kursk NPP.

The commission listed specialists from the Inspectorate General, departments of the utility’s central administration, Leningrad, Novovoronezh, Beloyarsk and Balakovo nuclear power plants, Technological Branch of Rosenergoatom and Atomenergoremont.

“The main objectives of the check were expert evaluation of safety at Kursk NPP, identification of trends in safety level, and search for rooms for improvement,” Pavel Medvedev, chairman of the commission and Head of the Department for Safety Inspections, said.

During a week and half 26 commission members were studying the state of things in the areas such as: maintenance and repair; engineering support; operating experience, service life management and modernization; radiation protection and environmental protection; fire protection; training and qualification of the personnel; conditions of equipment, buildings, structures and territory; and quality management system. During the check the commission members walked down the plant site and work places, observed work of the personnel, inspected conditions of equipment in critical shops, interviewed plant managers and personnel, and reviewed documentation.

For the first time the check was conducted using a new methodology introduced in Rosenergoatom on a pilot scale. It has been produced with the account taken of inspections conducted by EDF (France), WANO’s peer reviews and IAEA’s recommendations.

At the finalizing meeting with the top managers of the plant commission chairman Pavel Medvedev noted that on the whole requirements of standards and guiding documents of Rosenergoatom on the topics checked at Kursk NPP were observed. The commission identified strong points and bottlenecks of the plant operations.