OREANDA-NEWS. August 03, 2009. The heads of the Inspection Services of the Russian nuclear power plants met at Smolensk Nuclear Power Plant.

The key topic of the conference, organized by the General Inspectorate of Energoatom Concern OJSC, was the methods to ensure the safety of the plants.

Particularly, the chief inspectors considered the results of the analysis of the safety and efficiency of the plants in Jan-June 2009. Deputy General Inspector of Eneregoatom Concern Igor Zonov said that the safety of the plants had been confirmed by all national supervisory agencies and foreign experts. The latter rate the Russian NPPs among the safest in the world.
 
The chief inspectors also discussed ways to enhance the efficiency of their services.

The new tasks the nuclear industry is facing today require the reorganization of the inspection services. “We must keep pace so as to timely appear with recommendations on how to improve our industrial and occupational safety in the present economic situation and to prevent possible deficiencies at early stages. In order to achieve these goals, we have drafted a large-scale three-year program to enhance the efficiency of our safety control system formulated as “Strategic Goals and Tasks of the General Inspectorate in 2009–2010.” Priority is given to the introduction of new troubleshooting methods and the effective selection and training of personnel for the inspection services.”

The conferees examined new methods and approaches to safety assessment and the specific measures each plant is undertaking to effective assess its safety. Balakovov, Volgodonsk and Kola NPPs have already introduced the new system and, now, the Concern is considering the possibility of implementing similar projects at two other plants. Smolensk NPP is one of them. “Smolensk Nuclear Power Plant has long been among the safest Russian plants. It gives top priority to onsite and occupational safety and is always among the first to apply innovations”.

Next year all Russian NPPs will introduce a new safety control method – method of numerical evaluation.

The conferees pointed out that transition to an innovative safety control system is one of the key tasks of the inspection services for the near future.

The conference has reconfirmed the priority of operating safety for the Russian nuclear power plants.

Smolensk NPP is branch of Energoatom Concern OJSC, 100% subsidiary of Atomenergoprom OJSC. The plant is situated in the south of Smolensk region, 6km from Desnogorsk. The plant has three graphite-cooled channel-type reactors (RBMK-1000). The units were launched in 1982, 1985 and 1990.