An International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) team of experts has confirmed the commitment to safety principles by the Rosenergoatom, a concern of the Russia’s Rosatom Electric Power Division.
The experts also pointed out that some of the good practices, pursued by the company can benefit the entire global nuclear community.
Rosenergoatom first hosted the OSART (Operating Safety Review Team) Mission of the IAEA from November 11 to 27, 2018, says a media release.
“From the IAEA point of view, this mission has been very successful. Experts have concluded that everything in Rosenergoatom works very well,” Peter Tarren, Head of IAEA expert mission, said.
He said, “Each organisation may strive for improvement, but what I see here in Rosenergoatom is a real commitment to safety principles.”
“I’d like to emphasise that the practices used by the company that we have found very good, will be useful to the international community and will increase nuclear safety not only at a country level, but also on a global scale,” he said during the press conference dedicated to the findings of the Mission.
Two of those are in the field of communications, and one is in the field of procurement, Tarren added.
The OSART mission included 12 experts and 2 observers from Germany, China, Canada, Republic of South Africa, Slovenia, Great Britain, France, Japan, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Iran.
The Rosenergoatom and its three branches – Balakovo, Kola and Smolensk Nuclear Power Plants—were checked in the 9 areas: corporate management, independent nuclear supervision, human resources, communications, maintenance and repair, technical support, operational experience, procurement, accident management and emergency response readiness.
In addition to the three best practices in all 9 areas, 32 areas of good work were also identified, said the release.
In the course of the work, the experts also identified six areas where further improvements are possible. They include corporate governance, independent nuclear supervision, repairs, operating experience, emergency preparedness and procurement.
Andrey Petrov, Director General of Rosenergoatom, said, “The OSART mission at Rosenergoatom has become not only another step towards improving our work in various areas, but also a unique opportunity for the first time to undergo an independent assessment of the entire company by the IAEA.”
“Before this, there were only two OSART corporate missions conducted in the world, one in CEZ, the Czech nuclear operating organization, and the other one in EDF in France. The implementation of the suggestions made by the OSART team will help us further improve the level of NPP operational safety, and the identified good practices will contribute to improving the level of nuclear safety around the world.”
The team submitted the draft report to the Rosenergoatom management, which will send its comments on the draft report to the IAEA. The final report will be sent to the Government of the Russian Federation approximately within three months. The OSART mission reports are publicly available.
The OSART mission is the oldest type of IAEA missions, recognised worldwide as a powerful tool for independent assessment of the operational safety of nuclear power plants. It aims to further develop and improve the safety of nuclear power plants through the dissemination of best practices.
Rosenergoatom is a leading enterprise of the largest Electric Power Division of Rosatom State Corporation. It is the largest generating company in Russia and the second largest in the world in terms of nuclear generating capacity. It includes all 10 Russian nuclear power plants having 35 power units with a total installed capacity of 30 GW.