Kalinin NPP: a visit of permanent representatives to international organizations in Vienna

12-2-2013 — /europawire.eu/ — On the 5th and 6th of February, a group of permanent representatives to international organizations in Vienna visited Kalinin nuclear power plant upon the invitation of ROSATOM and MFA of the Russian Federation.

The delegation included ambassadors, experts and counselors on atomic energy issues, permanent representatives from Armenia, China, Czech Republic, Egypt, France, Germany, Hungary, Iran, Japan, Jordan, Lithuania, Republic of Korea, Romania, Russia and United Arab Emirates.

The visit’s goal was to familiarize with modern Russian technologies of construction and operation of NPPs and the cooperation in the peaceful use of atomic energy.

According to Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to International Organizations in Vienna Vladimir Voronkov, this visit of ambassadors can be considered a preparation for the IAEA Conference “Nuclear Power in the 21st Century,” which will be held in Saint-Petersburg on June 27-29, 2013. The choice of the conference-hosting country is an indicator of great achievements of such state in this area.

“The current year is called “The Year of Russia” in the IAEA. These are words voiced by Director General Yukiya Amano, and this is a very weighty indicator of what role this country plays in the development of nuclear power across the world,” V. Voronkov said.

The Kalinin NPP visit program included a meeting and technical tours of the plant industrial site, training center and Public Information Сenter.

Vladimir Asmolov, the First Deputy Director General of Rosenergoatom and President of the World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO), made the presentation. The main topics were safety systems and additional equipment supplied to the Russian plants in frames of the special measures based on analyses of the event at Fukushima-Daiichi NPP in Japan.

“At the national level we did a thorough analysis of the events at Fukushima-Daiichi NPP. And checks of the in-depth protection efficiency were carried out at each of the Russian NPPs. We considered potential external events which are typical of each plant host region, and we tried to capture various combinations of external events, even most unthinkable. As a result a short-term and long-term action program was developed. By date, all short-term measures in this area have been completed. All necessary equipment for NPPs was purchased, delivered and put in operation. These are mobile diesel generators, diesel pumps, motor-driven pumps; a total of 182 equipment items totaling about US500 Million,” Vladimir Asmolov said.

The technical tour of Kalinin NPP started from the examination of the equipment supplied to Kalinin NPP in the framework of implementation of post-Fukushima measures and intended to improve the plant’s stability to extreme impacts. “Unit 4 was the first one where additional measures to manage severe beyond design basis accidents were implemented in frames of standard design solutions,” Kalinin Plant Manager Mikhail Knyshev said. “The entire set of the additional machinery was purchased and is in orderly, operation-ready state. Though we have sufficient design means of process control and rendering the reactor safe, however, we undertake the measures, which are safety important, by this demonstrating the conservative approach and pragmatism,” he said.

As regards the visit outcomes, the guests highly appraised the level of safety of the Russian NPPs, as well as professionalism of specialists working in the [nuclear] industry and their openness. The permanent representatives think that the experience in carrying out “post-Fukushima” measures at the Russian NPPs was especially useful for them.

Sharing his impressions, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the UAE to International Organizations in Vienna Hamad Ali Alkabi said: “We certainly have been very interesting to study the work of the Russian experts, which, I note, are constantly monitoring the improvement in the provision of nuclear safety.” He also expressed gratitude to the Russian Government and the Atomic State Corporation ROSATOM for the opportunity and said that Russia abides by its obligations in respect of safety and is working closely on this with the global nuclear community.

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