NederlandsSafety & Performance - Modernisation and upgrades - services for Eastern Europe
Within the scope of the various community programmes NRG continued its involvement in projects. To improve the safety of nuclear power plants in Eastern Europe and EU countries. This included the continuation of the Financial Advisor project for Khmelnitsky-2/Rovno-4 completion, on-site assistance at Khmelnitsky as well as the monitoring of TACIS-projects in the Ukraine.
Dukovany-Triplet
During 2001 major focus within this scope was on the so-called Dukovany-Triplet. NRG, as leader of a consortium with partners NNC and British Energy, was granted a contract for 3 projects with Dukovany, Bohunice and Paks as beneficiaries. The overall effort of 26 man-years involved 19 contractual executing entities, some 70 deliverables, 9 equipment suppliers within a most demanding time frame, in addition to a major managerial/administration effort (some 2,000 managerial documents, an estimated 5,000 project-documents overall). Although one of the projects could not be fully completed (stopped at some 80% completion by EC budgetary time constraints), all further objectives of the contract were met.
1. In-service Inspection project
For the In-service Inspection project new ultrasonic inspection systems were prepared for inspecting (a) longitudinal welds in the elbow connecting the main coolant pump and (b) dissimilar material weld in transition pressuriser nozzle to pipe. In close collaboration with the regulator criteria and methodology were set and hardware parts were manufactured. The integral systems were prepared taking into account justification and validation practices set by the European ENIQ- guideline. Familiarisation of local subcontractors in the region with these working practices was part of the project.
The Dukovany nuclear power plant on the Jihlava river produces more than 20% of the electricity demand in the Czech Republic.
2. Risk Based Maintenance
The second project 'Risk Based Maintenance' aimed at enhancing safety while improving overall reliability and plant economy through optimised maintenance. Extensive basic training was provided on the methodology and current industrial practices applied, to achieve maximum benefit by probabilistic balancing of the needed maintenance activities. Using this expertise, dedicated software was provided and applied to conduct pilot evaluations on the feedwater system from Dukovany NPP and on the electrical system from Bohunice NPP. Improvement potential was confirmed. The experience gained was broadly transferred to NPP-staff for further applications.
3. Crisis Centre Organisation and Equipment
The aim of a third project (Crisis Centre Organisation and Equipment) was to enhance and harmonise effectiveness of the crisis centres at Dukovany and Bohunice also taking into account the requirements set by the regulators. Current practices in Western Europe were taken as a template and were extensively used in training and exercised through drills. The project included extensions to the crisis centres with additional equipment and additional accident simulation software.
Aerial view of the Dukovany power.
Contact
Dr. V.A. Wichers, NRG-S&P PO Box 25, 1755 ZG Petten, Netherlands tel: +31 224 564656 , fax: +31 224 56 8490, e-mail: wichers@nrg.eu