NT Engineering shared their experience in implementing risk-informed approaches

On October 3-4, the specialists of NT-Engineering LLC took part in the seminar "Implementation of Risk-Informed Approaches in the Operation of NPPs" held at Rivne NPP.

The event was held in Varash city with the participation of representatives of the SNRIU, the State Scientific and Technical Center on Nuclear and Radiation Safety (SSTC NRS), NT-Engineering LLC, NNEGC Energoatom and its separated units (SU), technical center (STC), “Atomremontservis”, “Rivne”, “Yuzhno-Ukrainska”, “Zaporizhzhya” and “Khmelnitsky” NPP, as well as a representative of JSC NPP-MC.

The seminar was organized with the aim to discuss the existing problematic issues and find their solutions, to analyze all developments in the field of risk-informed decision-making at Ukrainian NPPs. Particular attention was paid to the state of implementation of the pilot Project "Outage Optimization Program for Systems Important to Safety Using Plant Configuration Risk Management" (the Project) implemented for the Unit # 2 of the Zaporizhzhya NPP by the US Department of Energy with the involvement of the Argonne National Laboratory, within the framework of which NT-Engineering LLC performs work on probabilistic and repair directions.

During the seminar, experts from SSTC NRS, NT-Engineering, ZNPP, KhNPP, SUNPP and the SU SSTC discussed the experience of developing and implementing risk-informed approaches at Ukrainian NPPs. In their turn, the specialists of NT-Engineering LLC provided information on the status of the Project implementation at the Unit # 2 of the ZNPP. In particular, information was provided on the implementation status of the Project, the stages of implementation, the results obtained and the expected results.

It was noted that successful implementation of the Project will allow to increase the economic performance of the unit without reducing the achieved safety level, to obtain information on the current level of risk based on the current values of the safety features of the CDF (core damage frequency) and LRF (large release frequency), to immediately assess security solutions, and optimally plan repair work.

As a result of the seminar, there was analyzed the work in the area of risk-informed decision-making in the nuclear industry, there were discussed the existing problematic issues and suggested ways to solve them. There was noted the interest of all participants of the seminar in the successful implementation of the Project at the pilot power unit with the further extension to all Ukrainian NPP units.