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Newsletter:  Dec 2001/ Issue 1
Improving Nuclear Reactor Safety in Ukraine

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) recently completed two projects for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) that made significant contributions toward improving nuclear safety in Ukraine. These were the completion of a full-scope simulator for the Rivne Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) Unit 3, and completion of a heat plant for the Chornobyl NPP.

In May, the NNSA and Ukraine’s nuclear utility, Energoatom, recognized completion of the full-scope simulator for Rivne Unit 3. In June, the NNSA and Ukrainian counterparts (the Ministry of Fuel and Energy and Ukraine Energoatom (government organizations), Chornobyl NPP, Ukrenergoprom (Design Institute), Yuzhteploenergomontazh (General Construction Contractor), and EnergoPromInvest (General Startup Contractor) completed construction of a heat plant to be used to facilitate the decommissioning of Chornobyl. Both projects helped Ukraine meet international nuclear reactor safety standards thereby reducing the threat of nuclear accidents and the consequences such an event would have for neighboring countries and the environment.

At the acceptance ceremony of Rivne’s Unit 3 simulator, Joe Cleary, manager of the Rivne project said, “Training on this new simulator will advance the capabilities of Rivne Unit 3 operators and will lead to major improvements in the overall safety of the plant.” Full-scope simulators are complete-size physical replicas of nuclear plant control rooms, equipped with exact replicas of the switches, controllers, indicators, and other operational and safety devices found in reactor control rooms. Each simulator is designed to replicate a specific plant control room and is used to train reactor operators and supervisors to handle both regular and emergency plant operations. The Rivne simulator was designed for the site’s only Soviet-designed 950 MWe VVER-1000. The $11.5 million simulator has been on order and on schedule for installation and operation since January 1996. GSE Power Systems of Columbia, Maryland was the prime contractor on the project, with Russian and Ukrainian sub-contractors participating in construction and installation of the simulator. Rivne is scheduled to receive another simulator next year for the Rivne Unit 2 Reactor, a VVER-440/213.

Completion of the Chornobyl heat plant facilitates decommissioning of the Chornobyl NPP by removing reliance on a smaller, “back up” heat plant designed primarily for emergency heating. The back up plant was equipped to provide only for critical needs, and had been used since the December 2000 shutdown of the Unit 3 Reactor. The new heat plant will keep pipes from freezing and cracking, preventing leakage of contaminated water, and will help meet the operational needs of decommissioning facilities to be built in the near future.

The new heat plant contains all auxiliary systems necessary for safe and efficient operation. The newly completed plant consists of three 57 Mwt hot water boilers and three 40 Mwt steam boilers. It is connected to the Chornobyl heat network piping and receives electrical power from the site distribution system. The plant is primarily fueled by natural gas but can use Mazute, a heavy oil, as an alternative fuel source if necessary. The heat plant’s design permits the future addition of generators to allow generation of electrical power from the plant’s excess steam.

In October 1997, following a review of the heat plant’s original design and the development of a preliminary cost estimate for completion, Ukraine and the DOE entered into an agreement to complete the plant. Work on the plant had been halted in 1991 at 20 percent completion due to insufficient Ukrainian funding.

The United States and Ukraine provided $32.5 million and $7.5 million, respectively, to finish the project. Full scale construction recommenced in 1998, and in April 2001 the boiler-testing phase began with the successful ignition of Boiler No. 4. Construction was completed in June. Testing by the final Ukrainian State Acceptance Commission was scheduled for fall of 2001, at which time US involvement in the project ended.

“My time in Slavutych has been challenging in many ways, but overall it has been very rewarding,” said Jim Hartley, senior project manager with the International Nuclear Safety Program (INSP), who has lived in Slavutych, Ukraine for the past two years to oversee construction of the $40 million heat plant project. “It has been challenging integrating Western practices into a Ukrainian managed project, but everyone has been dedicated to keeping the project on track and staying on schedule and within budget.”

In September, PNNL began aiding Bechtel, Électricité de France, and Battelle, which manages PNNL, to fulfill a $22 million contract to manage the Shelter Implementation Plan (SIP). SIP is a project to enclose Chornobyl Reactor Unit 4 in an environmentally secure structure until the radiation level of fuel contained within the reactor dissipates enough to permit safe removal and storage.

PNNL offers regular support to the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Office of International Nuclear Safety and Cooperation. The office conducts and participates in comprehensive, cooperative efforts to reduce the risks from Soviet-designed nuclear plants through correcting major safety deficiencies and establishing safe, self-sustaining operational and maintenance infrastructures. This work is done in cooperation with other G-7 countries and international organizations.