On November 11, 2016, the technical support mission of the World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO) at the Smolensk NPP came to an end. The WANO experts have reviewed the methods of the nuclear power plant’s operations in terms of temporary modifications and suggested several ways of improvement based on the best practices applied all over the world.

Temporary modifications are short-term status changes in the equipment, systems, and technological parameters compared to the power block’s project parameters (temporary changes in the electric load connection schemes, the devices, software systems, etc.).

“From time to time, we need to make changes to the project solutions to address the production issues. Before we implement a modification, we do a lot of preparatory activities to facilitate safety, which is a top priority for the nuclear power industry”, Dmitry Bazarev, a representative of the WANO Moscow office at the Smolensk NPP, said.


“The Smolensk NPP team strictly adheres to all regulatory documents and procedures on temporary modifications management”, Igor Staniy, the 3rd power block’s shift leader, said. “However, it always makes sense to exchange the best practices with your colleagues. Our counterparts from other NPPs have presented their own vision of temporary modifications management, and we will definitely implement some of their valuable recommendations”.

“The technical support mission is one of the programs that help to find a way to improve the NPP’s operation based on the international best practices”, Galim Musin, the counselor of the WANO Moscow office, noted.

The experts of the WANO Moscow office, the Kozloduy NPP (Bulgaria), the Kolsk, the Kalinin, and the Balakovo NPP have reviewed the temporary modifications implemented at the Smolensk nuclear power plant, had a look at the workplaces of the unit control room’s and the reactor unit’s operative staff, interviewed the specialists responsible for this area, reviewed the temporary modifications registration and control processes, along with the operational documents.


As a result, the expert team has drafted a preliminary report with their suggestions on how to improve the temporary modifications management process at the Smolensk NPP. In a year, the Moscow office will request that the Smolensk NPP evaluate the progress attained in this regard and the efficiency of the technical support mission.

The Smolensk nuclear power plant is a branch of the JSC "Concern Rosenergoatom". The SNPP annually issues on the average about 20 billion kilowatts hours of the electric power into country power supply system, that constitutes about 13% of the energy, developed in «Rosenergoatom Concern», and more than 80% of the Smolensk region energy, developed by the power entities.

Round the clock telephone-answering machine works and obtains information about the work of nuclear power station in the social information Center of the Smolensk nuclear power plant.
Phone number: 8(48153) 3-21-24.

The up-to-date information on the nuclear environment close to the Russian NOOs and other nuclear objects is available at www.russianatom.ru


Smolensk NPP  Information and Public Relations Administration.