Visitors from Germany and Norway have come to the Pilot Shutdown Demonstration Facility (PSDF) (an affiliate company of the Rosenergoatom, Joint-Stock Company, a part of the Rosatom’s Electric Power division) to discuss some aspects of scientific and technological cooperation on shutting down nuclear power blocks.

Among the meeting participants were also representatives of the Russian NPPs that have power blocks shut down or in the process of being shut down: the Novovoronezh NPP, the Beloyarsk NPP, the Leningrad NPP, etc.

The representatives of the leading German companies presented a report on the Nord NPP shutdown process, specifically, on some aspects of the dismantled and operational waste conditioning development, setting up the shutdown infrastructure, setting up a structure to handle high-level radioactive wastes, and the process of managing the shutdown.

Their Russian counterparts have shared their experience of shutting down the Novovoronezh NPP’s 1st and 2nd power blocks and demonstrated the technologies used at the PSDF. ‘Our German partners were greatly impressed with our expertise in shutdown. In the meantime, we found it very helpful to learn from our German counterparts about the way they shut down the Nord NPP’s reactors built based on the Russian designs’, Natalia Safronova, the head of nuclear power plants’ shutdown department at the Joint-Stock Company Rosenergoatom, said.

Rosenergoatom has been working closely with the Northern European countries since 1992, and this cooperation was initiated by the foreign counterparts. During that time, the Northern European countries have been providing technical guidance to help improve operational safety of the Leningrad and the Kolsk NPPs.

Since 2015, the partners have been working together in the realm of scientific and technical collaboration applicable for all NPPs of Rosenergoatom.

In May 2017, the representatives of the Northern European countries paid their first visit to the PSDF to discuss the subject of shutdown. Then, during the Technical Committee meeting, a decision was reached to establish a joint working group discussing the aspects of power blocks’ shutdown, to let the PSDF, the Leningrad NPP and the Beloyarsk NPP employees take part in the training workshops held by the German company called ‘Energiewerke Nord GmbH’ at the Greifswald NPP’s facilities, as well as to invite foreign specialists to train the staff of the Novovoronezh, the Leningrad, the Kolsk and the Beloyarsk NPPs

The Russian nuclear power experts made a reciprocal visit to Germany, which means that this visit to the PSDF is the third meeting between the parties. As a part of ongoing cooperation, the Russian team is planning to visit the Stade NPP in Germany and the Swedish Studsvik companies in 2019.