On October 14-18, 2019, a team of international experts from the Moscow Office of the WANO* held a follow-up partnership verification on the action plan that was elaborated as a result of the partnership verification of 2017.

During the week, nine specialists from the Czech Republic, Armenia, the London Office and the Moscow Office of the WANO as well as the Kola NPP (Russia) observed the operations and interviewed the personnel to evaluate the progress achieved at the Kursk NPP in various production aspects. Among those were the engineering infrastructure, operation, technical maintenance and repairs, radiation protection, production activities enhancement, fire protection and accident-prevention preparedness, leadership.

‘The Kursk NPP team demonstrated its openness and being inclined towards obtaining an impartial evaluation’, Sergey Vybornov, the head of the independent expert team and the senior advisor at the London Office of the WANO, said.

‘We always see these partnership verifications as a tool to promote safety culture and technology advancement of our company, to learn about the best practices from our colleagues at particular NPPs and the global experience in general, which is something the WANO shares with us. The partnership verifications will help us enhance the operational level and the safety of our nuclear power plant’, Alexander Uvakin, the chief engineer at the Kursk NPP, stressed.

As of now, the 1st, 2nd and 4th power blocks of the Kursk NPP function in accordance with the dispatch schedule. The 3rd power block is on planned maintenance.