18.11.2019  THE INFORMATION AND PUBLIC RELATION DEPARTMENT OF NOVOVORONEZH NPP

The WANO support mission has been completed at the Novovoronezh NPP

An international group of experts representing the World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO)* has completed its support mission at the Novovoronezh NPP.

Its goal is to produce practical recommendations on improving the production processes in terms of maintaining water chemistry specifications in the service water system.

The following aspects where of utmost interest for the Novovoronezh NPP: scale prevention for heat-exchange equipment, ways of maintaining water chemistry specifications in the service water system (SWS), types of reagents used for chemical cleaning and correctional equipment handling for SWS, reagentless methods of cleaning heat-exchange equipment, equipment and buildings protection from biological contamination.

Six WANO experts from Russia and Ukraine have discussed different issues with the NPP staff and presented some of the best practices. The team visited the chemical workshop, the chemical water treatment department, the 6th power block’s cooling tower. They were greatly impressed on how well the chemical workshop team members cooperate and how clean and well-maintained the equipment was.

‘We are holding this mission following a request from the Novovoronezh NPP. A meeting between professionals and specialists from different NPPs related to the Moscow office is always helpful as it helps to make the staff of the NPP more informed while the experts invited to the NPP can help it resolve particular technical challenges. This is a great supporting tool to facilitate reliable operation of the plant’s equipment’, Galim Musin, the advisor of the WANO’s Moscow office, noted.

At the closing meeting with the Novovoronezh NPP tom management, the experts have presented a draft report of the support mission listing their recommendations and suggestions on making improvements with regard to maintaining water chemistry specifications in the service water system. The recommendations and suggestions by the WANO MO experts focused on using more effective methods based on the best practices of the Balakovo, Kalinin, Rivne and Rostov NPPs.

Within a period of one month, the Novovoronezh NPP team may extend or amend the wordings of the recommendations and suggestions. Once those are finalized, the mission’s report will be officially submitted to the Novovoronezh NPP, which will have 3 months to develop an action plan on implementing those changes. 

WANO – the World Association of Nuclear Operators – is a nonprofit organization uniting all NPP operators of the world, which is over 120 companies in the industry from over 30 countries. The WANO membership is facilitated by one of multiple local offices based in Atlanta, Moscow, Paris, and Tokyo. Their activities are coordinated by the WANO office in London. The main goal of the WANO is to unite and support the operating companies. The Association fosters proactive exchange of best practices in NPP operation that help to achieve top-notch safety and reliability levels when running commercial reactors all around the globe. Under the auspices of the WANO, all operating companies can communicate between each other and exchange information in the spirit of cooperation and transparency, which helps every company learn from their counterparts’ experience, problems and best practices.

Novovoronezh NPP is a branch of Rosenergoatom JSC (a part of the largest Division of Rosatom State Corporation – Electric Power Division). The Plant is situated on the River Don bank 42 km South of Voronezh. This is the first NPP of Russia with VVER type reactors (Water-Water Power Reactors of containment type with water under pressure). Three reactors of the Plant are the main ones – the prototypes of the serial power reactors. The first power unit was commissioned in 1964, the second one - in 1969, the third one – in 1971, the fourth one – in 1972, and the fifth one – in 1980. The power units No 1 and No 2 were shut down in 1984 and 1990, respectively. The power unit No 3 was shut down in 2016 for the decommissioning events. 
The 4th power block was launched following its upgrade and life span expansion on December 27, 2018. The 1st Novovoronezh NPP-2 power block (Novovoronezh NPP 6th power block) was commissioned on December 27, 2017, with the 2nd Novovoronezh NPP-2 (Novovoronezh NPP 7th power block) following on October 31, 2019.


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