13.02.2020  THE INFORMATION AND PUBLIC RELATION DEPARTMENT OF NOVOVORONEZH NPP

The preparations for the international WANO partnership verification has begun at the Novovoronezh NPP

As part of preparations for the partnership verification scheduled for this December, the Novovoronezh NPP has hosted a business meeting featuring the representatives of the Moscow WANO Office.

A partnership verification is one of the ways the WANO handles its work with nuclear power plants. Starting 2014, partnership verifications have been following a new methodology: when evaluating the NPP operation level, the design specifications of each power block are taken into account.

For two days, the experts were speaking to the nuclear power plant’s management and staff discussing the specifics and the details of the upcoming event: the organization and the methodology of the partnership verification, how to prepare the data for it, how to draft an NPP project information summary, the tools and the templates utilized to organize a partnership verification. The guests focused on analyzing the fundamental features of the NPP safety and preparing a conclusion taking into account the operational experience.

‘The first nuclear power plant to host the partnership verification following a new methodology held by the Moscow regional WANO office was the Temelin NPP in the Czech Republic. In 2020, partnership verifications of such format are planned for the Paksh NPP in Hungary and the Novovoronezh and Beloyarsk NPPs in Russia. The team of experts will comprise representatives of all regional WANO centers’, Andrey Podoprigora, the counsellor of the Moscow WANO center, said.

The Novovoronezh NPP has strong experience hosting international missions. In the context of its cooperation with the WANO, the Novovoronezh NPP holds around 30 different events annually. In 2015, the 5th power block concluded the OSART mission held by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). OSART mission is scheduled in 2023 for the 4th and the 6th power blocks.

The outcomes of the international missions and verifications confirm that the staff is highly professional and the Novovoronezh NPP sticks to high international standards of operational safety and reliability.

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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