One of the stages of the peer review of the Moscow Center of the World Association of Nuclear Power Plant Operators (WANO) was completed at the Smolensk NPP - monitoring the work of the unit control room personnel (UCR) on a full-scale simulator.

They were performed according to the international "Crew Performance Observation" (CPO) methodology, which is widely used at nuclear power plants around the world. Their goal is to assess the ability of the control room workers to respond to failures in various operating modes of the unit, the ability of a full-scale simulator to simulate the actual operating modes of the equipment and the ability of the simulator instructors to create a realistic environment that is as close as possible to the situation in a real control room.

Let us recall that since 2020 such observations of the operation of the control room operators are a mandatory part of peer reviews, and the SNPP has become a pilot among nuclear power plants with RBMK reactors.

“The work on the simulator was attended by shift No. 3 and No. 5 of unit control rooms. The scenarios were quite complex and long in time - from 1.5 to 2.5 hours, - says Sergey Orlov, deputy head of the reactor department of the SNPP, who participated in the peer review. “This is a very good practice, which allowed us to evaluate the application of the basic principles of the operators' work, the level of interaction in the shift, to see potential errors, to compare the level of operation with the world standards of high quality”.

At the final meeting, the head of the CPO team, Semyon Aksenov, noted the openness of the employees of the Smolensk nuclear power plant, prompt and complete provision of the necessary information, interest in cooperation and constructive interaction. “This is very important for effective work in our area of peer review. After all, the main thing in the CPO is not facts and areas for improvement, but interaction with colleagues - highly qualified specialists, exchange of experience and knowledge,” he stressed.

The management and staff of the SNPP highly appreciated the format of the exercise based on the CPO methodology. They plan to introduce it into the unit control room personnel training program. “This will actually become a new stage in the development of training sessions at the Smolensk NPP - higher and more complex, but very useful, first of all, in improving the safety of the nuclear power plant and the quality of training of operating personnel,” said First Deputy Chief Engineer Vadim Skirda.

Full-scale simulator (FSS) is the main technical tool for training the operators of the unit control room. While undergoing training or maintaining qualifications at the FSS, the operating personnel have the opportunity to practice all the necessary skills for controlling the power unit in various modes and prepare for work on the existing equipment.