On August 5, 2022, a three-day visit to the Novovoronezh NPP of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) delegation ended. Agency experts participated in the preparations for the OSART mission scheduled to be held in the NVNPP in March 2024.

A distinctive feature of the upcoming mission is that it will take place simultaneously at two power unit No. 4 and No. 6 of the nuclear power plant.

The participants of the meeting discussed organizational issues of assessing the state of operational safety of the NVNPP. The IAEA presentation included the OSART methodology, plant walk-down techniques, and an overview of trends and key findings from recent OSART missions.

The NVNPP specialists, under the guidance of IAEA experts, conducted a training walk-down, basically by simulating the main stages of the upcoming OSART mission. The purpose of the walk-down was to familiarize the nuclear plant personnel with the methodology for developing areas for improvement.

“The OSART mission, which took place in 2015, helped to significantly improve the operational safety level of power unit No. 5 of the Novovoronezh NPP. We made sure that this is a very effective tool for improving operational safety. Power unit No. 4 and No. 6 are next in line. The NVNPP continues to actively improve in this direction,” said Vladimir Povarov, director of the Novovoronezh NPP.

The OSART mission is one of the IAEA activities aimed at assessing nuclear power plants in terms of international standards and requirements, identifying the strengths of nuclear power plants that can be useful for other nuclear power plants, operating organizations, and detecting areas for possible improvements.