A BENCHMARKING AT THE RIVNE NPP

13.04.2021

A BENCHMARKING AT THE RIVNE NPP

At the Rivne NPP a benchmarking organized by the WANO-MC on the topic of “Evaluation of the effectiveness of performing maintenance activities on the NPP equipment” was held, in which the Armenian NPP specialists also participated.

In the course of the week the nuclear specialists exchanged experiences, ideas and practices in the field of «Maintenance and Repair». Pavel Kovtonyuk, the Rivne NPP Chief Engineer highlighted the mutual benefit of such meetings: «For the Rivne NPP nuclear specialists, the experience of the Armenian colleagues in turbines operation at increased power, following the high-pressure cylinders replacement by the Kharkiv factory, is also of interest, since we are planning to implement a similar replacement at the Rivne NPP Units in future».

The Rivne NPP maintenance specialists provided presentations on:

  • Maintenance system organization at SS “Rivne NPP”;
  • Implementation of measures aimed at ensuring foreign materials exclusion (FME) from the open equipment  (FME);
  • Maintenance organization for safety-critical systems equipment.

The visitors got familiarized with the maintenance practices performed at open equipment of Turbine Department and Reactor Department, with the practice of training the maintenance personnel on simulators, including the training on human error prevention techniques for the maintenance personnel. The reporting documentation on the repairs conducted was reviewed and the issues on organizing activities to reduce dose loads were discussed.

«The Rivne NPP has not been chosen by chance for experience exchange. The experience of the Rivne NPP to organize maintenance area is exemplary for us. I relate this to a strong team of professionals and efficient management. The WANO activity is based on three principles: to evaluate, to compare and to implement. The quality of the maintenance conducted can be evaluated proceeding from the absence of the emergency shutdowns and recurrent repairs, which, certainly, affects safe operation as a whole. Nevertheless, to effectively assess the quality of your work on maintenance and repair, you should compare it to the best practices which the Rivne NPP colleagues have got»,- stated Sergey Kenjetsyan, the coordinator of the visit, the WANO-MC representative at the Armenian NPP site.

The experience presented by the colleagues from the Rivne NPP will be carefully studied with a view to formulating particular recommendations to improve problematic areas.