Over the past 40 years, Ukrainian nuclear power plants have evolved from the Soviet system to international safety standards.. The story of these changes was told by Economic Truth in a special project dedicated to the anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster. The accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in 1986 became the first level seven nuclear disaster on the international INES scale and forced us to reconsider approaches to the safety of nuclear energy. In the USSR, reactor design and personnel training were improved, and in 1988, document OPB-88 was approved, which established the principles of safety culture and defense in depth. After gaining independence, Ukraine gradually moved away from Soviet approaches and began to harmonize the regulatory framework with international standards. In 2000, the document GAAP-2000 was adopted, and in 2008 - “General Safety Provisions for Nuclear Power Plants” (NP 306. 141-2008), harmonized with IAEA standards. In practice, these changes are being implemented, in particular, at the Rivne NPP as part of the Comprehensive Program for Improving the Safety of Power Units, adopted by the Ukrainian government after the accident at the Fukushima NPP in 2011. " It has been implemented since 2012 and currently more than 1,100 program activities have been completed. Since 2014, the EBRD and Euratom have joined in financing this program,” says Rivne NPP Director Taras Tkach. After the start of the full-scale Russian invasion, the station adapted security systems to new risks, in particular the loss of external power supply. “As of 2022, Ukraine had two factors on its side: a high level of implementation of the mentioned post-Fukushima activities and the implemented nuclear fuel diversification project with the involvement of Westinghouse. This project began as a diversification of supply sources, and has now ensured a complete shift away from fuel produced in the Russian Federation.. Now it’s difficult to even imagine how nuclear power plants would operate if it was impossible to supply nuclear fuel from the Russian Federation,” notes Tkach. To increase the stability of safety systems at Rivne NPP, additional power supplies have been created with the participation of Argonne National Laboratory. “After the start of the full-scale Russian invasion, assistance from Argonne National Laboratory was significantly expanded and covered not only the scientific and technical sphere, but also the practical strengthening of the safety infrastructure of Ukrainian nuclear power plants. In particular, during this period, Ukrainian stations received mobile diesel generators, projects were implemented to protect transformers from explosions, and support was provided for the modernization of open distribution installations. In addition, support was provided to AT NAEK Energoatom in improving emergency documentation and introducing components that are manufactured at AT NAEK Energoatom’s own production facilities,” says Igor Bodnar, head of international projects at Argonne National Laboratory.. In addition, the Rivne NPP has implemented an external cooling system for the reactor vessel with the participation of VUEZ and a long-term heat removal system developed by Westinghouse.

“Together with an additional system for long-term heat removal from the reactor plant developed by Westinghouse, which is being implemented at the Rivne NPP, these systems are jointly capable of ensuring the integrity of the third and fourth physical barriers: the coolant circuit and the reactor plant containment,” says Tkach. According to him, these decisions became possible thanks to a combination of international support and the transition of the Ukrainian nuclear industry to modern safety standards. News on Telegram and WhatsApp. Subscribe to our channels https://t. me/korrespondentnet and WhatsApp Author: 1.