Public Hearings on Rivne NPP Site Completed

Public hearings on Rivne NPP unit 3 long-term operation were held on 3 July 2018 in the town of Varash, Rivne oblast.

The Chairman of the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine Hryhorii Plachkov opened this event. “The design lifetime of Rivne NPP unit 3 expired on 11 December 2017. According to the Ukrainian legislation, the national nuclear regulator should make a decision to ensure long-term operation of this power unit on the basis of the conclusion to the state review on nuclear and radiation safety by amending the license for nuclear facility operation”, SNRIU Chairman noted.  

On 30 November 2017, a decision was made based on the results of the SNRIU Board meeting related to the operation of shut down RNPP unit 3 with full fuel unloading from the core for a period of necessary administrative and technical measures to justify the possibility of its long-term operation.

SNRIU experts performed a comprehensive inspection at RNPP unit 3 on 4 – 8 June 2018. The Commission of the National Nuclear Regulator established that this unit met all the conditions required for long-term operation, and the documents submitted by the operator for revision of the license are reliable and reflect actual status of activities.

At the same time, SNRIU inspectors noted that as of the time of inspection, the operator did not complete all the activities planned for scheduled outage in 2017. In particular, the matter concerns the measures under the Comprehensive Integrated Safety Improvement Program, as well as the measures to eliminate inconsistencies with the regulatory requirements. In addition, the measures have not been completed aimed at replacing uninterruptible power supply sources (2 pcs., positions 3TV30Q01, 3TK30J01), major repair and approval of the decisions on long-term operation of 3RDES31, 32 diesel generators and other equipment of the systems important to safety. The operator currently works on the implementation of the above measures. 

Under this event, Rivne NPP Director General Pavlo Pavlyshyn justified in detail RNPP unit 3 preparedness for long-term operation.

SNRIU Chairman Hryhorii Plachkov finally urged the public to join the public discussion on the possibility of RNPP unit 3 long-term operation by 12 July 2018.

The final decision on the future fate of RNPP unit 3 will be made during the meeting of the SNRIU Board on 16 July 2018.  

Uatom.org Editorial Board