EBRD monitoring consultants have visited South-Ukraine NPP with the aim to monitor the implementation of CCSUP measures

The delegation also included representatives of the CCSUP Project Management Unit.

SE "NNEGC "Energoatom" is implementing a significant part of the CCSUP measures from the loan of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and Euratom amounting to 600 million euros. A condition of loan agreements is transparency and conformity to European standards of all phases of the Program implementation: starting with preparation and conduct of tenders for procurement of equipment and services (development of technical documents, correspondence with future tenderers), continuing with supplies of the equipment, its installation and ending with commissioning.

South-Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant is the second among Ukrainian nuclear power plants which was monitored by EBRD experts. Rivne NPP was the first such plant inspected in February this year.

At present 6 projects are being implemented at SUNPP, power unit No.3, at the expense of the EBRD. Four of them - replacement of self-contained air conditioners with air conditioners, qualified for "severe" conditions and seismic impacts; replacement of DC panels and modernization of power and control containment penetrations; implementation of the complex system of reactor facility diagnostics - are in the final stage; a part of works during their implementation is completed ahead of schedule. Two tenders have been conducted for two other projects - in respect to the purchase of eddy-current monitoring equipment and installation of a recombination system in the containment.

Six above mentioned projects were the subject of the current inspection. At SUNPP the EBRD inspectors met with implementation supervisors, studied in detail the design and technical documentation, inspected the supplied equipment or the one already installed in the framework of the CCSUP measures, met with representatives of the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine.

At the final meeting on the results of the two-day work, EBRD monitoring consultants noted that the program of the visit had been fulfilled in full. They thanked nuclear plant representatives for good preparation for the monitoring and for the constructive work in its progress: all necessary technical and financial documentation had been provided for the monitoring; access had been given to inspect the supplied and installed equipment; an opportunity had been provided to interview implementation supervisors and specialists, during which exhaustive answers to all the questions, that interested them, had been received. According to the inspectors, they have no remarks to the implementation of the CCSUP measures at the South-Ukraine NPP site based on the results of their monitoring.   

Acting Chief Engineer of SS SUNPP Volodymyr Bandurko noted that the current inspection is of great importance not only for the team of the South-Ukraine NPP, but also for the national nuclear energy as a whole: "It is thanks to the loans from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development we are implementing the large-scale Complex program of safety upgrade of power units of Ukrainian power plants. We are very proud that the current visit of the monitoring consultants to our site was successful and with no remarks. This means that  everything that is being implemented in the scope of CCSUP at the South-Ukraine NPP, is being fulfilled correctly. Works on the Program implementation are ongoing, so we are waiting for the next visit of EBRD inspectors next year."      

Total of 20 projects will be implemented at SUNPP at the expense of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in the framework of the Complex (Consolidated) Safety Upgrade Program of Power Units of Nuclear Power Plants.  According to the schedule their full implementation shall be completed in 2020.

For information: SUNPP is the basis of the South-Ukrainian energy complex, located in the south of Ukraine in the Mykolaiv oblast. It provides the electric energy need of the region with more than 5 million inhabitants. The energy complex consists of the: South-Ukraine NPP (3 nuclear power units with a total capacity of 3.000 MW), Alexandrovka HPP at the Yuzhnyi Bug river (2 hydroelectric installations with a total capacity of 9.8 MW) and Tashlyc SP (first and foremost commissioned: 2 hydraulic installations with a total working capacity in a generator mode of 320 MW, under construction in the second turn is hydroelectric installations No.3).