Technical Meeting on Institutional Infrastructure Improvement in Nuclear Industry Held in IAEA

On December 14-17, 2021, the IAEA hosted a Technical Meeting on Institutional Infrastructure Improvement in Nuclear Industry. The participants discussed the institutional infrastructure development as a way to ensure efficient and safe use of atomic energy.

The meeting agenda included issues related to application of the defence in depth principles to the aspects related to development of organizational structure of NPP construction project key participants, namely the regulator and the operator. Representatives of Hungary, Romania, Great Britain, USA, Japan, France, Belarus and other countries gave their papers. Special attention was paid to the signs of a “strong” organizational structure, effective risk management and development of safety culture and leadership.

Yulia Chernyakhovskaya, Deputy General Director for Nuclear Infrastructure of Rusatom Service JSC, presented the report “Human Performance Unit: Practices and Outcomes” in the framework of the Technical Meeting. The speaker specified the goals and areas of focus of the human performance units, and described functions performed by different subdivisions.

“The uninterrupted operation of nuclear facilities depends directly on the efficiency of personal fulfillment, which requires not only fundamental knowledge, but also an implemented safety culture  and leadership in order to avoid accidents of various kinds and, as a result, other negative impact factors. Studying incidents related to nuclear plants safety allows deducing that the human factor is of paramount importance”, noted Yulia Chernyakhovskaya in the report. “The dialogue between the technology vendor and the operator of the future NPP about launching the NPP human performance units (HPU) and transmitting the experience and working methods is of special importance. Thanks to the HPU comprehensive activities, operation of separate individuals, processes and organizations is optimized, and the mistakes are minimized”.

The Technical Meeting ended with a discussion of all the mentioned issues in the framework of roundtable talks aimed at drawing up a new revision of the IAEA document on issues related to institutional infrastructure improvement.

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Rusatom Service JSC is part of the Electric Power Division of the Rosatom State Corporation. The company provides a full range of services and supplies to foreign nuclear power plants with VVER required for operation and repair, and acts as integrator of activities related to training of all personnel categories, including operational and nuclear infrastructure personnel's training, construction of training centers and their equipping, simulators supply and psychophysiological examination laboratories export. The company is present in almost every country with operating VVER NPP outside Russia.

Rusatom Service JSC holds leading market positions in China, Bulgaria and Armenia and acts as a general contractor for lifetime extension, planned preventive maintenance and VVER NPP equipment upgrade. - integrator of all categories personnel training.

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