The World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO) has completed its peer review of Slovenské elektrárne’s Bohunice V2 nuclear power plant that started on October 3rd. The international team performing the review was led by Mr. Zbyněk Grunda, WANO representative from the Czech Republic. The team consisted of 23 experts from 9 countries. The review was closed in the presence of the WANO Moscow Centre, representing the geographical area Slovak nuclear plants belong to.
WANO representative Igor Zonov stated: “The purpose of WANO is the continuous improvement in safety and operation of nuclear power plants. Absolute numbers are important; however, more important are the lessons learned and comparison of results with the previous review, that was held in 2007. Several measures that have been adopted since 2007 prevented the recurrence of recommendations from the previous review and showed improvements in the targeted areas. At the same time, the current review will provide plant management with valuable material supporting the implementation of its results. Plant management will transmit such material to managers of individual units and in this respect I would also like to stress the importance of organizational change that has also entailed benefits on Bohunice operation. For these reasons, I believe that Slovenske elektrarne will properly implement the review results.”
During WANO peer reviews, experts assess and evaluate different areas of management, operation and maintenance of nuclear facilities. Such reviews are one of the most important international co-operation programmes within the WANO framework. They do not have the nature of an inspection and are executed on a voluntary basis.
WANO aims at maximising safety and reliability of nuclear plants all over the world through co-operation in assessment, comparison and improvement of performance by means of mutual exchange of information as well as global best practice. In particular, WANO Peer Reviews allow assessing power plant operation and safety issues through the eyes of experienced and independent international experts, where each expert has an equivalent job title to the manager of the plant area inspected.
WANO Peer Reviews are held approximately once every 6 years, with follow-up reviews that may be held approximately every two years. Following the current review, the next step for Slovenske elektrarne would be to set a schedule for implementation of WANO recommendations, a follow-up mission assessing the action plan implementation being expected to take place some two years from now.
The members participating in the current review combined 570 years of nuclear experience and participated in 146 international missions altogether. In average, each team member has dedicated almost 25 years of work to the nuclear industry and participated in 6.3 missions throughout his or her life.
Source: Slovenske Elektrarne