After the outbreak of russia's full-scale war against Ukraine in the spring of 2022, Energoatom received a letter from the IAEA office offering humanitarian assistance to ensure nuclear and radiation safety, nuclear security, and emergency preparedness. At the Company's request, Rivne NPP compiled a list of necessary equipment, materials, spare parts, and devices. The list was compiled based on information from various production units of the power plant. According to Ihor Poiminov, acting head of the International Cooperation and Technical Assistance Department, about 70% of the list has been implemented at RNPP.
“Supply of equipment under the list of needs of the power plant and priority is one of the areas of IAEA assistance. During the full-scale war in Ukraine, the necessary equipment was delivered to eight RNPP divisions: the Thermal Instrumentation and Control Shop, Radiation Safety Shop, Chemistry Department, Emergency Preparedness and Response Department, Physical Protection Service, Metal Control Service, Safety Analysis Service, Dispatch and Process Control Service. This expensive equipment is provided by partner countries within the Response and Assistance Network (RANET) and is important for the safe and reliable operation and maintenance of the nuclear facility,” said Ihor Poiminov.
In July of this year, as part of the IAEA assistance, the Thermal Instrumentation and Control Shop received SIEMENS spare parts and devices for the equipment of the Radioactive Waste Treatment Facility. According to Anatolii Lytvynchuk, a representative of the I&C shop, these spare parts and devices were a priority for the shop because, at that time, they were out of production or in the process of being out of production, but their nomenclature could still be found on the market.
“As of today, the I&C shop has received from the IAEA the agreed part of spare parts for the equipment of the Radioactive Waste Treatment Facility. We are sincerely grateful to our partners from the IAEA for supporting our national nuclear industry in difficult times for Ukraine. We hope that this humanitarian aid is not a one-off event, but a systematic process,” the nuclear power professional emphasized.
The Chemistry Department received SevenExcellence S475 multifunctional ionomers manufactured by Mettler Toledo from the IAEA. The main advantage of these devices is that they are multichannel, and therefore capable of measuring the pH, electrical conductivity, and ionic concentration in aqueous media. By the way, this is not the first assistance provided by the IAEA to the Water and Radiochemical Laboratory of the Chemistry Department. During 2023-2024, six SOLO300L radiometers, three Orbisphere 3100 dissolved oxygen analyzers, an Orbisphere 3650 dissolved hydrogen analyzer, three AMI Sodium P sodium ion analyzers, and two Ventis Pro5 gas analyzers were received. Currently, all the devices have been successfully commissioned and are in operation at the workplaces of the laboratory of the reactor and turbine departments of power units 1-4. The availability of such measuring equipment expands and updates the instrumentation fleet.
“One of the main tasks of the laboratory is to ensure the prompt performance of physical and chemical measurements to control and maintain the required quality of working environments, to conduct technological processes at RNPP equipment, and to timely detect deviations in operating modes. High-quality performance of the tasks requires modern high-precision equipment. The ionomers received from the IAEA will provide uninterrupted, more accurate, and high-quality operational control over the state of the water-chemical regime of the second circuit, technical water supply systems, as well as potable and waste water,” said Victor Bashtanar, representative of the Water and Radiochemical Laboratory of Chemistry Department.
