For approximately four years, Energoatom has been a member of the WANO Paris Center. As part of its obligations, Energoatom sends specialists as secondees to support WANO’s independent assessments of nuclear plants, problem solving, and production improvements.

Secondees are industry experts and practicing nuclear power professionals who serve at the Paris Center on contracts ranging from 3 to 5 years. They comprise almost 80% of the WANO Paris Center staff.

Six skilled technical specialists (two from each nuclear power plant, except for the occupied Zaporizhzhia NPP) have been delegated to the Paris Center from Energoatom. They successfully passed the competition and received the status of secondees. They are Oksana Kazymyrska and Oleksii Popov from the Rivne NPP, Yevhen Nikitenko and Arkadii Vtoroy from the South Ukraine NPP, and Viktor Roiko and Arsen Minosian from the Khmelnytskyi NPP.

Since starting their work at the Paris Center, they have actively immersed themselves in their new activities, mastering the necessary knowledge and skills. “However, 2025 has been a particularly busy year for them”, notes Maxym Nezhura, head of the secondee group at the International Cooperation Directorate of Energoatom.

The format of the Ukrainian secondee program means that between on-site assignments at the WANO Paris Center they remain in Ukraine, unlike most of their colleagues from other countries who work in Paris. This facilitates more effective communication with Energoatom's management and NPPs, allowing them to quickly inform about trends in the global nuclear industry, share best practices, and participate in important company events.

2-3 peer reviews and 1-2 follow-up missions to NPPs annually

Secondees from Ukraine work in various areas at the Paris Center. Each of them usually has 2-3 peer reviews at different NPPs and 1-2 follow-up visits in their annual schedule. Each such mission involves thorough preparation, intensive technical and analytical work on-site and careful preparation of reports that identify both areas for improvement and the strengths of the plant being inspected.

In addition to this work, they participate in support missions, seminars, training sessions, benchmarking, and other WANO events. Secondees are also actively working on implementing the enhanced Performance Monitoring (ePM), which involves several visits to selected NPPs throughout the year and ongoing interaction with them.

A separate area of activity for Ukrainian specialists is the VVER group at the Paris Center, which deals with current issues related to the operation of power units with reactors of this design. It also includes experts from nuclear power plants in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Finland, and Hungary.

Ukrainian ambassadors in Europe and around the world

Ukrainian secondees at the WANO Paris Center strive to represent their country, company, and professional community of Ukrainian nuclear power engineers, who courageously overcome all challenges in extremely difficult conditions, at every opportunity. They tell the truth about russia's aggression in Ukraine, constant attacks on energy facilities, and the real situation at the temporarily occupied Zaporizhzhia NPP.

It is essential that Energoatom representatives view it as their mission to convey an objective portrayal of Ukraine to the world, conduct systematic explanatory work, and declare the company's and the state's position, as opposed to false russian propaganda. This is especially true during informal collective or individual communication with other secondees.

Twice a year, the Paris Center organizes joint meetings for its entire team. At one of these meetings, Energoatom employees presented the history, culture, and traditions of Ukraine to their colleagues. The vivid and informative presentation made an extremely positive impression on those present. They thanked the Ukrainians and expressed their sincere support.

Action for Excellence at Energoatom

Despite their busy schedule, the activities of Energoatom secondees are not limited to the planned activities of the Paris Center. Drawing on the experience gained at the WANO, they, as international experts, actively contribute to the improvement of production processes at Ukrainian nuclear power plants and to increasing their safety levels.

In full contingent secondees joined the team of Energoatom experts who performed self-assessments at the SUNPP, RNPP, and KhNPP using the PC's peer review methodology. Given the impossibility of conducting full-fledged international missions during the war, they took on part of the tasks of this important work.

These specialists are also actively working to implement enhanced Performance Monitoring (ePM) of NPP production activities within the framework of the WANO “Action for Excellence” initiative.

“I would particularly like to note the active involvement of our secondees in the implementation of the WANO program for enhanced Performance Monitoring at nuclear power plants. Its goal is to identify and eliminate potential threats in a timely manner, prevent their occurrence in the future, ensure the perfect level of operation and safety of NPPs, and increase the efficiency of production activities," emphasized Maxym Nezhura.

Secondees also participate in other internal NPP audits, in particular on safety culture and nuclear safety, providing the company with significant methodological support. They also conduct training for personnel and monitor the implementation of the recommendations of the WANO PC support missions by the power plants, enabling them to track progress and compliance with international standards.

These specialists consistently focus on the best international experience. This year, the secondees proposed 13 positive practices for implementation at Ukrainian NPPs, which they learned about during missions of the WANO Paris Center. Together with the technical departments of Energoatom, these practices were analyzed, and the possibilities for their application were considered. Another priority for the team of secondees is to provide a wide range of Energoatom specialists with up-to-date information provided by the Paris Center.

In summary, the outgoing year has been marked by intensive work, which continues across multiple areas. Given the scale of ongoing projects, it is likely that 2026 will bring equally significant professional activity.