This week, professional skills competitions have started at South Ukraine NPP, with employees under 35 participating. This is a real chance for young professionals to prove their academic literacy and climb the career ladder.

The competition for the title of the best among the representatives of eight specialties will be held in August: decontamination specialists, light vehicle drivers, reactor and turbine equipment repair technicians, electrical fitters for the repair of electric machinery, reactor equipment operators, electric welders of manual welding, turbine hall equipment operators (on patrol), electrical fitters for the repair and maintenance of power plant automation and measuring equipment.

“In 2024, the site of the South Ukraine NPP will be the venue for the industry stage of the professional skills competition, which is to be held from October 16 to 19. As you know, at home, even the walls help. So I hope that young professionals of our enterprise will actively participate in professional competitions and achieve high results,” said Yevhen Mitchenko, head of the youth organization of the South Ukraine NPP primary trade union organization.

The first competition for the title of the best in the occupation was held in the decontamination shop. There are no vocational schools or universities in Ukraine that train such professionals, so they are trained directly at the enterprise. A full-fledged program has been developed to train and upgrade the skills of specialists involved in decontamination, i.e., reducing radiation contamination on NPP process equipment.

“Currently, there are not many young people in the equipment decontamination team, the main “backbone” is specialists aged 45 to 50 years who have already undergone dozens of scheduled maintenance and know their job inside and out. They help young colleagues master the profession, teach them through practice how to take care of the safety of others and their own during equipment decontamination,” said Oleh Parkhonyuk, Deputy Head of the Decontamination Shop at SUNPP.

The contestants first answered theoretical questions related to the test of knowledge on labor protection, fire and radiation safety, and decontamination, and then completed the practical part. Using a flow chart, they had to describe step by step the procedure for decontaminating scrap metal consisting of non-ferrous metals. Each operation in the process scored 10 to 30 points.

Andrii Lis won the first place after two stages. He has been working for the South Ukraine NPP for 10 years, starting in the power repair unit and working in the decontamination shop for the last 4 years. This was his first professional skills competition, so he was most nervous at the preparation stage. However, thanks to sufficient theoretical and practical experience, he was able to overcome his fear and become the best among the company's decontamination specialists.

Roman Shamkov took second place. He was slightly behind the winner in terms of the number of points, but he also showed high professionalism and knowledge. Roman notes that such competitions are not only an opportunity to prove themselves, but also to see what else they need to work on to better perform their daily tasks.

Serhii Kapiton took third place. He has been working as a decontamination specialist for just a year. He says that the practical part was the most difficult for him as he has less experience than his rivals do. However, he still liked the competition because it had its competitive spirit and curiosity.

All participants received image products from the youth organization of the South Ukraine NPP as a gift, and the winner also received a hybrid notebook with a clasp USB flash drive, a built-in power bank, wireless charging, and connectors for powering various gadgets.

Plant professional skills competitions are just the first step to professional and career growth. There is still an industry stage ahead, so now is not the time to get complacent. It is necessary to analyze our mistakes and prove that the youth of the South Ukraine NPP are worthy of the “gold” at the company level.