On 29 April the SNRCU Chairperson Olena Mykolaichuk chaired a meeting on long-term operation of the Zaporizhzya NPP Unit 1 that is the pilot unit of WWER-1000 (B-320) design and so is the first one that will reach its designed based lifetime.

The meeting was held in Energodar (a satellite town of Zaporizhzya NPP) and was attended by top-rank managers of the operating organization NAEK “Energoatom”, NPPs under operation and representatives of local and regional authorities.

The operating organization and NPPs reported on current state of implementation of the “Comprehensive Program for Lifetime Extension of Operating Nuclear Power Units” approved by the government. It was noted that milestones set by the program are not always met on time mainly due to lack of financial resources as it was explained by the representatives of the nuclear power industry.

In its turn, SNRCU suggested concentrating on unit-specific technical issues that may jeopardize life-time extension process. For example, examination of reactor vessel of Rivne NPP Unit 1 in 2007 revealed technical issues that could be an obstacle for unit long-term operation. Due to this timely examination the nuclear power industry got a chance to resolve these issues in time keeping a door for unit life-time extension open.

As one of the meeting outcomes, by the end of June Zaporizhzya NPP will outline perspectives of Unit 1 long-term operation taking into account opinions of other main stakeholders – SNRCU, the Ministry of Fuel and Energy of Ukraine, the National Electricity Regulatory Commission of Ukraine and NAEK “Energoatom”. It was also decided to conduct a number of meetings to discuss plant-specific issues for each NPP separately and a general meeting to share accumulated experience and coordinate activities on long-term operation.