Results of stress-tests of Russian NPPs will be known by the end of the current year, at the same time as data of similar tests in the European Union, according to a report to the Russian parliament by head of Russian nuclear regulator Rostechnadzor, Nikolay Kutyin.
He said that the work has already revealed some weaknesses connected with equipment ageing.
Stress-tests for the NPPs, according to Kutyin, will allow analyzing probability and development of beyond-design-basis events.
Speaking about the Fukushima Daiichi emergency, Kutyin said that the incident flags up the possibility of a nuclear accident at any plant, anywhere in the world. “I would like to note that the accident did not happen because of the earthquake and tsunami: at the time of the accident the NPP safety systems were working in a regular mode, and stopped the reactors. The accident happened later because of activity of the NPP personnel, and the NPP’s technological features,” Kutyin said.
Rostechnadzor and Rosatom have been carrying out an estimation of the standards regulating operation of nuclear objects for two months, and examined the NPP construction projects.
Kutyin has noted that there has been an active discussion on the location of the planned Nizhniy Novgorod NPP; Rosatom has defined the site for the NPP, and the scientists surveyed this territory.
At the same time as the regulator issued a site licence for the plant, it has also required that the nuclear developer Rosatom install a geological monitoring system before it will consider granting construction permits.
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