NUCLEAR SAFETY IN UKRAINE

Minister of the Power Industry Oleksiy Sheberstov addressed a message to Oleksandr Smyshliayev, Head of the Nuclear Regulation Administration, requesting that he allow "start-up of Power Unit No. 1 of the South Ukrainian Nuclear Power Station, regardless of measures anticipated to raise the [local] safety level." This request is justified by what is described as the "extremely poor condition of Ukraine's energy systems due to short organic fuel supplies." Considering the Chornobyl experience, this statement sounds horrifying.

Smyshliayev responded with a letter to the Minister and to Deputy Premier Anatoly Holubenko proposing the nuclear power station's safety priorities be categorized into those of immediate and secondary importance – in other words, as immediate priorities and what can be put off indefinitely, noting a "sharp worsening... in the power units' performance" since the beginning of the year. Among the reasons are mentioned "an increasing number of equipment units' breakdowns caused by obsolescence..."

Here is an example of "safety standards." In order to expedite repair on Rivne Power Unit One, "the station's management suggested to the Nuclear Regulation Administration that the metal shell be spared standard checkup procedures..." NRA said no and the repairs lasted another 18 days.

Section 404 of IAEA's findings on nuclear power unit safety reads that safety procedures will never be effective unless the operating organization demands that they all be carried out in full, and that such attitude must be encouraged by top management.

We all know what happens in our coal mines where safety regulations are put aside for the sake of increasing production. And, and of course, Chornobyl was itself a case study in Soviet human-production priority allocation...

Reuters Photo:
More to come?