25.04.2007 // Press service of Rosenergoatom

Rosenergoatom’s NPP-92 project has been granted EUR certificate

Rosenergoatom, Atomenergoproject, Kurchatov Institute and Hydropress have been granted a certificate confirming the compliance of their NPP-92 project with the international standards.

The NPP-92 project is aimed at designing an NPP with enhanced economic and safety parameters – a facility that will become the locomotive of nuclear energy development in Russia. Now that the project has been certified it can be actively exported abroad.

After joining the EUR (European Utility Requirements) in Dec 2003, Rosenergoatom applied for NPP-92 certification. The sponsor of the project at the EUR – after preliminary examination in 1999–2003 – was Electricite de France.

From Mar 2004 till Jan 2006 the EUR Coordinating Group held 19 meetings and has found out that the project fully complies with the EUR. They have found nothing that could prevent them from licensing the project.

In burnout and service parameters the project can be easily adapted to modern requirements by means of modernized equipment with no change in the key technological solutions.

During the certification ceremony the head of Rosenergoatom’s International Activities Department Anatoly Kirichenko said that the project can now be widely applied abroad, particularly, by Atomstroyexport under the Belene NPP project, and in the countries seeking to develop nuclear energy. “We are going to continue our cooperation with the EUR,” Kirichenko said.

The chairman of the EUR Steering Committee Bernard Roche said that the EU was glad to admit such a big partner as Russia and “we can now testify that Russia has become a full member of our organization.”

The head of the EUR Administrative Group Pierre Berbey said: “Some 10 years ago the project seemed to be impracticable but we have shown strong will and have successfully completed it. Today, we can say that NPP-92 is a worthy project and now we have to convince people that it has the right to exist.”

The head of the EUR Coordinating Group Olivier Rousselot said that in the past decade Russia and France have created an efficient team that can work in the future too. “It was a kind of investment – not financial but intellectual. People have set a goal and have achieved it.”

“We have successfully completed this project and I am glad to grant this certificate. This document is a proof that the Russian technologies are highly competitive and are no worse than their American or European analogues. Today, Russia has received a proof that it is a full member of the nuclear community,” Roche said while granting the certificate to his Russian colleagues.

European Utility Requirements for LWR Nuclear Power Plants is a specialized club of European operating organizations set up in 1991 with a view to work out technical requirements for new light-water reactor NPPs as a basis of modern safe and efficient nuclear power engineering in Europe.

The key requirement of the EUR is that new LWR projects be acceptable for national regulating authorities, attractive for the population and profitable for producers. The key goal is to provide LWR designers with clear and specific guidelines.

EUR comprises 12 countries: Spain, the UK, France, Italy, Sweden, Finland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Russia and Ukraine (associated member).