Support of the Ukrainian supervisory authority in establishing a modern nuclear power plant monitoring

The type of monitoring of nuclear power plants in Ukraine practiced in the early nineties provided the supervisory authority with only inadequate acce ss to information about the current safety status of plants. For the Zaporo zhye nuclear power plant, unit 5, a technical system to improve operational monitoring has been designed, installed and commissioned for trial operati on at the end of 1995 as a pilot project. The system complements existing o perational checking and monitoring facilities by including modern means of information technology. It enables concentration on a continuous monitoring of the state of unit 5 in normal operation and in cases of anomalies or in cidents so that when recognisable deviations from the regular plant operati on occur, the authority can immediately inquire and if necessary impose con ditions on the operator In 1997, the Information and Crisis Centre of the U krainian supervisory authority in Kiev was equipped with the most essential technical means necessary for quasi-simultaneous transfer of data and voic e and for monitoring purposes and connected the Centre to the Zaporozhye sy stem. A similar monitoring system for both VVER-440 units of the Rovno nucl ear power plant by analogy with the pilot project was specified and put int o operation and connected to the ICC in 1998.