11. 4. 2018

The Dukovany Nuclear Power Plant is going to inspect a pipe section on the secondary side of its Unit 4. This follows up on the outputs from newly conducted inspections. The work will require the unit to be temporarily disconnected from the transmission system, starting tomorrow.

The information about a potential non-compliance on one of the pipes on the secondary side of the steam generator was collected from numerous extensive inspections and checks on Unit 2, which have been performed as part of the ongoing Unit 2 shutdown period for maintenance. In accordance with the system of checks and inspections, engineers are now preventively checking the same parts of the technology on the other units as well.

'Our newly qualified method of ultrasound inspection for diagnostics, which is much more sensitive than the methods used to date, fully proved its purpose and worked well during the shutdown period. The newly introduced mechanisms work as they should,' says Bohdan Zronek, Nuclear Energy Division Director.

The management in Dukovany and Temelín has altered its approach to the control and inspection activities, with the NPP operator now performing much more work using its own resources or, as the case may be, using the resources of the Řež Nuclear Research Institute. The power plants also use the latest diagnostic methods. 'In line with our conservative approach, we have decided not to postpone the inspections; instead, we are going to check the condition of the technology at the other units to eliminate the risk of similar findings,' Zronek added.

The power plant uses steam generators to generate clean (non-nuclear) steam that drives turbines. Therefore, the engineers will have to stop power generation for a short period of time. 'It is necessary so that the work can be completed in a safe manner. We of course aim at completing the inspections quickly and efficiently, yet quality and safety is of utmost priority for us. This approach is quite standard in the nuclear energy sector,' explained Miloš Štěpanovský, Power Plant Director.


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CEZ a.s. published this content on 11 April 2018 and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 11 April 2018 09:56:10 UTC