An international team of nuclear safety experts, led by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has finished a review of safety practices at the Kori Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) near Busan on June 11 following a station blackout event on Feb. 9.

The team, which consisted of experts from Belgium, France, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the IAEA, carried out its inspection from June 4-11 under the leadership of the IAEA’ s Division of Nuclear Installation Safety. The team applied the methodology of the IAEA’ s Operational Safety Review (OSART) missions and covered the areas of management, organization, and administration; operations; maintenance; and operating experience.

The IAEA said in a news release, “Detailed visits of the plant confirmed good plant conditions and programs, including that which caused the station blackout, which has since been improved. Kori 1 NPP has implemented several equipment replacement and upgrades to allow continued safe operations. Plant operators have analyzed the lessons of the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Station accident, and the implementation of a broad scope of safety improvements is in progress.”

 “The expert mission acknowledged that some corrective actions have already been completed and others are in progress, and the mission found the management and staff of Kori NPP to be committed and working hard to complete all improvements,” it said. 

The expert mission team performed its own analysis of the station blackout event, including the non-reporting of the event, the violation of plant technical specifications by not immediately taking steps to restore emergency diesel generations to operable conditions, and by starting a fuel movement the next day without operable emergency diesel generators. As a result of this analysis, the team identified additional contributing causes for the blackout and corrective actions for Kori 1 NPP, according to the news release.

The expert mission team made recommendations to address these contributing factors including an improvement in the safety culture at the plant, support for leadership in decision-making, and the development of stronger defenses in dealing with unexpected or difficult situations, it said. 

It said the team also made recommendations and suggestions concerning the plant’ s practices for reporting events, event analysis, independent oversight, main control room activities, and the workmanship of maintenance staff and contractors.    

IAEA Team Acknowledges Good Practices and Performances of Wolsong 1 NPP

An international team of nuclear safety experts led by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reviewed the Wolsong 1 Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) near Gyeongju for its strategy and key elements for its safe, long-term operation, the IAEA said in a news release on June 7. The team has noted a series of good practices and performances as well as recommendations and suggestions to reinforce the plant’ s safety, it said. 

 “Throughout the review, the exchange of information between the SALTO experts and plant personnel was very intensive,” said team leader Robert Krivanek of the IAEA’ s Division of Nuclear Installation Safety. “The plant staff were found to be motivated, well trained, knowledgeable, and experienced.” 

The SALTO team has identified good plant practices and performances that will be shared with the rest of the nuclear industry for consideration of their application. Examples include: procedure for electrolytic capacitor testing; Medium Voltage Cable periodic diagnosis; systematic improvement process of maintenance programs for CANDU reactors; environmental radiation monitoring vehicle; Plant Design Basis Data Management; and Structural Life Management System.