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IAEA Expert Meeting on
Annealing of Reactor Pressure Vessel (RPV) of Rivne-1 NPP
8-10 June 2009
IAEA Headquarters, Vienna, Austria
IAEA conducted an expert meeting on Annealing of reactor pressure vessel (RPV) of Rivne-1 nuclear power plant in accordance with the activities agreed with the Ukrainian representatives at TC UKR 4014 project review meeting held at IAEA's Headquarters in Vienna on 15–16 December 2008.
The mission, held on 8–10 June 2009 in Vienna, addressed the review calculations made by OKB Gidropress, Russian Federation, on technical condition of Rivne-1 RPV and activities that were suggested for preparatory scope of works and implementation of Rivne-1 RPV annealing.
The results of Rivne-1 RPV calculations show that RPV lifetime of 60 years is justified in accordance with Russian MRK-SHR-2004 standard. To ensure safe operation of Rivne-1 RPV, National Nuclear Energy Generating Company (Energoatom) in Ukraine has decided to anneal the RPV of Rivne Unit 1 NPP by 2011. Annealing is the most effective and proven method to restore the toughness properties of the core weld of a RPV. Energoatom has developed a work implementation schedule and conducted a tender selecting a contractor to perform the annealing of Rivne-1 reactor pressure vessel.
All operating RPVs of 1st generation of WWER-440 reactors (WWER-440/230 type) have been annealed. The RPV of Loviisa-1 NPP was annealed in 1996 and this was the first and only 2nd generation WWER vessel (WWER-440/213 type) that had been annealed so far. The RPV of Rivne-1 NPP is the second WWER-440/213 vessel that is going to be annealed 15 years after in 2011.