04.12.2019
On November 30, an extended session “NPP Design System Development: Global Priorities and Bottle Necks” was held within the 3rd Annual Conference of representatives of the construction complex of the nuclear industry. глобальные приоритеты и узкие места».
Alexey Likhachev, Director General of Rosatom State Corporation, Alexander Lokshin, First Deputy Director General for Operations Management of Rosatom State Corporation - President of ASE EC JSC, executives and representatives of Rosatom Engineering Division took part in discussion of the program of design and development of the Joint Design Institute (JDI) established on the basis of three institutes - from Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod and St. Petersburg.
Opening the session, Alexander Lokshin suggested three topics for the discussion: “The first and most important issue that we actually have been dealing with since the end of 2016 is design quality improvement. During this period, a lot of parallel initiatives aimed at improvements in the design unit have been generated. This year they have been unified in the integrated program. Now we have to make the processes we consider as right work, to have skilled staff and to make the digitalization become reality.
The second topic is preparation for the construction of Uzbekistan NPP where there is a chance to apply all best practices related to the design quality improvement “from scratch”.
And the third one is further steps to form the structure and process model of the Joint Design Institute”. He emphasized that the most important thing about this topic is not legal frame but interrelations and arrangement of the JDI work as the unified design center of the Engineering Division.
During the session, the participants discussed such significant issues as implementation of program “Development of the System for Designing NPPs with VVER Reactors” consisting of 11 projects based on initiatives of the three institutes, approaches to assurance of design products quality, design process optimization, standardization of design and engineering solutions and equipment unification.
Regarding the achievements of the expiring year, Ruben Topchiyan, First Vice President - Director of Joint Design Institute of ASE EC JSC, mentioned, in particular, recognition of VVER-TOI design by European power generation companies as the design complying with the European Utility Requirement (EUR) and handover of Basic Design of Paks-II NPP to the Owner. He also stressed that three institutes are currently carrying out joint activities under six projects - Paks-II, Rooppur, Belarus NPP, Kursk NPP, El-Dabaa and Uzbekistan NPP. About 75 percent of competence and technologies of all institutes is used, with a possibility to involve experts of 5000-strong design team in the projects.
According to Alexander Lokshin, Uzbekistan NPP will be a serious test for the JDI. This project sees a pilot trial of Unified Industry Procedure “From Idea to License”, i.e. the designers are involved in it from the earliest phase, contrary to other overseas projects. 2020 will become a year of preparation for designing.
Stages of the Joint Design Institute establishment and prospects of its development were the subject of the third part of the session. Directors and representatives of all the three design institutes which have to become one team, improve the design efficiency and bring its quality to a new level took an active part in the discussion.
Alexey Likhachev, Director General of Rosatom State Corporation, named the project of the Joint Design Institute creation a high priority for the industry.
Summing up the session results, head of Rosatom mentioned: “Rosatom has a very considerable project portfolio and the number of projects will grow by 2020. Overseas construction was and will be the most important task for the industry.
Well-being of Rosatom and all nuclear industry generally depends on the Engineering Division and its design unit being the key and start to every case. Part of the agenda for our country development depends on us. As for the results of our work, my mood is mostly positive. It seems to me that there is harmony among the staff of the design unit in terms of age, competence and involvement. The Joint Design Institute has to establish design process which allows implementing Rosatom’s project portfolio with high quality, on time and within budgets. Meanwhile, the task of industry and Division managers is to create an efficient management system, destroy vertical barriers between the institutes, let the people, their potential and capabilities open up”.
Engineering Division's Communications Department
For reference:
Rosatom State Corporation Engineering Division was established by integration of the leading companies of the industry: ASE EC JSC (Nizhny Novgorod), Atomstroyexport JSC (Nizhny Novgorod), Atomenergoproekt JSC (Moscow) and ATOMPROEKT JSC (St. Petersburg).
The Engineering Division is one of the global leaders in nuclear power engineering and holds about 30% of the global NPP construction market. It carries out its activities in Europe, Middle East and Northern Africa as well as in the Asia-Pacific region.
80% of the Division’s revenue is accounted for by foreign projects.
It implements design and construction projects for high-power NPPs, renders a full range of EPC, EPC(M) services and develops Multi-D technologies for management of complex engineering facilities. The Engineering Division rests upon the 50-year experience of the Russian nuclear power industry and state-of-the-art innovation technologies.
We construct reliable and safe NPPs with 3+Gen VVER reactors that are in line with all international requirements and recommendations.
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