Who will control the Belarusian nuclear power plant

A training and education center of the Belarusian nuclear power plant was opened in early 2016. It was a landmark event for the nuclear future of the country. Inside the center is a replica model of the control desk of the nuclear power plant also known as the full-scale simulator of a power-generating unit. The equipment can now be used to simulate all kinds of situations that operators of the nuclear power plant may run into.

The first power-generating unit is scheduled for commissioning in 2018, but, according to Vladimir Gorin, Deputy Chief Engineer for Personnel Training of the enterprise Belarusian Nuclear Power Plant, personnel selection and training began back in 2008. A government program was put together to train personnel for the nuclear industry. Several highly-sought specialists were recruited abroad. Now the training and education center has been opened. The facility includes an education wing, a training wing, and a demonstration wing. Inside visitors can find classrooms for theoretical studies, workshops and labs, administrative premises. Some of the equipment the training and education center needs is still being bought and will be delivered in March-June.

The center is vital for training and refreshing the skills of the personnel. All the training sessions resemble the real nuclear power plant’s operation as much as possible. “We teach only the things that may come in handy during actual work. The knowledge will be useful at everyone’s assigned workstation. The replica control desk can be used to model over a thousand different scenarios. It can be used to demonstrate how events may unfold after the launch and during the actual operation of the nuclear power plant. The facility is central to the education process since it gives theoretical and practical knowledge to specialists,” explained Vladimir Gorin. For instance, the chemical lab has the same equipment the lab of the real nuclear power plant will have. Laboratory assistants learn about the tests and instruments in advance to avoid wasting time at their real workstations.

The replica model of the control desk of the Belarusian nuclear power plant may be the most important piece of the equipment. It was made to order by a Moscow company. Vladimir Gorin assured that the Moscow company had made many simulators like that. The information displayed by monitors and indicators is the kind of information the operator of the real modular control desk will see. Now the cloned brain of the Belarusian nuclear power plant will have to pass through final verification tests in order to confirm it precisely matches the real control desk of the nuclear power plant.

The full-scale simulator will be used for the training of the control room personnel. Each shift from 3 to 5 people will undergo such training. It is already known that the nuclear power plant near Ostrovets will have eight shifts. “These will be the key personnel in charge of the process, the reactor of the nuclear power plant. The skills that will be trained on the simulator will be needed in the control room. An employee will know what to do and how in order to ensure normal operation of the plant. Everything should be smooth here,” Vladimir Gorin said. It is possible that female workers will be among the control room personnel. There will be no discrimination in this respect. “There have been such examples in the history. There will be no gender restrictions at the Belarusian nuclear power plant. As regards age, everything will depend on the competence and skills of an applicant. In any case, to become an NPP control room employee, one needs to have industry-specific education and at least three years of experience,” Vladimir Gorin noted. 

The control room personnel are trained to work in a routine mode and also in emergency situations which are alarmed by sudden sound. Classes are held according to specially designed scenarios. Each of them ends in debriefing.

Not only novices will be trained here. The already hired personnel will be required to spend about 96 hours per year to work through various scenarios. “Skills will be honed to make them automatic. All actions should be textbook, in accordance with regulations. Our goal is to make the team interact and fulfill their tasks without any external interventions,” said Vladimir Gorin.

The training center is an exact replica of the nuclear power plant. It even has a backup control panel. It is needed to monitor the situation in case the main control panel gets blocked for some reason.

Using the data saved by the simulator we will be able analyze what happens and find the cause of the failure or any other incident. And here comes the time for psychologists. They are expected to help find the error, and understand why it happened and what it was: the error out of ignorance, a failure or a motivational mistake.

Vladimir Gorin said that being in charge of the Belarusian nuclear power plant is not an easy job as it might seem at the first glance. The control panel personnel will be paid higher salaries than others since their work is the most difficult one. They will wear special uniforms to stand out from the crowd. We have not yet decided on the colors. Most likely there will be summer and winter uniforms.

There are special requirements for such workers. Candidates undergo psychophysiological examination and professional aptitude tests. What qualities do they need to possess? Resistance to stress is highly appreciated, unlike adventurousness. “This job requires strict adherence to procedures. It is not about being pedantic. By the way, it is unlikely that those who frequently violate traffic rules will be working at the control room. If a person disregards some rules, he is likely to have the same attitude to other regulations. We take personnel selection very seriously, because the nuclear and radiation safety of the plant largely depends on it,” Vladimir Gorin explained.

Even after accepted to the staff, employees remain under psychological watch. This is done to prevent occupational burnout. “Such workers should be on constant alert. They must be able to make prompt decisions. The desire to ‘improve’ or ‘simplify’ the work may lead to negative consequences,” he added.

While some of the employees undergo training at the center, the builders continue working on almost a hundred of facilities at the Belarusian nuclear power plant construction site, including the reactors and the cooling towers. The system of hermetic shells will protect the plant against earthquakes, floods, aircraft crashes, hurricanes and tornadoes with wind speeds up to 56 meters per secondthat tear roofs from buildings, uproot large trees, knock over train cars, and push vehicles off the road. The probability of such an event is once in ten thousand years. Specialists say that even if something of the kind happens, the nuclear power plant will be able to withstand it.

2016 is a key year for equipment installation at the first power-generating unit. The installation of the reactor vessel delivered from Volgodonsk in December 2015 will begin in late May. The work will take about two weeks. Some $445 million will be spent on the project in 2016. The delivery of nuclear fuel to the Belarusian nuclear power plant is expected to begin in Q4 2017.

Representatives of the Belarusian nuclear power plant administration say that the construction is on schedule, and there are no problems with financing. Therefore, the plant is expected to come on stream as scheduled. The nuclear power plant will account for 25% of the country’s total energy output. The cost of energy production at the plant will be 1.5-2 times lower than at a thermal power plant. The BelNPP will allow Belarus to cut down on gas import and save hundreds of millions of U.S. dollars annually.