The Ignalina NPP organizational chart is given in Figure 1.10. Operating functions involve the executive decision making and actions relating to the operation of the plant both during normal operation and in emergencies. The responsibility for the safe operation of the plant lies with Director General. The Technical Director is a technical manager of the key workshops, departments and services which perform operations and maintenance. He bears the ultimate responsibility for essential decision making as applies to the operation of the plant. The Technical Director deputy for operations provides technical control over the key plant departments involved in on-line operations. He is also in charge of industrial, radiological and fire safety in operations. All operating staff is under his authority. The Plant Shift Supervisor provides the administrative control of the composite shift staff consisting of control room operators and shift operators in workshops.
Operation is a complex of activities and operations performed by the operating staff to ensure safe and reliable operation of the plant equipment. The operating staff is an authorized shift personnel on duty, including managers, operators and technicians who maintain operational control over technological processes at the plant and configuration change-overs. Control room operators are responsible for the safe and reliable operation of the equipment and systems controlled from the plant’s two main control rooms. Field operators are responsible for reliable operation of the equipment and systems under their authority. The plant is staffed with the operating personnel in accordance with industrial standards. All operating staff is grouped into seven shifts. Five shifts work on regular basis. The sixth shift stand in for the main shift and the seventh shift undergo periodic training and review operating procedures. Each shift consists of about 150 persons. For each shift position the initial and improved training prog-ram, including emergency training, is established.
Fig. 1.10 The Ignalina NPP organizational chart
The program includes theoretical training, training in the use of plant systems, simulator and on-the-job training. At the present time, the full-scope simulator at Smolensk NPP is used for basic training of operators, but the project to built up the full-scope simulator at the Ignalina NPP is underway and will be completed in 1998.
At the Ignalina NPP the operation is based on the workshop system. There are eight workshops: Reactor, Turbine, Electrical, Instrumentation and Control, Chemical, Process Nitrogen and Oxygen, District Heating and Underground Communication Services, and Decontamination workshops. Each workshop is led by a manager, who reports directly to the plant chief engineer. Each workshop is technically responsible for the safe operation and maintenance.
Review functions are those involving critical monitoring of the performance of the operating and supporting functions, such as quality assurance and independent safety review. The responsibility for quality assurance rests with all managers. The Safety and Quality Assurance department is responsible under the Director General for development and putting into practice at the Ignalina NPP the effective quality assurance program. Specific responsibility for independent review of nuclear safety is assigned to two organizations: the Safety and QA department and the newly formed plant Safety Committee. Both organizations report directly to the Director General. The Safety and QA department performs independent safety review of specific production activities and work products performed by workshops, departments and services of the plant, suggests revisions and improvements to these organizations. The plant Safety Committee performs more strategic reviews of the plant safety-related activities. The Committee is composed of experienced individuals from the plant and outside organizations. The Committee holds regular monthly meetings to discuss safety issues arising from review of various plant reports and observation of safety-important events.
Radiation Protection and Industrial Safety department is responsible for managing activities aimed at safe and healthy labor conditions at the plant, prevention of accidents, limiting personnel exposure to radiation, and control of environmental effects. About 80 specialists are working with radiation protection related problems. The responsibility for industrial, radiological and fire safety within plant departments lies with department managers.
Operating procedures are used to ensure control over in-service systems and components under normal conditions, incidents and accidents. Operating procedures shall allow for all aspects of operation and ensure reliable, efficient and safe operation of the plant. There are four types of operating procedures:
1. Normal Operating Procedures
2. Abnormal Operating Procedures
3. Operator Response Procedures
4. Emergency Operating Procedures.
Normal Operating Procedures specify normal operation of the plant systems and components, tests and trials, configuration control, removal and restoration of equipment. Abnormal Operating Procedures has been developed for elaborating procedures for coping with deviations from normal operating modes. Operator Response Procedures specify main control room operator actions in response to small deviations. The Emergency Operating Procedures currently used at the plant make use of an event-based approach to accident management. Weaknesses of this approach are well-known. One is that the operators have to correctly diagnose the event, select the proper procedure and perform all required actions. In some cases, the diagnosis and selection of the appropriate procedure may be difficult and the required actions may not be carried out in time. This may lead to more serious consequences of the event. Also, the approach does not take into account possible human failure, as well as malfunctions or failures of equipment or systems that may occur in the course of accident sequences. Thus, new symptom-based emergency operating procedures are being developed.