From October 7 - 10, 2019, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (USNRC) International Regulatory Development Partnership (IRDP) instructors, Mr. Bill Cook and Mr. Bob Gramm, provided training on the USNRC resident inspector protocols and facilitated a benchmarking between the USNRC resident and the National Commission for Nuclear Activities Control (CNCAN) site inspector practices. CNCAN staff responsible for site inspections and quality assurance, and staff from the Cernavoda Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) licensee, the National Society Nuclearelectrica, participated in the first-of-a-kind benchmarking exercise under the IRDP Program. The workshop was hosted by Nuclearelectrica at their training center located in Cernavoda, Romania, which is co-located with Cernavoda NPPs.
The workshop provided participants with the USNRC Reactor Oversight Process baseline inspection practices that are typically performed by the resident inspectors. Related topics such as resident inspector response to events, performance of main control room inspections, generation of inspection reports, and inspections of outages were discussed. The participants compared the USNRC and CNCAN practices to identify aspects that CNCAN will integrate into their inspection processes.
To reinforce the concepts discussed throughout the week, participants were awarded two opportunities for the practical application of the USNRC inspection approaches during plant walk-downs. This included a simulated control room inspection utilizing the Cernavoda plant simulator with licensee simulator instructors role playing the operations staff. Also, Cernavoda Unit 1 plant walk-downs were performed of the Main Control Room, Main and Auxiliary feedwater pumps, and the Standby Diesel Generators. The workshop discussions and in-plant simulated inspection walkdowns provided an unique opportunity for participants to apply what was learned and discussed in a classroom setting into practice, which is beneficial for everyone who participated in this exercise.