Fennovoima representatives participated in technical tour and a workshop on organizing staff training at NPPs undergoing construction. The Operation Manager Juhani Jokinen, the HR Director Eija Salo and other specialists of the Finnish nuclear power consortium Fennovoima, which has ordered the construction of the Hanhikivi 1 NPP in Finland, came to study the expertise of their Russian counterparts.
Heads of the training unit of the LNPP-2 under construction presented the staff training system for new VVER-1200 power units and explained the main phases of commissioning of full-scope and analytical simulators. These simulators have already been put into operation and made it possible to provide proper and timely training and to maintain the qualifications of all NPP specialists from an ordinary operator to a unit shift supervisor.
"We are currently in the licensing phase of the Hanhikivi 1 NPP and planning for trainings also related for the commissioning phase," says Fennovoima's HR Director Eija Salo. "Therefore, we would like to understand how operating personnel is trained at the Leningrad NPP. Theoretical training, however, must be accompanied by practical training, and we will get a full-scope simulator in Pyhäjoki which will also be in use during the operational phase. So far, we have conducted basic technical training courses for specialists, for example."
Finnish guests visited the facilities of the first startup complex of the Leningrad NPP, which is currently under construction. At the moment, it is in the most active phase of precommissioning and prestart testing. In the most buildings of the nuclear and turbine island, post-installation flushing or hydraulic testing of the unit's main and auxiliary systems are almost completed.
"The purpose of my visit to the Leningrad NPP was to discuss the issues related to training and to examine the site where new power units are being built," says Juhani Jokinen. "Given that this is a reference project for us, I would like to emphasize the modern approach to passive safety systems and systems for managing severe accidents which is used at the Leningrad NPP. This is a very important feature of the project which certainly attracts much attention."