Case 5: Yuriy Ostryanin, Deputy Department Head, Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, Turbine Department
Company profile
This department at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant is charged with maintaining the cooling facilities at the power plant.
A lot of ChNPP buildings and facilities have their floors lower than the ground water level. Owing to wet seal faults there are many semi-flooding cases. This problem exists not only at ChNPP units, but also at the “Sarcophagus” Unit and in different industrial buildings located in Slavutich. Water proofing coverings badly need repairs. It is rather expensive and it is difficult to repair external water proofing covering. We are investigating the use of techniques of wet seal restoration by applying putting special water proofing compounds on interior surfaces of premises.
Yuriy Ostryanin presentation
The key conclusion that I made on this trip is that each enterprise, each company, needs to maximize and rationalize its activities. This approach will allow us to achieve the best results and the best service quality, allowing for the fact that time at present is greatly wasted in non-productive operations. This possibility of hastening the process can be realized at once by using some of the modern technologies and special devices we saw in the U.S. For example, as we saw at the precast concrete plant, they have very good technique for forming very long pieces of concrete. Then they cut it which is very unusual for our country. It would be impossible for them to do so if they had not developed some flexible reinforcement because with inflexible reinforcement this cannot be done. And this approach also allows the American firm to greatly reduce the cost of labor. For example, 70 people in this American plant can generate an output of several million dollars.
First of all, when I go back to my company, I will analyze to see if I can use anything from this new approach, the new technologies, and the new devices in order to maximize the efficiency of all the operations of my company.
It is also interesting for us that in the United States there is a lot of work for subcontractors and each of them is involved in his own very specific area of construction. For example, it provides an opportunity for one company to produce metal elements and another company just to assemble them. Another company produces a special type of brick just for corners. We don’t have such an approach in Ukraine. So in the U.S. in order to erect a building you need just to assemble all the parts. And this also would not be possible without very detailed documentation with all types of specifications. We have very few such companies in Ukraine.
I don’t think we can reuse the miles and miles of electrical wire removed from the nuclear project. It is mostly copper wire. It can only be used as scrap metal. There are plans to create a metal re-processing factory. This project is currently in the initial stages so there is only a space allocated where it will be built. Maybe somebody knows its status because this project started in 1995. I think that maybe I don’t know very much because nothing has been done since 1995. This company operates within the Ministry of Fuel and Energy Technology in Ukraine.
We have already completed a total examination of all the equipment needed for the radiation container in order to decide which parts can be reprocessed and which cannot. But this examination covers only the large pieces of equipment – not the wiring. We also have a department dealing with desalination. They have a director of radiation tests; his department is called the Department of Radiological Safety and this department includes a laboratory.
It is difficult to say right now what ideas I will be able to use when I return to Ukraine because I am overwhelmed with different information. But currently I think at this point that one of the most interesting ideas is the technology we saw at Marvin Windows.
Dissemination
I think I will speak to not less than 50 entrepreneurs and maybe 50 additional people who are involved in my area of the construction business and maybe to my friends and relatives. Then I plan to publish a report in the local newspaper. I will translate some product and company brochures and publish them in the newspaper.