The fire drill, in which operating staff of a shift of the Shelter Object (NSC) Operation Shop, Electrical Shop, Radiation Safety Shop, State Specialized Fire Department No.2, Military Unit No.3014, relevant subdivisions and plant shift supervisors were involved, as well as other personnel of SSE ChNPP and contracting organizations, was aimed at the real-time practice of personnel actions regarding taking the fire extinguishing system “Sukhotrub” off from the standby mode in winter into the fire-fighting mode at the facility. An important part of the drill was to develop skills of interactions between the Plant’s subdivisions, the military unit which is guarding the ChNPP, and fire emergency response units in case of potential fire at the facility.

As per the legend developed for this drill, the assumed fire occurred due to short circuit during the testing of ventilation units in premise No.401 of the NSC technological building – electric motors and cables flamed up. The assumed fire propagated fast over cable routes and damaged conditional equipment and cables within the technological building. The fire extinguishing system “Sukhotrub” was put into effect after the conditional suspension of works at the facility, evacuation of contracting staff from the technological building, de-energization of equipment, required switching of ventilation and some other required actions during a fire. The whole drilling process was accompanied by dosimetry control.

As noted by the drill leader Serhii Kondratenko, Deputy Technical Director (for SO(NSC)), this drill is special as it took place at the facility where construction and installation activities are still in progress, and, consequently, the facility has not been commissioned yet. However, taking into account the great significance and, at the same time, complexity of the facility, it is critical already at this stage to train personnel acting in case of emergency. In his opinion, the goal defined for the drill was achieved:

“Personnel with due diligence and in a timely manner called a fire brigade, met fire fighting vehicles and showed access paths. Briefings were conducted and permits for fire-fighters were prepared and issued quickly. The absolute benefit from such drilling is as follows: even before the project is finished, both our personnel and staff of the fire department will perfectly explore the facility and access paths, get an understanding of the fire-fighting peculiarities at the SO-NSC, and should an emergency occurs in real life, they will be able to bring a fire under control quickly and in a quality manner. The drill at this facility was conducted for the first time, but even with this consideration in mind, all actions were performed reasonably in a prompt manner.”

At the same time, Serhii Kondratenko emphasized that there are factors to which one should give considerations, in particular, the reduction of time of issuing permits for the fire-fighters. This issue should be followed up before the next drill.

For your information. The drilling interval at the SO-NSC facilities is specified in the work schedule approved at the ChNPP. In line with this work schedule, the facility drills are held three times in a year.