The 40th rotation of the IAEA Permanent Monitoring Mission (PMM) took place at the Rivne NPP. It included experts from Cuba and Bulgaria, who replaced the previous team of specialists from the Republic of South Africa and Australia.
Traditionally, the PMM began with a briefing meeting with the RNPP team, which coordinates the activities of international observers. The parties discussed current challenges in the field of nuclear safety and shared the groundwork of the previous mission.
In particular, representatives of the 39th group had conducted equipment walkdowns, technical inspections, communicated with the plant personnel and had recorded their observations in accordance with the seven fundamental principles of nuclear safety; those remain the focus of the mission.
These principles cover key safety aspects: integrity of nuclear facilities, operability of safety systems, independence of personnel activities, availability of external power supply, provision of supply chains, stable communication with the regulator, and functioning of radiation monitoring and emergency response systems.
Over the next three weeks, a new team of IAEA experts will continue to implement the mission’s tasks.
