No serious accidents at Russian nuclear power plants for 13 years

RIA Novosti - Business - No serious accidents at Russian nuclear power plants for 13 years

08/ 08/ 2005

MOSCOW, August 8 (RIA Novosti) - No serious accidents have occurred at Russian nuclear power plants since the State Concern for Electricity and Heat Generation at Nuclear Power Plants (Rosenergoatom) was set up 13 years ago, a spokesman for the concern said Monday.

Security systems at Russian nuclear reactors "minimize the influence of the human factor," he said.

"We assign priority to the human factor in NPP safety, as well as equipment reliability," the spokesman said, adding that staffers at NPPs were constantly improving their qualifications.

The Russian Federal Service for the Oversight of the Ecology, Technology and Nuclear Management said the number of failures at power-generating units of Russian nuclear power plants had fallen from 51 in 2003 to 46 in 2004. None of the failures affected the radiation situation.

Rosenergoatom is the state manager of 10 Russian nuclear power plants. It is also responsible for nuclear, technical and fire security, including emergency relief