Balakovo NPP has successfully passed an environmental management system (EMS) audit performed by Rainer Hans Feld (Germany) from BSI, an international certification group, and Sergei Fomin, a senior auditor of SOSET, a Russian certification agency.

There were no breaches of nuclear or radiation safety standards at Balakovo last year exactly as there had been no incidents tens of years before, NPP director Viktor Ignatov said at the kick-off meeting. The environmental impact was minimal and within admissible levels; this was confirmed by radiation control data from the monitoring station located nearby.

The auditors examined EMS documents from Balakovo NPP departments, listened to reports of department managers, interviewed the staff and made sure that the environmental management system at Balakovo NPP meets both national and international standards. They visited an information center at the nuclear station and were demonstrated its multimedia opportunities.

“Balakovo seems to have nothing to surprise me anymore because it is my twelfth visit to the station, but each time they do it. I am very much impressed with what they do in the NPP information center to raise public awareness and educate children. With the help of advanced technologies, they can learn more about atomic energy and control nuclear station processes. This is a great step forward in improving relations with the local community since their role becomes increasingly more important for the environmental management system and its proper functioning under recently introduced standards,” noted Rainer Hans Feld.

In January 2015, the environmental management system of Balakovo NPP was certified to ISO, and the nuclear station became the first Russian company certified and included in the database of IQNet, an international certification network. This means that the nuclear station is internationally recognized for its excellent performance and environmental indicators. The certification audit will be repeated next year.