Energoatom Denies Availability Of False Diplomas Of Rivne NPP Workers, by Oleksandr Sukov, October 8, 2002

The national nuclear power generating company Energoatom denies the information of the Rivne region Prosecutor Office and police of more than ten workers of Rivne nuclear power plant having false diplomas of university education.

The press service of the company Energoatom informed Ukrainian News of this matter. The press service informed that the personnel which directly controls the reactor facility must have a license of the State Committee of the Nuclear Regulation of Ukraine (SCNRU).

According to the information of the press service, the licensee must have a special education, a certain record of service in the nuclear-power engineering, take a course in the training center, pass an exam for occupation of the position, and then work for some time as backup on the active reactor facility. Besides that, informs Energoatom, the personnel undergoes medical and psychophysiological examinations and checks to receive special permit. According to Energoatom, only after that SCNRU takes a decision to issue license for control of reactor facility.

"As we can see, such high demands to this personnel category exclude the possibility of random people controlling reactor facility", says the statement of the Energoatom press service. The press service informed that Energoatom created a special commission for thorough investigation of the situation on the Rivne NPP.

As Ukrainian News earlier reported, the Prosecutor Office and the Department of fight with organized crime of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Administration in the Rivne region have discovered that more than ten workers of the Rivne NPP occupying the posts from the head of shift to the senior operator of the machine room have no degree of university education.

The Prosecutor office and the police have found out that more than ten workers of the Rivne NPP from 1999 to 2001 bought diplomas of Odessa National polytechnics university with major in Nuclear power and thermoelectric power stations for USD 500-600.

Following results of the inspection the Prosecutor of the Rivne region Nikolai Golomsha started criminal proceedings on the case of deliberate use of false documents and criminal negligence.

Source: Ukrainian News Agency www.ukranews.com