Organizational Diagnostic Assessment Completed at Russia's Smolensk Nuclear Power Plant

Russia's Smolensk Nuclear Power Plant has recently completed an organizational diagnostic assessment under a support mission of the WANO Moscow Centre. The assessment was carried out by a team of eight experts from the WANO Moscow Centre, Rosenergoatom, Beloyarsk Nuclear Power Plant, and Atomflot, among other organizations.

Organizational diagnostics is a type of assessment that WANO has been conducting in recent years, focusing not on a single topic but on a comprehensive review of the plant from the organizational and operational perspective. The assessment covered employees' understanding of the plant's current status and tasks, collaboration mechanisms between different management levels, and management practices conducive to the company's further development.

One of the key focuses of this diagnostic was leadership. The experts assessed five attributes, including upholding high standards in production activities, increasing employee engagement, strengthening teamwork, maintaining stable performance, and developing leadership potential.

During the two-week mission, the expert team reviewed relevant documents and production indicators, visited work sites, observed task execution, and conducted interviews with managers and specialists. The experts also organized focus group discussions with employees from different management levels. Prior to the mission, plant employees had completed a questionnaire survey, and the results were subsequently compared and analyzed against the information gathered by the experts on site.

The preliminary assessment results indicate that the Smolensk Nuclear Power Plant is in a stable stage of development. The experts noted that plant employees demonstrated a high level of openness and engagement, with the willingness and operational foundation to ensure reliable and safe operation of the units. During the focus group discussions, employees actively participated in exchanges, offered opinions, and explored ways to improve production processes. The condition of the plant's equipment and facilities also received high ratings.

The expert team also put forward recommendations for further improvement, including enhancing the leadership capabilities of managers, refining the personnel selection and training system, building a talent pool across different age groups, strengthening teamwork, and promoting horizontal communication between departments.

The Smolensk Nuclear Power Plant stated that it will advance the improvement of plant safety and reliability based on the experts' assessment findings, and plans to subsequently apply the methodology acquired from this mission to conduct its own organizational diagnostics in order to track the effectiveness of the improvement measures.

The Smolensk Nuclear Power Plant is part of Rosenergoatom and is a key energy enterprise in the Smolensk Region, located approximately 150 km from the city of Smolensk, about 180 km from Bryansk, and roughly 350 km from Moscow. The plant currently has three units in commercial operation, each with an electrical output of 1,000 MW.