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Letter to the editor

2004.02.17


Last week the editor of the Internet site of the Hungarian Atomic Energy Authority received a copy of the electronic letter of Mr. Werner Kraetzer sent to the Paks NPP. While Mr. Kreatzer sent his best wishes for the new year he wanted to share his thoughts on the serious incident occurred at the Paks NPP in last April. It might be interesting to see the opinion of Mr. Kraetzer, a former employee of KWU/Siemens. "Dear Sirs, subsequently I want to wish you and the NPP community a Safe and Prosperous New Year 2004. In addition my very best wishes to overcome as soon as possible the impact of the fuel cleaning incident. Yours sincerely Werner Kraetzer PS: Little about me: I was involved in Paks 7-FE cleaning business in 2000 thru 2001 . My responsibility was the design, setup , and commissioning down of the delta-p measurement along the FE. I very often recall the good cooperation and the friendly hospitality of Paks people and nuclear community. Now in retirement after working for some 30 years with KWU / Siemens NT in the field of heat transfer, thermo-hydraulic and instrumentation I feel committed to offer my private thoughts. When I went through the IAEA mission paper of Mr. Lipar I got into a rage about the design deficiencies of the 30-FE setup done by FANP. Unbelievable in number , eight of each. A feedback in ranking near to absolute beginners. Basically the brand of Siemens - now German branch of FANP- has been always being famous for release of highest quality and is bounded to do a good business down to the present time and in future. Where does it come from ? Loss of experts and knowhow , weakness of management in charge ? Please make your own thoughts and conclusions. One fact ought to be stated. The attribute of an engineer - to be curious - is a fundamental principle for development, improvement and innovation. Overreliance in selfconfidence coming along with profit orientation only leaves to a stillstand in quality and not to be competitive in the market. Todays renaissance of nuclear industrie gives no room for error. It is an unalterable must to meet the safety standards accompanied by a relentless look for new ways to exceed improvement. People working in the nuclear field are dedicated to turning good ideas into each business transaction under application of know how accumulated through more than 40 years. In fact a release of poor quality occured. After lessons learned , a new mood of enterprise based on Quality First will provide a chance to bridge the fissure in business relationship. The transparency on information given by the Hungarian authorities is to be highly respected. A kind of ' Glasnost' which has never to be seen yet. These lines are not written to act in a manner of wiseacre and not with the intention of " How if,.... ". But with a certain concern how to face the challenge in future. It is a must to follow the recommendations done and to bear up the maxim: Quality First. Thanx for reading."