Engineering Center contribution to the Russian NPP aging management

The Engineering Center of strength, reliability and life of the nuclear equipment of the Minatom, Russia, has been set up by the decision of the management of the Russian Federation Ministry on the nuclear power (Russia Minatom) within the framework of the Research and Development Institute of Power Engineering (RDIPE). The Engineering Center is responsible for fulfilling the functions of the leading Institution of the Ministry concerning these issues and it is in charge of the development of the appropriate rules and standards package as well as their compliance with analogous international regulating documents. To put forward the national program on NPP aging management, and to implement it is one of the crucial tasks of the Engineering Center. This activity is conducted by both the cooperation between Russian Institution and experts and within the framework of the international collaboration. In the latter case it is worthy of noting the activity with respect to the American-Russian Working Group 12 ''NPP Aging and Life Extension'' and participation in appropriate programs of the IAEA. The major trends of the above activity are considered in this paper