Róbert Kelemen: This is not administration, but a security guarantee

There is no room for error in the nuclear industry. The basic principle of configuration management is to ensure that accurate information is available at every stage of a power plant's life cycle about the technical characteristics of the components that make up the facility. Documentation management and configuration management ensure that the planned and actual states are always in harmony. Millions of technical data, drawings and licensing materials are generated – it is crucial to keep accurate records of these and to display them in accordance with the actual status. If the documentation is accurate, then the design, construction, commissioning and maintenance will also be compliant and efficient. To this end, the twenty-strong team of the General Design and Technical Documentation Management Department (GMDO) at Paks II. Zrt., led by Róbert Kelemen, is working hard.

Róbert Kelemen obtained his first degree at the Paks branch of the Budapest University of Technology. He also began his career in Paks, working for 23 years at the long-established design company Erőterv (now AFRY Erőterv Zrt.), where he rose through the ranks. He started out as a designer, then worked as a lead designer and chief engineer in the field of control engineering. He participated in numerous projects aimed at transforming and developing the Paks Nuclear Power Plant. In addition to his work, he obtained a degree in quality engineering and then a degree in electrical engineering. He joined the Paks II project in 2018. „I had seen how my former colleagues who worked on the construction of the Paks Nuclear Power Plant had acquired almost unrivalled knowledge. I felt that if a similar opportunity arose in my career, I would like to be part of it, especially since I had also worked on the Lévai project preparing for the expansion. It is exciting and an honour to be present at the initial stage of the construction of the new units,” he says.

The two areas of expertise of the department headed by Róbert Kelemen – configuration management and technical documentation management – perform coordinating tasks across the departments of the Technical Directorate. They shape and operate the processes that ensure consistency between the documentation and the actual physical condition. The tasks of the configuration management department include operating and developing joint processes with the main contractor, ensuring consistency between design bases and implementation documentation, reviewing and developing the 3D facility model (i.e. BIM), coordinating requirements management, and developing and operating the technical database. The documentation management department operates and develops the electronic documentation management system, coordinates the professional review and approval of documentation submitted by the main contractor, manages configuration changes in approved documents, and operates the technical documentation repository. The team of experts has compiled and uses a technical documentation database that allows for easy searching of technical design documents, reviewing their history, monitoring the status of reviews, and generating reports on the already large volume of documents.

GMDO experts are also active internationally: they are founding members of the European Nuclear Power Plant Configuration Management Group (ECMBG) and hosts of this year's meeting in Gárdony. This is not only a matter of prestige, but also a practical advantage: the best practices become available to the staff of Paks II., who also help to shape them. Knowledge sharing, as they believe, strengthens professional credibility and promotes safety.

The entire system used by the Paks II. Zrt. General Design and Technical Documentation Management Department is digital, with version tracking, authorisation management and automated checks. The 3D facility model, as the expert emphasises, is not a spectacle, but a decision-support tool: it enables quick and accurate coordination in the design-construction chain. The focus is on the use of artificial intelligence and laser scanners. AI can help increase the efficiency of documentation and configuration management, while laser scanner technology supports the accurate recording of the actual status at every stage of construction and installation.

„Security is not a promise, but a process. And we work to ensure that this process is reliable at all times,” says the department head. He adds that they are building a system that will continue to operate stably for decades. „Our work is invisible, but it is present everywhere: in the fact that the engineer works with accurate design documents, the contractor receives the approved version, and the authorities see transparent, verifiable documentation. In short, by developing reliable, consistent configuration management, we are responsible for ensuring that what is built is exactly what was designed,” emphasises Róbert Kelemen.