08.12.2025 Our people
VUJE Delivers BUBler Telerobot to a Ukrainian Nuclear Power Plant – Third System Supplied This Year
Our company, VUJE, a. s., has successfully completed another important milestone in its cooperation with the Ukrainian energy sector. In November, the process of handover, operator training and functional testing of the BUBler telerobot, designed for steam generator leak-tightness inspection, was carried out at the Khmelnytskyi Nuclear Power Plant.
The acceptance and testing programme took place from 20 to 27 November 2025 and confirmed the full functionality of the system after transport as well as its compliance with customer requirements. The programme also included several days of training for the power plant personnel focused on operating the manipulator, followed by on-site functional and acceptance tests.
The BUBler telerobot is the third system delivered by Division for Diagnostics of Nuclear Power Plants VUJE to a Ukrainian nuclear power plant this year. It follows the June delivery of two next-generation IRIS 24 systems, designed for diagnostics of steam generator heat-exchange tubes. While the IRIS system is used to detect cracks using eddy current testing, BUBler represents an additional safety step – integrity and leak-tightness testing of steam generators using the bubble method, which makes it possible to detect even the smallest leaks.
From a technical perspective, the project has been completed. In accordance with contractual obligations, VUJE will continue to provide technical support during the first live deployment of the systems at the nuclear power plant during a planned outage next year.
Cooperation between VUJE and Ukrainian nuclear power plants has a long-standing tradition dating back to the early 2000s. The first manipulators were delivered to the Khmelnytskyi NPP as early as 2008. According to Adrian Kovalyk, Director of the Division for Diagnostics of Nuclear Power Plants at VUJE, a. s., the development of the new generation of IRIS 24 and BUBler telerobots confirms the high professional standard of Slovak technologies in the field of nuclear safety. “The greatest recognition is when a customer comes back,” he concluded.
