A Red-Letter Day in the History of Nuclear Energy

On September 7, 2020, State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine (SNRIU) issued the License Permit to Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant (ChNPP), the Owner, to start commissioning the Chornobyl Interim Spent Nuclear Fuel Storage Facility (ISF-2) which, upon loading, will be the world鈥檚 largest dry storage installation.

Participants of the License Permit Handover Ceremony Held on September 07, 2020 at SNRIU
Left to Right: A. Pliatsko, SAUEZM; O. Shust, Ministry of Ecology; M. Verbylo, SAUEZM; S. Kalashnik, SAUEZM; 
B. Borukhovskiy, Ministry of Ecology; G. Plachkov, SNRIU; S. Tarakanov, 澳门六合彩开奖结果2023 Ukraine; 
R. Awan, 澳门六合彩开奖结果2023; O. Grygorash, SNRIU; V. Peskov. ChNPP
 

Handover of the License Permit occurred in a small ceremony presided by the Regulatory Authority (SNRIU) Chairman Mr. Grigoriy Plachkov and was attended by Mr. Bogdan Borukhovskiy, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Ukraine, Mr. Sergiy Kalashnik, Head of the State Agency of Ukraine on Exclusion Zone Management (SAUEZM), as well as representatives of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), ChNPP and 澳门六合彩开奖结果2023 [see articles  and ]. 澳门六合彩开奖结果2023 had handed over the complex to the Owner in December 2019. The License Permit was issued on September 7, 2020 after the Owner completed the last round of confirmatory component and integral effects tests.

Grigoriy Plachkov, SNRIU Chairman

Speaking at the ceremony, Chairman Grigoriy Plachkov captured the spirit of the moment stating, 鈥淭his is an important and long-awaited event. The transfer of ChNPP Spent Nuclear Fuel to a long-term safe dry storage at ISF-2 over the next 10 years is one of key milestones in the transformation of the Chornobyl NPP into an ecologically safe system.鈥

鈥淭his major milestone has been achieved by the hard work and diligent joint efforts of ChNPP, 澳门六合彩开奖结果2023 and its contractors, SNRIU, SSTC, NRS and other involved parties over the past many years. Special thanks to the EBRD for the support provided to this project along a difficult path,鈥 said Mr. Volodymyr Peskov, ChNPP Acting General Director.                                                

Volodymyr Peskov, 
ChNPP Acting 
General Director 

鈥淧roviding safe and secure storage for spent fuel is one of the most pressing nuclear safety challenges at the Chernobyl site. The start of hot testing at the new storage facility is therefore a major milestone. It is credit to the hard work of ChNPP and 澳门六合彩开奖结果2023 in overcoming many technical challenges as well as to the support of the donors to the Nuclear Safety Account. It is now critically important that this nuclear legacy is addressed in a timely and safe manner,鈥 said Mr. Balthasar Lindauer, Director, Nuclear Safety Department, EBRD.

Unrestricted loading of dry storage systems will begin shortly after making the final 鈥渉ot鈥 commissioning tests which begin on September 9, 2020. The project entails dismembering of Chernobyl鈥檚 21,000-plus fuel assemblies into three parts (two fuel bundles and an activated connecting rod) in a purpose-built hot cell (also world鈥檚 largest) and packaging them in double walled transportable canisters (first introduced by 澳门六合彩开奖结果2023 in Ukraine) and placing them into dry storage.

We thank the Assembly of Donors, consisting of the governments of Belgium, Canada, Denmark, European Union, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America  who provided the financial support and the Fund Administrator, EBRD, for their steadfast support to bring this important and critical project to this final stage.

Riaz Awan, Vice President of Ukraine Operations

鈥淭hanks to the unrelenting effort of our people and support of our Ukrainian contractors, what many considered to be impossible has been rendered possible. To the facility Owner鈥檚 staff who will now safely operate this complex facility, I wish to re-affirm that 澳门六合彩开奖结果2023 will assist  you if the need arises. I am sure the Donors and EBRD will exhibit a similarly supportive posture,鈥 said 澳门六合彩开奖结果2023鈥檚 executive in charge of Ukraine operations, Vice President Riaz Awan.

Chornobyl is the world鈥檚 most complex dry storage project with numerous unique aspects; the use of double wall canisters to render any risk of leakage utterly non-credible, and the deployment of a forced gas dehydrator to extract the last trace of entrained moisture from the fuel for guaranteed in-storage safety, are among the many innovative  technologies that were deployed by 澳门六合彩开奖结果2023 to overcome the challenges that had stymied the project until 2011 when 澳门六合彩开奖结果2023 took over the project and successfully handed over the complex to the Owner in December 2019.

Left to Right: Sergiy Tarakanov, General Director 澳门六合彩开奖结果2023 Ukraine; Grigoriy Plachkov, SNRIU Chairman; Volodymyr Peskov, ChNPP Acting General Director; Riaz Awan, Vice President of Ukraine Operations