During July 3-4, the Belgian delegation has been working at ChNPP, i.e. the representatives of Tractebel company and Institute for Radioelements, IRE-Elit, which are the experts in radioactive waste characterization. The visit was held under cooperation program funded by the Government of Belgium between SSE ChNPP and a number of Belgian companies, namely Technubel, SCK-CEN, IRE-Elit, and Tractebel.
Cooperation of the Chornobyl NPP with Belgian companies started in 2016, when under the Memorandum on technical cooperation with Belgoprocess company the collaborative works regarding quality management have been made and the risk analysis of the Program of Radioactive Waste Management on SSE “Chornobyl NPP” Site has been conducted.
In 2017, the Government of Belgium allocated additional funds to the already existing program to train the ChNPP specialists in maintaining and repairing the BROKK manipulators being used at the Solid RAW Management Plant.
In June 2018, the Memorandum on Cooperation between SSE ChNPP and Tecnubel, SCK-CEN, and Tractebel companies was signed to solve the problems regarding decontamination of small-sized diameter pipes. Specifically, this visit was arranged under this cooperation.
“We know that ChNPP is of high qualification in decontamination issues. We want with our own eyes to see your decontamination facilities, communicate with people who work at these facilities, and understand what specific assistance we can provide”, Carlo De Lellis comments during the visit who is a nuclear expert from the Institute for Radioelements in Belgium.
On site, the experts have visited the decontamination facilities located in ChNPP Turbine Hall and Building 81, where they were familiarized with technical specifications of the facilities, with decontamination process and asked plant’s specialists the questions. On July 4, the summary meeting was held with the management of operating divisions of ChNPP to discuss what have been seen and to plan future work.
As the experts told, the next visit is expected to be held in September; however, the experts in creating the decontamination facility are expected to come next time.
