On September 10-11, the delegation of the Belgian company TECNUBEL and the Institute for Radioelements (IRE-Elit) worked at Chornobyl NPP. The visit was part of a joint project aimed on creation of a pilot installation for chemical decontamination of small diameter pipes at Chornobyl NPP.
The experts set two main objectives for this visit. The first is to get acquainted with the measuring capabilities of ChNPP water-radiochemical laboratory. In future all the tests necessary to create the installation and maximize its efficiency (analysis of pipe materials, development of decontaminating solutions, etc.) will be performed in this laboratory.
The second task was to investigate the Chornobyl decontamination facilities being in operation. In addition to new decontamination facility creation Belgian experts are considering possible upgrading of the existing facilities with use of their own technologies. According to project manager Tarik Bouayad, during previous meetings Chornobyl specialists addressed with such request.
The result of the cooperation will be a report which will be prepared by the end of 2019. In this report experts will present the conclusions regarding obtained information, as well as their recommendations and developed designs of the pilot installation. ChNPP specialists will study this document and at the end will select the installation option meeting all the plant’s requirements.
It should be noted, that the visit took place within the framework of the program of cooperation, financed by Belgian Government, between ChNPP and a number of Belgian companies: Tecnubel, SCK-CEN, IRE-Elit and Tractebel.
Interaction of Chornobyl NPP with the Belgian companies was started in 2016 when joint work was carried out in the field of Quality Management and Risk Analysis of the Program for Radioactive Waste Management at Chornobyl NPP site within the framework of the Memorandum of Understanding regarding technical cooperation with Belgoprocess.
In 2017 the Belgian Government allocated additional funds to the already available program to train ChNPP specialists in maintenance and repair of BROKK manipulators used at Solid Radioactive Waste Management Plant. It is planned to deliver another training course in this area in October 2019.
Read more: Operation of BROKK-180 manipulators: achievement of the expert level
To resolve the problems of small diameter pipe decontamination the Memorandum of cooperation was signed in June 2018 between ChNPP and Tecnubel, SCK-CEN and Tractebel.
