Within the framework of hot tests commenced on September 10, 2020, at the new Interim Spent Fuel Storage Facility of Chornobyl NPP, all the operations related to the first real spent fuel assembly (SFA) preparation for storage have been successfully completed.

These procedures include the transfer basket lifting from the railcar to vertical position, unpacking, then moving an individual SFA to hot cell, cutting and repacking.

So, it can be deemed that all stages starting from the fuel transportation from ISF-1 to ISF-2 and through to its processing for long-term storage were not only tried and tested with dummies but also with an existent SFA.

Currently, similar activities are carried out with the second spent fuel assembly.