On the 26th February, a team of Chornobyl NPP specialists returned from a duty trip to Belgium where they were learning foreign experience in the area of radioactive waste treatment, in particular thermal treatment of waste.
Over the week-long visit, our specialists visited a thermal treatment facility at Nuclear Engineering Seibersdorf (NES) in Austria and Belgoprocess facility in Belgium. The major task of the trip was discussing the challenges Chornobyl NPP faces in its activities on thermal treatment of waste and finding ways to solve them.
The visit was arranged as part of the bilateral cooperation agreement between SSE Chornobyl NPP and Belgoprocess supported by (funded by) the Government of Belgium. Belgoprocess is a long-time partner of ChNPP in the area of radioactive waste management – the cooperation’s been ongoing since 2016. Belgian experts have visited the Chornobyl NPP site multiple times and provided expert support and arranged visits on learning international experience for our specialists.
Read more: ChNPP-Belgoprocess: Cooperation Continued
“ChNPP is in fact one of the pioneers in the area of radioactive waste management in Ukraine. Therefore, we are the first ones facing various challenges and trying to solve them with the help of our colleagues from Belgoprocess.
During the visits, we were looking for ways to improve the operation of the incinerator which we use to burn our solid radioactive waste, in particular to find the solution to the problem with sludge formation on the walls of the furnace and/or on the ash discharge fitting. Our Austrian colleagues faced similar issues when operating their incinerator, so they could offer some recommendations on how to prevent them. We are going to apply them in our work when burning solid waste, being confident that it will help to solve the problem”, — comments Illia Shumkov, Deputy Head of RW Management Shop at ChNPP.
In addition, it was agreed upon with NES to further cooperate in the area of radioactive waste treatment.
Cover image: nes.at