At the end of November, ChNPP obtained the original copy of the license entitling the enterprise to process and store the radioactive waste which exists and results from Shelter facility transformation into an environmentally safe system.

Amendments were made to the license, and they are about extension of the implementation periods for a number of activities at New Safe Confinement-Shelter facility. Particularly, they include:
1. Extension of service life period for Shelter facility unstable building structures for another 6 years — up to 2029. Unstable building structures are the Shelter facility structures whose collapse probability is very high.
2. Development of a new design for unstable structure dismantling — to 2025.
3. Completion of unstable structure dismantling — up to October 31, 2029.

For information
Shelter facility was built within 206 days. Fast pace of its construction and extreme radioactive strain on the building staff caused the construction defects. In essence, this facility is combination of destroyed power unit 4 “old” structures which rest on “new” Shelter structures.

Actually, at the moment of Shelter facility acceptance for commissioning it was clear that newly constructed facility is only a makeshift solution for the problematic issue and foremost task is development of new facility design (currently known as New Safe Confinement)which will isolate reliably Chornobyl disaster epicentre from the environment as well as enable to disassemble the precarious Shelter.

 Read more here: Project to transform the Shelter Object into an environmentally safe system

As for the previous version of the license, the dismantling of unstable structures had to be completed on October 31, 2023. However, due to a number of external reasons (unavailable timely, full and stable funding for work, COVID-19 spread, and full-scale war of Russia against Ukraine including occupation of ChNPP site in February-March 2023) ChNPP were not able to perform this work.

Owing to the above mentioned, ChNPP and involved contracting companies carried out additional survey of the building structures, made estimates of structures’ durability and supporting capability. Technical reports on the results of these activities underpinned the substantiation of Shelter operation period extension. Based on this substantiation, the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine made a decision to approve the alterations to the license.