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    The Joint Eighth and Ninth Review Meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Convention on Nuclear Safety was held at the IAEA’s Headquarters in Vienna (Austria) from 20 to 26 March 2023.

    The Review Meeting was attended by a large delegation from Ukraine headed by Acting Chairman of the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine (SNRIU), Chief State Inspector for Nuclear and Radiation Safety Oleh Korikov. Also the delegation includes representatives of SNRIU, SE NNEGC “Energoatom”, SSE CERWM, and the Permanent Mission of Ukraine to the International Organizations in Vienna.

    SSE “Chornobyl NPP” (ChNPP) was represented by Deputy Technical Director (for Safety) Oleksandr Novikov.

    During this event, the Ukraine’s party made public the summary of the implemented measures to ensure the safety of nuclear facilities for a six-month period since the time of the Seventh Review Meeting to the Convention.

    However, taking into account the full-scale military aggression initiated by the russian federation against Ukraine on February 24, 2022, the National Report was mainly focused on those impacts endured by the Ukrainian NPPs’ nuclear and radiation safety system due to the war.

    On 3 March, Germany’s Vice Chancellor, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action Robert Habeck and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Federal Republic of Germany to Ukraine Anka Feldhusen visited Slavutych, a Chornobyl NPP’s satellite town. The event was held within the activities dedicated to 37th anniversary of the Chornobyl disaster.

    During the visit the high-level delegation of Germany met with a mayor of Slavutych, administration of ChNPP and employees who faced the russian occupation during February-March 2022.

    “Thank you for such stories from the eyewitnesses. I am sincerely grateful that you managed to maintain the Chornobyl NPP, because it would be the worst in this horrible year to face another nuclear catastrophe.

    I would like to wish you comprehensive worldwide support. May peace come as soon as possible and all those taken from us return home at the earliest possible moment. Thank you!” — said in his speech Mr. Vice Chancellor.

    In March 2023, a series of online training sessions on providing psychological first aid, psycho education and rehabilitation techniques were delivered in Slavutych – Chornobyl NPP workers’ town.

    The training sessions were organized with the support of WANO Paris Center at Chornobyl NPP’s request.

    During the month, practical psychologists from Slavutych listened to experts from the Center for Trauma, Crisis and Conflicts of the Autonomous University of Barcelona. Participants of the course included psychologists of the Chornobyl NPP Training Center, Social and Psychological Centre of Slavutych, school psychologists and others.

    On 6 March 2023, representatives of the Clean Futures Fund (US) visited the Chornobyl NPP site. The main goal of their visit was to deliver and hand over the dose monitoring equipment that had been purchased by the Fund.

    In particular, the plant received the following equipment:
    • 1 SmartCam continuous air monitor
    • 4 personal dosimeters
    • 1 hand-held radiometer
    • Other equipment (headlamps, radio stations etc.).

    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.

    1. Ambassador of France visited ChNPP
    2. IAEA establishes the continued presence at ChNPP
    3. Happy New Year!
    4. SNRIU approved Report on ICSRM ‘hot’ testing

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