On the 7th of September, SSE ChNPP obtained a specific permit for commissioning of a nuclear facility – the Interim Spent Fuel Dry Storage Facility (ISF-2).
This permit opens the door for commencing “hot” tests at the facility. The tests provide for transportation of 186 real spent fuel assemblies (SFAs) into a new storage facility. The SFAs after their processing will be placed into the concrete storage modules.
A decision to issue the specific permit was approved by the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine (SNRIU). The decision takes into account the positive results of the state nuclear and radiation safety expert review and the inspection of the SNRIU’s Commission on review the capability of SSE ChNPP to perform activities on transportation, processing and storage of spent nuclear fuel (SNF).
Starting from July 25th, applications can be submitted to participate in the all-Ukrainian contest “Cycle-Friendly Employer of the Year” - the contest which celebrates the most comfortable offices as regards bicycle infrastructure in different Ukrainian cities. The main objective of the contest is developing city bicycle infrastructure and promoting using bicycles as a transportation to get to offices.
The contestants this year include 9 cities – Kyiv, Kharkiv, Poltava, Kryvyi Rih, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Vinnytsia, Odesa, and Slavutych. Each of the cities will have its winner selected individually.
Chornobyl NPP has decided not to miss such an opportunity to participate in the contest, for the company already has its own practical and covered bike parking rack installed last year on the territory of its office in Slavutych.
As of 27 August 2020, 09:00 AM – new cases of the COVID-19 disease among ChNPP staff have not been reported.
The employee, who was under the ambulatory treatment with a laboratory-confirmed case of the COVID-19, has recovered and withdrawn from the sick leave.
On August 23, on the occasion of the Ukrainian Flag Day and the Independence Day, the ARTEFACT project made a light installation of a yellow and blue flag on the southern wall of the New Safe Confinement Arch.
In addition to the flag of Ukraine, the flags of 40 Donor Countries and Contributor Countries to the Chornobyl Shelter Found, which took part in NSC construction, flashed on the Arch as a sign of gratitude and respect.
According to the ARTEFACT project author - Valerii Korshunov, the event was created to show that the memory of the Chornobyl tragedy is as bright as it was 34 years ago. Projections of the Ukrainian flag to the Arch and to other well-known locations and facilities of the Exclusion Zone also emphasize the importance of change of meaning about Chornobyl from the post-apocalyptic area of the Soviet Union into a zone of cultural and scientific research and innovations.
"It is very symbolic that today we are witnessing a patriotic action on the occasion of the State Flag Day and the Independence Day of Ukraine. And although our state is only 29 years old, and the Chornobyl disaster occurred 34 years ago, it was our destiny to overcome its consequences. This matter has unified not only the Ukrainians, but the entire world, because the problem required new, non-standard solutions, which we can only find together," — summed up the event a Minister of the Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine Roman Abramovsky.
The new technical cooperation project with IAEA has been initiated called UKR9040 “Supporting Ukrainian Institutions in Addressing National Decommissioning, Radioactive Waste and Spent Nuclear Fuel Management, including Radio-Ecological Monitoring”.
Kick off meeting sessions on the new project took place from 10 to 14 August 2020. Due to the global pandemic of the coronavirus disease, the event was held online in a new virtual discussion mode. Participants of the meeting included representatives of SNRIU, SAUEZM, SSE ChNPP, SSE Ecocenter, SSE CEMRW, SSE Radon Association and IAEA technical officers.
The main objective of the kick off meeting sessions was discussing the project’s work plan for 2020-2021, while the whole project will last 4 years up to and including 2023.