A regular mission of the IAEA began at the Chornobyl NPP to review the issues related to technical solution of irradiated graphite management including selected options for containers and storage. Today, on the first day of work, international experts visited the ChNPP industrial site.
During the morning session, experts were provided with information on the current status of decommissioning as well as with the draft technical solutions developed by the Chornobyl NPP specialists on irradiated graphite management.
The experts also visited the restricted access area, in particular the Unit 2 central hall and Lot 0 Building located at the plant industrial site, the NSC observation pavilion and the town of Prypyat.
Within the next two days of the mission, experts and specialists of the Chornobyl NPP will review the experience of Germany and the United Kingdom in the area of irradiated graphite storage as well as the international project “GRAPA” related to an analogous subject, and provide preliminary recommendations on the technical solutions proposed by the ChNPP on irradiated graphite management, including the selection of options for containers and storage.
Last week a team of photographers from the agency of business photo, "The Gate", worked at Chornobyl NPP. The profile of agency activity is to show the very essence of companies, their missions and spirit via professional photo stories.
From May 22 till 25, the team worked with the power plant collective. From the very beginning two objectives were set for this project, namely:
1. To change the image of Chornobyl NPP from the enterprise that caused the accident to the image of a progressive, technology intensive company which has been carried out the activities and gaining the experience in RAW management that forms the basis for efficient actions related to mitigating the nuclear accident consequences.
2. To convert the negative attitude of the public towards Chornobyl NPP into positive one and to replace the key associations “accident” with a new set of “technologies, safety, benefit”.
Within the project the photographers together with the central characters of their plots visited the LRTP and Shelter internal premises, spent a day on ISF-2 construction site, worked together with the Electrical Shop staff at the outdoor switchgear plot, took pictures of equipment dismantling in the Turbine Hall and even climbed the very top of NSC arch.
All this has become possible through the support of management of ChNPP shops, namely: Electrical Shop, Shelter (NSC) Operation Shop, Main Building and External Structure Operation Shop, RAW Management Shop, Radiation Safety Shop, Spent Fuel Management Shop and Safety Improvement PMU.
The outcome of this project will be available on the official Facebook page of the agency.
Photo source: www.facebook.com/the.gate.agency
Recently, specialists of the State Scientific and Technical Center for Nuclear and Radiation Safety (SSTC NRS) jointly with the representatives of the Society for Facilities and Reactors Safety of Germany (GRS) presented a jointly developed draft report "Analysis of Factors Determining Shelter Object Safety" as part of the new Safe Confinement".
The new Safe Confinement (NSC) is designed on the basis of the boundary conditions for the current and potentially hazardous impacts of the Shelter object.
If the boundary conditions are met, the environment is protected; the permissible release of radioactive substances from the NSC does not exceed the norm. The same is applicable to the radiation protection of Arch employees.
Current impact of the Shelter object is represented by the radioactive substances release into NSC, release of ionizing radiation into workplaces and the temperature and humidity regime. Potential impact is criticality occurrence, collapse of structures, fire and explosion.
"The Shelter object condition can be considered as safe if its safety indicators do not exceed the limiting conditions", - said Sergey Kondratiev, the head of SSTC decommissioning department. "Together with GRS, we collected all the limiting design conditions and developed approaches to definition of criteria for the further safe operation of the facility."
During the project implementation, risks were identified that may occur in process of the Shelter object unstable structures dismantling.
WANO technical support mission "Radioactively contaminated water management" is taking place at Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant from May 15 to May 19.
Within the mission experts from Ukraine, Hungary and Russia together with Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant’s specialists discussed the problem of Radioactively contaminated water management at Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant and visited Radioactive Waste Management Facilities, currently existing at ChNPP.
At Chernobyl NPP the volume of accumulated waste water in the special sewage system makes approximately 12.000 m3/year. At the moment at Chernobyl NPP a scheme for the radioactive waters purification is in operation, which is intended for the operational condition of the unit. The current use of resources (gas, heat, electricity and steam) for the radioactive water purification and the purified water production is inefficient and expensive.
Among the major practical tasks of the mission is search of optimal and economically expedient approach to the waste water treatment at Chernobyl NPP, as well as identification of optimal technology for their treatment with minimum secondary waste generation and reasonable economic efficiency in decommissioning conditions.
During the mission Chernobyl NPP specialists were acquainted with modern approaches and methods for the radioactively contaminated water (RCW) treatment and with experience of their utilization at RAW Management facilities (NPPs).
On May 16, the participants of the International Conference of nuclear veterans have met with Chernobyl NPP Management.
The experienced specialists from different countries, who devoted many years to the nuclear industry, came to Slavutych and ChNPP site to share their experience in the international conference and a working meeting regarding “Safety – compulsory condition for existence and development of nuclear energy in all countries of the world”. Among participants of the event, there were representatives from Belarus, Bulgaria, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Russia, Finland, France and Ukraine.
During the event, the contributions of the speakers have been heard by following areas of activity:
1. Professional competence of the operational staff at NPP and a system of its support at appropriate level. Preservation and transfer of crucial knowledge to young generation.
2. Safety when managing the nuclear fuel during whole process chain of its use (supply, transportation, operations in reactor, refueling, temporary and long-term storage, processing).