A meeting of the Scientific-Organizing Committee of the International Forum “The Chernobyl Lessons for the World’s Nuclear Safety” under the co-chairmanship of SSE ChNPP Director General I.I. Gramotkin and NTUU “Kyiv Polytechnic Institute” Rector M.Z. Zgurovsky was held on 15 October in Kyiv.

Information about a status of preparation to the Forum was presented at the meeting, including discussion of the draft agenda, membership of steering bodies and lists of invited participants, as well as a list of speakers’ candidates. In addition, an issue of inviting to take part in the Forum a Nobel Prize Laureate in Literature, an author of a book “Voices from Chernobyl”, a Belarusian writer Svetlana Alexievich was discussed.

Representatives of the U.S. Department of Energy visited the Chernobyl NPP in the early October.

The visit’s objective was to learn about progress of the projects being implemented at the ChNPP industrial site within the frame of financial assistance of the international donor community. During the visit the delegation’s members visited the contamination control area and Units 1, 2 control rooms, as well as a construction site of a new dry type storage facility for spent nuclear fuel (ISF-2) and outdoor switchgear of the ChNPP.

Also the guests visited the Shelter Object’s observation pavilion, where were informed about the New Safe Confinement construction project progress and a current state of the Shelter. Then they went to the free access area and observed the Confinement’s Arch itself that impressed them a lot. Besides, they also visited Prypiat, an old satellite-town of the Chernobyl NPP.

The issues of further cooperation between the SSE ChNPP and the U.S. Department of Energy were discussed during a meeting with the Plant’s management.  

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A few days ago the General Contractor of the project "Construction of a New Safe Confinement", NOVARKA, celebrated a kind of jubilee - 20 million man-hours of work at the site.

The unique structure of the Arch, exceeding in the sizes the largest stadiums and being the largest mobile arched structure in the world, is erected by professionals of more than 27 different nationalities. For example, for lifting operations it was necessary to resort to professionals from Azerbaijan, as theyhad the necessary experience of work with great loads after working on oil platforms; Italian climbers were initially engaged in works at height; cladding is arranged by Turkish company using German technology; Portuguese experts are engaged in the erection of formwork, etc. But, of course, the linking in the team are Ukrainian workers (2000 Ukrainian workers, of which more than 1000 workers are always present at the site).

On 25th September, the Chernobyl NPP was visited by a delegation of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Cooperative Threat Reduction Program team led by Mr. Gary Park, International Project Manager. 

The tour was arranged within the frame of a visit of the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program team to Ukraine with the purpose to familiarize themselves with institutions which are receiving assistance of the U.S. DoD.

On 22nd September, representatives of regulatory bodies of Norway, Sweden and Ukraine made a technical visit to the Chernobyl NPP. In particular, the delegation included the representatives of the Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority and Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as British specialists. The visit was held within the frame of the Swedish-Norwegian-Ukrainian Joint Initiative to strengthen the safety and security of Ukrainian NPPs that was declared during The Hague Nuclear Security Summit in March 2014. The delegation visited the ChNPP according to the agenda of The Third Coordination Meeting between Ukraine and the Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority, which was held in Kyiv on September 21-23.