July last year saw the beginning of pilot operation of the New Safe Confinement. Monitoring the state of the NSC buildings and structures is one of the activities provided for during this period. To obtain as much necessary data as possible and a more precise understanding of the situation, the staff of the Shelter Object (NSC) Operation Shop (hereinafter - SO(NSC)OS) carry out 3D-scanning of the main NSC volume.
The above activities are provided for by the Pilot Operation Programme approved by the regulating authority.
For safe performance of three-dimensional survey of buildings and structures of the main NSC volume with a laser 3D-scanner, a special programme was developed containing both short-term and long-term objectives. A short-term objective is identifying the feasibility of using the scanner to monitor the geometry of under-crane beams and under-crane walkways of the main crane system, as well as monitoring of buildings and structures of the main NSC volume.
In the long run, initial scanning will allow making the work plan for dismantling of unstable Shelter structures more specific. Therefore, this will allow for reducing the time of personnel's staying in areas of high radiation impact and thus reducing their radiation exposure.
From 8 to 12 February, 2021, an online Nuclear Leadership and Safety Culture training workshop was held. It was organized by the World Association of Nuclear Operators (hereinafter – WANO) together with SE “Khelnytskyi NPP” and SE “Rivne NPP”. Chornobyl NPP at this event was represented by Senior Inspector of NPPs Operation – Oleksandr Pichkur, and Section Supervisor of the Decommissioning Shop – Vasyl Yezan. Also the participants included representatives from the South-Ukraine NPP, Zaporizhzhia NPP, and co-organizers.
On February 10th, a meeting regarding further implementation of the project for decontamination of small-diameter pipes took place at Chornobyl NPP site. Participants included ChNPP experts and their partners from Belgian ENGIE Solutions. The project has been implemented within the Cooperation Agreement of 2018 between ChNPP and Technubel, SCK∙CEN, and Tractebel (Belgium). The main project objective is minimization of the RAW resulting from decommissioning activities through finding and developing the decontamination technology for contaminated equipment.
On February 8th, a three week training course started at Chornobyl NPP on “Maintenance of the Wälischmiller arm, the ZDAZ press, and the KAISER compressor”. The course is being provided by experts of the Belgian company ENGIE SOLUTIONS, and is financed from the governmental fund of Belgium.
From 26 to 28 January, 2021, an online training course/workshop was being held, organized by the World Association of Nuclear Operators (hereinafter — WANO) together with the Zaporizhzhia NPP. Participants included representatives from South-Ukraine NPP, Khmelnytskyi NPP, Rivne NPP, NNEGC “Energoatom”, and Chornobyl NPP. The purpose of the workshop was introducing to the participants the concept of “Operational Decision Making” in nuclear energy, developed by WANO on the basis of guidelines, best practice and recommendations of WANO members.