On November 30, 1986, the Deed of the State Acceptance Commission on commissioning of a protective structure above the destroyed Unit 4 of Chornobyl NPP was signed, it was named the Shelter object (hereinafter - SO). And this year is the 34th anniversary of the completion of perhaps the most dangerous and complex construction process in the history of domestic nuclear energy. Here are some interesting facts about the features of this facility, which for 30 years, until New Safe Confinement sliding, has become a physical barrier from the destroyed as a result of the accident Unit.
On November 29, 2016, the official ceremony of New Safe Confinement (NSC) Arch installing in the design position took place. This event was preceded by four years of hard and painstaking, without exaggeration - creative work of Chornobyl NPP team, the main construction contractor, NOVARKA joint venture (consortium consisting of two French companies: Bouygues and Vinci), a number of foreign and Ukrainian subcontractor organizations, research institutions at institutes.
To build NSC, 45 donor countries have joined efforts with Ukraine in a specially established fund administrated by EBRD and pledged more than 1.5 billion euros. In total, 10,000 employees from 40 countries, 5,000 of them Ukrainians, were involved in the project.
The ceremonial event was preceded by four years of the Arch structure construction, which was intended to cover Chornobyl Unit 4 destroyed as a result of the accident, and two dramatic weeks of NSC Arch construction sliding on the Shelter object. A huge structure weighing 36.2 thousand tons using the complex jacks system was moved along the special foundations for sliding 327 meters and installed in the design position.
Following the Order of the President of Ukraine No.87/2020 on prevention of the COVID-19 spreading and pursuant to the Protocol of the extraordinary meeting of the Slavutych Permanent Commission on Technogenic-Environmental Safety and Emergencies No.15 dated 29.10.2020, the ChNPP Administration made a decision to switch the plant staff to a special working time pattern from November 2 till November 15, 2020.
Only operational personnel who provides the nuclear and radiation safety of the site and security of its facilities, and the personnel associated with life-support of SSE ChNPP facilities, will remain at their workplaces.
In addition, the Chornobyl NPP restricts the information visits of people from all over the world to the ChNPP site at least until November 30, 2020.
Moreover the ChNPP Administration will restrict international business trips of its staff and technical visits of international specialists to the ChNPP site.
On 29th of October, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of France to Ukraine, Mr. Etienne de Poncins, and Economic Attaché, Ms. Mathilde Arjakovsky, made an official visit to Chornobyl NPP.
During this visit, Mr. Etienne de Poncins held a meeting with the ChNPP management and visited the New Safe Confinement (NSC) – a facility which was designed and constructed under the leadership of JV NOVARKA, i.e. Consortium of two French engineering giants – Vinci Construction Grand Projects and Bouygues Travaux Publics.
Mr. Ambassador expressed excitement about the hugeness and scale of the NSC, as well as about strength of spirit and professionalism of all those who were involved into its design and construction.
The SSE ChNPP First Deputy Director General, Mr. Valeriy Seyda, thanked the Ambassador of France to Ukraine for many years of efficient support of Ukraine in overcoming the consequences of the Chornobyl accident and the transformation of the Shelter Object into an environmentally safe system. He also expressed his hope for further fruitful cooperation.
On October 22, Chornobyl NPP was visited by engineers of the University of Bristol. Their task was to test the remotely controlled robots under the Exclusion Zone conditions, and one of such robots was a world famous Spot, a robot-dog, developed by the Boston Dynamics.
Unique features of Spot are that it can move in complex terrain (such as stones or debris), get over obstacles, walk up sloping surfaces and stairs, as well as get on its feet after turning over onto its back. Availability on its “back” of a special platform for installing the equipment potentially allows using the robot for remote radiation survey.
The visit to the ChNPP is commented by David Megson-Smith, a Senior Postdoctoral Researcher in the University of Bristol involved in the development of novel and new sensors for deployment of robotic platforms, which can be used in the nuclear industry:
“We came to the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone to use the robotic platforms for mapping the distribution of radiation, test our robotic platforms and build new networks of people. We’ve worked a lot with the nuclear organizations in the United Kingdom but we haven’t ever worked in the environment as difficult as here at the ChNPP.