14 December - On the Day of Honoring the Participants of the Liquidation of the Consequences of the Chornobyl Disaster – representatives of the central executive bodies visited the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone and Chornobyl NPP, including the Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine Roman Abramovskyi, Minister of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine Oleksandr Tkachenko, Head of the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine Hryhorii Plachkov, accompanied by the Head of the State Agency of Ukraine for Exclusion Zone Management Sergii Kalashnyk, ChNPP's Acting Director General Volodymyr Pieskov, and ChNPP management.
Participants of the visit honored memory of liquidators of consequences of the Chornobyl Disaster, laying flowers to the monument dedicated to the memory of Chornobyl Heroes near the Administrative Building No.1 of Chornobyl NPP.
Volodymyr Pieskov emphasized the following: “On this day I would like to honor those in particular who stayed in the workplaces and went on carrying out their duty in the first hours of the catastrophe, and by doing so helped maintain order and peace, and hence save many people's health and lives. You and your colleagues are true heroes who didn't lose confidence, sense of responsibility and duty during tragic hours. Such kind of people make our world a safer and more enduring place. Bow low to you and our sincere gratitude!”.


On 9 December, an online meeting within the EU-funded project “Support to the Management of the Instrument for Nuclear Safety Cooperation in Ukraine” (INSC) was held on development of the Strategic Road Map for projects of the RAW Sector Working Group, with participation of the Chornobyl NPP management, as well as representatives of EC’s DEVCO, Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, Ministry of Energy, Ukrainian Science and Technology Centre, State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine, State Agency of Ukraine for Exclusion Zone Management, SE NNEGC Energoatom, SSE Radon Association, SSE Central RAW Management Enterprise, and SSE Ecocentre.
By this time the second double-walled canister (DWC) has been filled with spent nuclear fuel (SNF). For this purpose, 93 spent fuel assemblies (SFAs) were transported from the old SNF wet-type storage facility (ISF-1) during the last days of November. According to the ChNPP SNF management technology, each assembly was cut into two bundles, placed into fuel tubes and then into the DWC.
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.