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    On August 23, on the occasion of the Ukrainian Flag Day and the Independence Day, the ARTEFACT project made a light installation of a yellow and blue flag on the southern wall of the New Safe Confinement Arch.

    In addition to the flag of Ukraine, the flags of 40 Donor Countries and Contributor Countries to the Chornobyl Shelter Found, which took part in NSC construction, flashed on the Arch as a sign of gratitude and respect.

    According to the ARTEFACT project author - Valerii Korshunov, the event was created to show that the memory of the Chornobyl tragedy is as bright as it was 34 years ago. Projections of the Ukrainian flag to the Arch and to other well-known locations and facilities of the Exclusion Zone also emphasize the importance of change of meaning about Chornobyl from the post-apocalyptic area of the Soviet Union into a zone of cultural and scientific research and innovations.

    "It is very symbolic that today we are witnessing a patriotic action on the occasion of the State Flag Day and the Independence Day of Ukraine. And although our state is only 29 years old, and the Chornobyl disaster occurred 34 years ago, it was our destiny to overcome its consequences. This matter has unified not only the Ukrainians, but the entire world, because the problem required new, non-standard solutions, which we can only find together," — summed up the event a Minister of the Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine Roman Abramovsky.

    The new technical cooperation project with IAEA has been initiated called UKR9040 “Supporting Ukrainian Institutions in Addressing National Decommissioning, Radioactive Waste and Spent Nuclear Fuel Management, including Radio-Ecological Monitoring”.

    Kick off meeting sessions on the new project took place from 10 to 14 August 2020. Due to the global pandemic of the coronavirus disease, the event was held online in a new virtual discussion mode. Participants of the meeting included representatives of SNRIU, SAUEZM, SSE ChNPP, SSE Ecocenter, SSE CEMRW, SSE Radon Association and IAEA technical officers.

    The main objective of the kick off meeting sessions was discussing the project’s work plan for 2020-2021, while the whole project will last 4 years up to and including 2023.

    On August 14, the First Deputy Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine Bohdan Borukhovskiy accompanied by SAMEZ and Chornobyl NPP Management visited Chornobyl NPP industrial site with a working visit.

    The official delegation visited the Dry Type Nuclear Spent Fuel Storage Facility (ISF-2), where was familiarized with the Spent Fuel Storage Facility and its storage area. Also, the process of spent nuclear fuel transportation from the old “wet” type storage facility (ISF-1) to the new “dry type” storage facility (ISF-2) was demonstrated. It should start during the “hot” tests. "Hot tests" involve transfer 186 spent fuel assemblies to a new storage facility, which after processing will be located in concrete storage modules.

    In fact, during the period of electricity generation, from 1977 to 2000, the plant accumulated more than 21,000 fuel assemblies, which are now stored in the "wet" type spent nuclear fuel storage facility ISF-1. The old storage is not designed for long-term storage of fuel and its lifetime is limited to 2028, so all spent fuel assemblies will be moved to the new intermediate "dry" type spent nuclear fuel storage ISF-2.

    Within the framework of pilot industrial operation, an acceptance trial stage of abrasive jet blasting facility for metal has started In Chornobyl NPP Turbine Hall.

    The facility is actually a complex of special-purpose equipment designed for decontamination of surfaces of the dismantled equipment with the compressed air and shot blast.

    “The facility represents a box divided into the contaminated and “clean” areas (before and after decontamination accordingly), where items are subject to shot blasting decontamination by pressure air supply, removing the upper layer and decontaminating the material”, - says Oleksandr Titarchuk, Head of the Decommissioning Shop, commenting on the facility operation.

    In early July, Chornobyl NPP obtained the third-party liability insurance policy for nuclear damage that could affect their lives, health and property. Such a policy is one of the prerequisites for obtaining licenses to operate NSC-SO and ISF-2 facilities.

    Obtaining the policy was preceded by a visit of World Nuclear Insurance Pool survey. Its task was to estimate the key ChNPP facilities (two Spent Nuclear Fuel Storage Facilities, NSC, Radioactive Waste Management Facilities, etc.) and to generate a Technical report regarding the insurance risk of the plant.

    Oleksandr Babenko, Director General of the Nuclear Insurance Pool of Ukraine, commented on the insurance process of Chornobyl NPP in such a way: "When insuring, the Facility should be assessed. In our cases [in Chornobyl NPP case — ed.] this is a very complex technological facility, and here we perform an engineering risk assessment.

    On the one hand, we are looking at "hardware". It is, in principle, good everywhere, both in the world and in our country. On the other hand, it is no secret that the human factor is the main cause of accidents and all troubles, not only in the nuclear field. Therefore, we pay attention to the safety culture, the staff attitude to safety, its training and all sorts of things that can lead to some problems. In any case this is a large industrial facility."

    1. ChNPP Continues Cooperation with Exclusion Zone’s Enterprises
    2. Chornobyl NPP obtained specific permission for pilot operation of NSC Commissioning Stage 1
    3. Next stage of cooperation with the Republic of Korea
    4. State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate: Inspection of ChNPP

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