The State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine issued a Certificate to the Chernobyl NPP, which certified the design of packaging set 700-001.720.14.00.00 for transportation of spent fuel assemblies (SFA) and spent additional absorbers (SAA) of RBMK-1000 reactors.

This set is an integral part of a transfer railcar TK-700 and is intended for loading, transportation and unloading of a transfer basket with 9 spent fuel assemblies or with a similar amount of spent additional absorbers with a total mass of up to 1,800 kilograms.

The packaging set 700-001.720.14.00.00 was designed by the Slavutich branch of State Enterprise "State Scientific and Technical Center for Nuclear and Radiation Safety", and manufactured at "Skoda" Plant (Czech Republic).

The Certificate was issued in accordance with the requirements of Article 6 of the Law of Ukraine “On Authorization Activity in Nuclear Energy Use” and the regulatory act "On the procedure of issuing certificates for safe transportation of radioactive materials”. It certifies that the design of the packaging set 700-001.720.14.00.00 and its radioactive content complies with the requirements established by the Rules for Nuclear and Radiation Safety during Transportation of Radioactive Materials.

The issue of the Certificate of Conformance is an important stage in the implementation of the ISF-2 construction project, due to the fact that the Certificate testifies that during operation this equipment can ensure safety of the operations related to loading, transportation and unloading of spent nuclear fuel.

On February 22, the representatives of the Ukrainian NPPs’ Deputy Chief Engineers Board visited Chernobyl NPP.

The Board was organized by the Ukrainian NPPs’ Operator, Energoatom, in order to implement unified policy in the field of radioactive waste (hereinafter referred to as RAW) management and to exchange experience among homeland NPPs.

Within this site tour the delegation visited the Chernobyl NPP main facilities associated with RAW management, namely Spent Fuel Storage Facility No.2 and plants for processing of solid and liquid waste. Besides, the Board representatives visited the New Safe Confinement construction site.

The Council meeting is held from the 19th till 23rd February in Slavutych at the site of “Atomremontservice”, separated entity of NPGC “Energoatom”.

Completion of this task significantly improves fire safety of the New Safe Confinement.

The sections of potentially inflammable roof of Turbine Hall located in the area of Arch End Walls within axes 60-62 and 38-40 were dismantled under the project of NSC enclosing perimeter which was completed by construction at the end of 2017.

In the first half of February 2018, three sections within axes 52-54, 56-58 and 60-62 were dismantled. Consequently, the whole area of the roof defined by the design was dismantled.

The work was carried out with two cranes whose lifting power makes 300 and 270 tons. One of them was positioned on the pioneer wall and the other one - to the north of Shelter Deaerator Stack within the NSC temporary storage area.

Currently, the activities associated with cutting the dismantled structures and their removal to specially equipped area for their storage are underway. The dismantled slabs are decontaminated if necessary.

As of February 15, 2018, about 15 % of the dismantled slabs have been removed.

During the work period, the reference levels of external exposure (13 mSv) established for the NOVARKA (Contracting organization) personnel were not exceeded. No emergencies or incidents were recorded.

A series of technological operations was hone to perfection as part of the preparation for the on-site transport container (OTC) testing. In particular, 71-tons OTC was installed on the trolley for the canisters handling and transportation system, after that OTC was delivered to one of the premises of the facility for Spent Fuel preparation for storage. Further using the the crane with loading capacity of 125 tons, OTC was lifted to the vertical position and moved to one of the special carriages.

OTC HI-TRAC-H is the most important equipment ensuring the safety during Spent Nuclear Fuel handling at ISF-2, it performs the radiation protection functions for the personnel and provides heat removal during operations for SNF drying, DWSC filling with helium and DWSC welding, transportation and loading into concrete storage module. This is one of the key elements of the temporary dry storage system implemented at ISF-2 for ChNPP's RBMK-1000 Spent Nuclear Fuel long-term temporary storage.