At Chernobyl NPP industrial site routine monitoring of volumetric activity of 137Cs (Cesium-137) in air samples is constantly performed by the stationary control station. The volumetric activity of 137Cs in the sample of ambient air is within the range not exceeding the maximum values for 2014 and the 1st quarter of 2015.
The State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine issued a separate permission giving a right to implement activities in accordance with the Programme of FS&P Stage. It means that the Chernobyl NPP completes the shutdown activity and officially proceeds to the decommissioning stage.
The permission was issued pursuant to the State License for Decommissioning No.000040 dated March 22, 2010, obtained by the SSE ChNPP based on the approved Design of Final Shutdown and Preservation (FS&P) Stage. The State Regulatory Body’s recognition of significant progress in planning the ChNPP decommissioning process, successful work on the release of ChNPP Units from spent nuclear fuel and its placement into a special storage facility for safe storage – ISF-1 – is the key and necessary condition to obtain such permission.
On the 12th of November 2013 the fifth block (B-5) of the ChNPP II Generation Ventilation Stack (VS-2) weighting 48 tons was dismantled.
SIP PMU “New Ventilation Stack” Project Manager Vitaliy Shurygin noted that works on VS-2 are unique, because they are carried out under conditions of ionizing radiation and radioactive contamination, as well as in confined spaces in the area with a large number of overhead passes, buildings of different purpose and transportation lines. With the objective to reduce the dismantling time, it is performed in larger units by the crane with lifting capacity of 1,600 tons.
During October 1-3, 2013, a technical workshop “Results of Activity Related to ChNPP Cooling Pond Decommissioning Options” is taking place in Kiev. The workshop is arranged under performance of IAEA Technical Cooperation Project UKR/9/030 “Assisting ChNPP in Decommissioning and Safe Management of Radioactive Waste”.
The surveys and pre-design developments carried out during last years to determine a strategy of Cooling Pond (CP) decommissioning showed that implementation of this project will enable not only to reduce capital and operational costs related to control nominal water level in the cooling pond, but also reduce amount of radioactively contaminated waters being generated as a result of continuous water-logging of lower premises of ChNPP Units, mitigate the risks associated with potential failure of protecting dam and reduce carry-over of radioactive substances from CP in Pripyat river due to more filtration of the pond.
- The Chernobyl NPP Units completely released from conditioned nuclear fuel
- On the 25th of August the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan Fumio Kishida made a technical visit to the Exclusion Zone area and the Chernobyl NPP site itself
- The State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine issued to SSE ChNPP a separate permit for commissioning of New Ventilation Stack (NVS) of ChNPP Stage II
- Works on installation of continuous flight auger piles for the Service Zone foundation along the NSC northern trench are completed