Technical Cooperation Project

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The project is financed from IAEA Technical Cooperation fund and its budget can be varied or redistributed if necessary.

Project Objective:

Assistance in Chornobyl nuclear power plant (NPP) decommissioning and the Shelter object transformation into environmentally safe system, as well as creation of Comprehensive National Radioactive Waste Management Program and Action Plan.

Completion status:

Within the period 2016-2017, the project activity was focused on the crucial for ChNPP problems of Radwaste Management, particularly Liquid Radioactive Waste, radioactively contaminated water and ion-exchange resins and on supporting of the work implementation during the Chornobyl NPP Final shutdown and preservation stage. During the two years, 13 expert missions, workshops and meetings were organized in accordance with the agreed work plan, attended by more than 200 specialists, mainly from Chernobyl nuclear power plant, NPP Safety Problems Institute, SNRIU, SSR Institute “Chornobyl Center”, and others. 19 specialists took part in ten International conferences and workshops where they had the opportunity not only to study the existing best practices, but also to share ChNPP’s developments in field of decommissioning and Radioactive Waste Management.

List of activities performed:

item

Date

Location

Subject

1

16 – 19.02.2016

Vienna, Austria

Expert mission "Processing of radioactively contaminated water and liquid radwaste contaminated with chemicals of dust suppressing mixtures and transuranic elements"

2

10 – 12.05.2016

Vienna, Austria

Coordination meeting on the results of UKR/9/033 project "Support to radioactive waste management and nuclear power plants decommissioning" in 2014-2015 and agreement of the plan for 2016-2017.

3

09 – 12.08.2016

Vienna, Austria

Workshop on ChNPP Salt Water Purification Technologies selection (without evaporation)

4

31.10 – 03.11.2016

Slavutych, Ukraine

Expert mission "Assessment of the revised Chornobyl NPP Decommissioning Program"

5

16 – 18.11.2016

Slavutych, Ukraine

Workshop "Reuse and modification of the intended purpose of empty facilities for decommissioning needs"

6

23 – 24.01.2017

Slavutych, Ukraine

Coordination meeting on implementation and planning of the project for 2017 and plans for a new cooperation cycle 2018-2019.

7

23 – 27.01.2017

Slavutych, Ukraine

Expert mission to review decontamination methods for dismantled equipment (small diameter pipes with internal contamination) and to obtain recommendations on the possibility of their use at Chornobyl NPP

8

23 – 27.01.2017

Slavutych, Ukraine

Expert mission on assessment of the revised Program for ChNPP Radioactive Waste Management

9

27.02 – 03.03.2017

Slavutych, Ukraine

Workshop "Risks Assessment during nuclear power plants decommissioning. Obtaining of knowledge on risk assessment methodology and risk management recommendation. IAEA initiated workshop was combined with a similar workshop within the RER9138 project, thus the workshop had the status of a regional

10

12 – 14.06.2017

Slavutych, Ukraine

Expert mission "Review of the technical solution for irradiated graphite management, including selection of container options and storage"

11

22 - 25.08.17

Vienna, Austria

Workshop on review of options to manage secondary waste (sludge), obtained from the facility for RAW purification from TUE and organic compounds

12

12 – 14.09.2017

Slavutych, Ukraine

Workshop on problems of scientific and technical support for NPP decommissioning

13

22 – 24.11. 2017

Slavutych, Ukraine

Expert mission "Analysis of consistency of existing and creating radioactive waste management facilities and radioactively contaminated equipment and materials according to the acceptance / transfer criteria at all stages of management"

Participation in the International conferences, workshops in field of decommissioning and radioactive waste management

1

21 – 23.09.2016

Kurchatov, Kazakhstan

Conference "Semipalatinsk Test Site: Radiation Heritage and Development Prospects"

2

11 – 14.09.2016

Ottawa, Canada

The third conference on decommissioning, radioactive waste management and environmental remediation

3

07 – 11.11.2016

Vienna, Austria

International Conference on Knowledge Management: Challenges and Approaches

 

4

07 - 10.11.2016

Cadarache, France

Annual meeting of the international network of laboratories for nuclear waste characterization (LABONET)

5

07 – 09.02.2017

Sarpsborg, Norway

Workshop "Methods used and innovative methods for optimizing safety and efficiency in decommissioning in the nuclear industry"

6

07 – 09.06.2017

Varna, Bulgaria

The traditional international nuclear energy conference "Nuclear Energy of Bulgaria - National, Regional and Global Energy Safety"

7

20 – 22.06.2017

Trnava, Slovakia

International Conference "Decommissioning in Eastern and Central Europe" (ECED)

8

29.10 – 03.11.17

Sydney, Australia

Symposium "Scientific basis for nuclear waste management"

9

07 – 09.11.2017

Berlin, Germany

10th International Symposium "Exemption from Regulatory Control. Requirements to retrieval and cleaning”

10

05 – 07.12.2017

Vienna, Austria

The annual forum of the international decommissioning network (IDN)

 

The results obtained, their impact on the industry:

The work in field of RAW management is aimed on creation of an effective system for different types waste management at Chornobyl NPP. In particular, it is very important from the point of view of resource saving to select the technologies for salt water treatment without evaporation method. At present Chornobyl NPP uses an evaporation scheme for the radioactive waters purification, designed for the Unit in operation. It is necessary to select the technologies allowing an effective Chornobyl NPP radioactive waters processing using the other methods. After the technology selection it is necessary to perform pilot tests to confirm the effectiveness of the proposed technology and its suitability for use at ChNPP. During the project implementation, alternative purification methods were considered and technical specification for the pilot facility was developed. Work continuation is planned within the new project for 2018-2019.

Expert support is provided and further research is underway to select options for secondary waste management, obtained from the facility for RAW purification from transuranic elements (TUE). This is continuation of the activity launched in 2012-2015, within which a pilot facility for the liquid radioactive waste purification from transuranium elements and organics was created and technical specifications were developed, which were used as a basis for the industrial facility in the EC project U4.01/11C aimed on the industrial facility creation. Now work is under way to find solutions to manage a secondary waste from this facility.

Significant efforts within the project were aimed to support Chornobyl NPP decommissioning, in particular, expert assessment of the revised "ChNPP decommissioning program" in terms of compliance with IAEA recommendations, workshop for studying of successful international practices for reuse of territory and plans for Chornobyl NPP site and repurposing of existing buildings and facilities for industrial development in the field of radioactively contaminated materials, radioactive waste and SNF management. Developed by IAEA expert group proposals and recommendations for ChNPP plans will form the basis for Chornobyl NPP site industrial development optimization and its integration in the Ukrainian nuclear complex.