On September 17, Chornobyl NPP agreed with the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine the required documentation to start a pilot operation of the facility for materials release from regulatory control.

The facility is the last stage of the radioactive materials management process. It will allow substantiating the possibility of materials release from regulatory control and returning them to industrial use using the spectrometric measurements. In other words, the facility will confirm that the previously contaminated metal is completely decontaminated and now is safe for reuse outside the Exclusion Zone.

The program of pilot operation stipulates a preliminary procedure for adjustment of all the necessary modes. The capacity of the facility is 10 tons per day, and it will be achieved during pilot operation.

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Within the framework of hot tests commenced on September 10, 2020, at the new Interim Spent Fuel Storage Facility of Chornobyl NPP, all the operations related to the first real spent fuel assembly (SFA) preparation for storage have been successfully completed.

These procedures include the transfer basket lifting from the railcar to vertical position, unpacking, then moving an individual SFA to hot cell, cutting and repacking.

So, it can be deemed that all stages starting from the fuel transportation from ISF-1 to ISF-2 and through to its processing for long-term storage were not only tried and tested with dummies but also with an existent SFA.

Currently, similar activities are carried out with the second spent fuel assembly.

On September 10, “hot tests” commenced at the new Interim Spent Fuel Storage Facility No.2 (hereinafter referred to as ISF-2), under the specific permit for commissioning of the nuclear facility issued by the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine.

The day before, the first batch of 9 spent fuel assemblies was loaded into the transfer basket at ISF-1, in the presence of the IAEA inspectors, and this morning the basket was transferred from the wet-type storage facility (ISF-1) to the new facility (ISF-2) for further spent fuel handling.

Spent fuel is transported by a special railcar which also serves as biological shielding to protect personnel from radiation exposure.

ChNPP Acting Director General Volodymyr Pieskov notes that the start of hot testing was preceded by long preparatory work at both ISF-1 and ISF-2. Spent nuclear fuel handling at both storage facilities and its transportation is a comprehensive set of quite serious and interconnected operations, whereas the “hot” tests represent an important procedure which from now on will use the real spent fuel assemblies, not the dummies.

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On the 7th of September, SSE ChNPP obtained a specific permit for commissioning of a nuclear facility – the Interim Spent Fuel Dry Storage Facility (ISF-2).

This permit opens the door for commencing “hot” tests at the facility. The tests provide for transportation of 186 real spent fuel assemblies (SFAs) into a new storage facility. The SFAs after their processing will be placed into the concrete storage modules.

A decision to issue the specific permit was approved by the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine (SNRIU). The decision takes into account the positive results of the state nuclear and radiation safety expert review and the inspection of the SNRIU’s Commission on review the capability of SSE ChNPP to perform activities on transportation, processing and storage of spent nuclear fuel (SNF).

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