Meeting under SSTC NRS and GRS Bilateral Cooperation

On 26 June 2018, a working meeting between experts of the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine (SNRIU) and the State Scientific and Technical Center for Nuclear and Radiation Safety (SSTC NRS) with representatives of the German Nuclear Safety Authority (GRS) and the Institute for Safety Problems of Nuclear Power Plants of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine took place in Kyiv. The results of jointly implemented projects in Ukraine were discussed and ways for further cooperation were outlined under this event.

“GRS cooperation with Ukraine was started in 1992, and a number of projects were further launched to mitigate Chornobyl disaster consequences”, expert of GRS international department Andreas Berthold said. “As of today, we have bilateral cooperation projects with Ukrainian partners; we also actively participate in the projects of the European Union on technical support of CIS countries (TACIS) and cooperation in the field of nuclear safety (INSC). The implementation of a number of projects in the exclusion zone related to the Shelter transformation into the environmentally safe system is under continuation with our assistance”.

The bilateral cooperation projects can be conditionally divided into two groups. The scientific ones that will allow investigation of the processes at the site of the new safe confinement (NSC) in order to improve the facility safety level, and the cooperation projects of GRS, SNRIU and SSTC NRS on licensing at NSC site. “Our cooperation with SSTC NRS in these both areas continues at present”, Andreas Berthold concluded.

According to the head of SSTC NRS decommissioning department Serhii Kondratiev, last year the specialists of the Center in cooperation with GRS specialists carried out a study on the “Analysis of the factors determining the safe condition of the Shelter in NSC”. As a result, the boundary conditions for current and potential hazardous impact of the Shelter were determined.

Environmental protection is provided in particular if the boundary conditions are met.

“Many people think that after arch sliding the Chornobyl accident consequences were mitigated and there is nothing to do anymore. In fact, this is not the case. What does the safety of the Shelter in NSC mean? These issues should be solved, in particular, during the safety analysis and development of the final safety analysis report of this facility”, Serhii Kondratiev noted.

Finally, the SSTC NRS staff member Iryna Kutina reported that the activities were started on a new topic under the cooperation with GRS “Development of methodological recommendations for monitoring the state of fuel-containing materials during NSC operation”.

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