UK will provide Ukraine with access to state-of-the-art radioactive waste management technologies
Experts from State Agency of Ukraine for Exclusion Zone Management (SAUEZM) and State Corporation «UkrSA «Radon» got acquainted with the British radioactive waste management system (RW) during their visit to the specialized government agencies of National Nuclear Laboratory, Sellafield Ltd and Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.
«Thanks to the experience of successful cooperation of our countries on the project of the Centralized Storage of Spent Sources of Ionizing Radiation at the Vector complex, the British side is ready for further development of international cooperation and providing Ukraine with state-of-the-art radioactive waste management technologies. The National Nuclear Laboratory together with Sellafield Ltd, headed by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, showed us their state-of-the-art technologies in the field of radioactive waste management, which marks the beginning of a new stage of cooperation between Ukraine and the UK in this area»,– said the general director of the «UkrSA «Radon» Andriy Burgomistrenko
He also noted that the most relevant for Ukraine in the context of RW management is the search for safe and cost-effective approaches to the management of high-level radioactive waste (including – vitrified waste from processing of spent nuclear fuel), decommissioning of nuclear facilities and complete rehabilitation of contaminated areas.
The next step will be to work out the conditions for further cooperation at the level of the UK Government, as well as to develop a joint action plan for the next 3 years.
According to the Head of the Department for International Cooperation and Public Relations Katerina Pavlova, such results became possible thanks to the support of the British Embassy and Crown Agents, the initiative of the State Enterprise «UkrSA «Radon» and the considerable attention of the employees of the Department of International Trade of the Embassy to Ukraine’s issues in the field of radioactive waste management.
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By volume of radioactive waste – about 3,4 million m3 – Ukraine ranks II in Europe and IV in the world. 95% of these wastes were formed as a result of the Chornobyl Catastrophe, and it is the State Agency of Ukraine on Exclusion zone management that the state entrusts the function of long-term storage and disposal of such waste. The State Corporation «UkrSA «Radon», which is currently taking care of all the RW of Ukraine, was created for this function.
