On 9 December, an online meeting within the EU-funded project “Support to the Management of the Instrument for Nuclear Safety Cooperation in Ukraine” (INSC) was held on development of the Strategic Road Map for projects of the RAW Sector Working Group, with participation of the Chornobyl NPP management, as well as representatives of EC’s DEVCO, Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, Ministry of Energy, Ukrainian Science and Technology Centre, State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine, State Agency of Ukraine for Exclusion Zone Management, SE NNEGC Energoatom, SSE Radon Association, SSE Central RAW Management Enterprise, and SSE Ecocentre.

The Road Map is supposed to contain all the information needed both by the Government and the donors for decision making on the implementation of programmes and their sub-programmes and projects structured around priorities.

The Road Map is to facilitate, through the Working Group, the EC and international contributors’ understanding of common objectives and support well-grounded decision making on the implementation of their international technical assistance and cooperation programmes. Furthermore, it is assumed that the Road Map would contribute to avoid overlapping of activities and funding, increase efficiency of assessing the results of the assistance programmes during long-term monitoring of programme implementation in Ukraine’s RAW Sector.

The ChNPP’s Deputy Technical Director for RAW Management Mr Oleksandr Skomarokhov commented on the issue: “The international donor community is certainly seeking to have clear and transparent approach to planning and setting priorities for its funded projects.

The Strategic Road Map describes quite a wide range of projects including ChNPP decommissioning, completion of “Vector Complex” Stage 1 and 2, remediation of the SSE Radon Association and uranium legacy facilities, remediation of temporary radioactive waste storage places inside the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone and beyond, geological disposal of RAW and SNF, and other issues.

It should be noted that part of significant projects have already been successfully implemented with support of donors, and we look forward to continue our cooperation”.

FYI

For the Management of the Instrument for Nuclear Safety Cooperation in Ukraine, the Joint Support Office (JSO) was established by the European Commission at Kyiv in January 2005. The JSO provides direct assistance to the EC Ukrainian Partners in the identification, preparation and implementation of projects under the INSC in accordance with the requirements of its Terms of Reference.