On June 7, an enterprise-wide emergency response drill took place on the site of the newly built Interim Spent Fuel Dry Storage Facility No.2 (ISF-2).

Under the exercise scenario, during transportation-and-process operations some breakage of the crane ropes occurred that caused the falling of a transfer cask filled with spent nuclear fuel. As the consequence of this container fall, the radiation background level within the working area became higher.

In line with the approved formal procedures, ISF-2 personnel were alerted to the radiation hazard and moved to a safe place.

According to Dmytro Kondratov, Head of Emergency Preparedness and Response Department, the scenario exercised at this drill is very unlikely, but if such a situation occurs, the power plant staff will be prepared for it.

“At all new facilities which we are commissioning we carry out such drills on a compulsory basis. At this drill, we have practiced the whole chain of personnel interactions from the emergency signal entry up to the alert, event classification and further actions of the personnel.

I want to say that the drill has been carried out successfully. The staff took this drill very seriously and the preparedness was obvious,” – Mr. Kondratov concluded. According to him, the similar drills for ISF-2 staff will continue to be performed.

Read more: Permit Obtained for Retrieval of Standard Spent Nuclear Fuel

We will remind you that on May 21, 2021, ChNPP obtained an individual permit for removal of standard spent nuclear fuel from the Interim Spent Fuel Wet Storage Facility (ISF-1). The obtained permit has enabled the power plant to start a next important stage of decommissioning – i.e. performing the activities and operations of the spent nuclear fuel retrieval from ISF-1 and the SNF transportation to ISF-2 for long-term storage.