A series of trainings to maintain ChNPP personnel’s spent fuel handling skills is taking place on site of the plant.

During the training, staff of the Spent Nuclear Fuel Management Shop is practicing the performance of all the fuel handling operations on the real equipment using spent fuel dummies. These trainings are being passed by all operating shifts of the two storage facilities.

Let us remind you, that since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of the russian forces into Ukraine’s territory and due to the long period of occupation of the Chornobyl NPP site by the invaders, the transfer of spent fuel assemblies (SFAs) has been suspended.

“Personnel of the SNF management shop keep maintaining their skills on a regular basis. Considering how dangerous and responsible SNF handling is, the staff should be at their best all the time. Now that all processes have been suspended for an indefinite time and there is no real working practice, the staff should be training their skills even harder.

Once ChNPP receives ‘green light’ to resume the transfer of SFAs from the old storage facility to the new one, we will be ready and get down to work at the same moment”, - said Denys Khomenko, Head of the SNF Management Shop.

Watch the video: Nuclear Fuel Transportation: Process From A to Z

Let us remind you, that there are two storage facilities for spent nuclear fuel at the Chornobyl NPP site.

The first one is the Interim Spent Nuclear Fuel Storage Facility of wet type (ISF-1). Commissioned in 1986, it is not designed for the long-term (100 years) storage of SFAs and has the design life expiring in 2028. There are about 20 thousand SFAs currently being stored in the cooling pools of the facility.

The second facility is the newly built state-of-the-art Interim Spent Nuclear Fuel Dry Storage Facility (ISF-2). It began receiving the SFAs from ISF-1 in June 2021. “Dry” storage is much more efficient and more sustainable as compared to the wet type storage. The spent fuel will be stored in ISF-2 within the next 100 years.