The “hot” tests at ISF-2 site were completed on 17 December 2020.
During the “hot” testing, ChNPP personnel performed all activities specified by the ISF-2 Commissioning Programme, namely:
• transportation of 22 transfer baskets with spent nuclear fuel (SNF) from ISF-1 to ISF-2;
• receiving of 186 spent fuel assemblies (SFAs) at ISF-2;
• cutting of 186 SFAs into fuel bundles, and placement of 372 fuel tubes with these fuel bundles into two double-walled canisters (DWCs);
• placement of two DWCs, filled with SNF, into the concrete storage modules for long-term storage over the course of 100 years;
• management of the “hot” cell’s solid radioactive waste;
• assessment of the biological shielding structures performance.
On 14 December, in the presence of the IAEA inspectors, the second double-walled canister filled with spent nuclear fuel was loaded into the concrete storage module (CSM) at ISF-2 site for long term storage. Upon the completion of the transfer and loading process, the IAEA inspectors put their seal to the loaded CSM cell.
“During the “hot tests” at ISF-2, 186 spent fuel assemblies were transferred to the facility, processed and placed to the storage area. Consequently, we have performed all the scheduled operations with SFAs provided for by the ISF-2 Commissioning Programme”, - said ChNPP’s Acting Director General Volodymyr Pieskov.
14 December - On the Day of Honoring the Participants of the Liquidation of the Consequences of the Chornobyl Disaster – representatives of the central executive bodies visited the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone and Chornobyl NPP, including the Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine Roman Abramovskyi, Minister of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine Oleksandr Tkachenko, Head of the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine Hryhorii Plachkov, accompanied by the Head of the State Agency of Ukraine for Exclusion Zone Management Sergii Kalashnyk, ChNPP's Acting Director General Volodymyr Pieskov, and ChNPP management.
Participants of the visit honored memory of liquidators of consequences of the Chornobyl Disaster, laying flowers to the monument dedicated to the memory of Chornobyl Heroes near the Administrative Building No.1 of Chornobyl NPP.
Volodymyr Pieskov emphasized the following: “On this day I would like to honor those in particular who stayed in the workplaces and went on carrying out their duty in the first hours of the catastrophe, and by doing so helped maintain order and peace, and hence save many people's health and lives. You and your colleagues are true heroes who didn't lose confidence, sense of responsibility and duty during tragic hours. Such kind of people make our world a safer and more enduring place. Bow low to you and our sincere gratitude!”.
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.