Construction of the Central Spent Fuel Storage Facility started in the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone

    On November 9, 2017 in the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone there was begun construction works of the Central Spent Fuel Storage Facility (CSFSF) from Rivne NPP, South-Ukraine NPP and Khmelnitsky NPP, wastes which are currently being removed to Russia.

   The solemn ceremony of the symbolic raising of the first cubic meter of land at the site of future CSFSF occurred near the Buryakivka village of Ivankiv district. The event was attended by Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Kistion, Minister for Energy and Coal Industry of Ukraine Ihor Nasalyk,  the U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, President of the National Nuclear Energy Generating Company “Energoatom” Yuri Nedashkovsky, representatives from Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, scientific and design establishments, nuclear field et al. The Institute for Safety Problems of NPP of NAS of Ukraine at the event represented director, corresponding member of the NAS of Ukraine, prof. Anatoly Nosovskiy.

    Central Storage Facility is the an autonomous nuclear facility for long-term storage of spent nuclear fuel for a hundred years, in which should be applied the technology of near-surface “dry” storage with use of a two-barrier isolation system that insulating spent nuclear fuel from environment by means of specially engineered container systems. Such technology modernly is the newest.

    Designing, engineering, manufacturing and supplying of these systems provides the American company HOLTEC International  and a general contractor company of construction works is the “Ukrbudmontazh”. Project developement  of CSFSNF was carried out by the Scientific Research & Design Institute “Energoproekt” together with the ISP NPP.  Due to the project a storage holds 458 containers for more than 16 thousand spent fuel collections. The commissioning of the first launch complex of a central storage facility is scheduled for 2019.

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