Minister of Defense of Ukraine Oleksii Reznikov, Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Denys Monastyrskyi and Minister of Energy of Ukraine Herman Halushchenko visited SSE “Chornobyl NPP” site on 12th of May.
During this visit, the Ministers solemnly awarded personnel of The Armed Forces of Ukraine, The National Guard of Ukraine, border guards and employees of enterprises of the Exclusion Zone.
Since 9th of April, Chornobyl NPP has fully restored control over chemical parameters of water-chemical regime of the Interim Storage Facility for Spent Nuclear Fuel No.1 (ISF-1). ChNPP Deputy Technical Director (for RAW Management) Oleksandr Skomarokhov informed about this.
The control was partially suspended due to the occupation of the ChNPP industrial site by russian forces from 24 February to 31 March 2022, and impossibility to deliver the relevant qualified personnel to the site.
The partial suspension of this control from 25 March 2022 was agreed on with the regulator (State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine).
Spent nuclear fuel is being stored at ISF-1 fully immersed in water. Here the water fulfils two functions: removal of residual heat and radiation protection of personnel. By controlling chemical parameters of the water with fuel inside, the ChNPP specialists can determine any unfavorable processes with fuel.
On 7th of May, the official Telegram channel of NNEGC “Energoatom” posted information about a found flask with radioactive substance that was allegedly stolen by russian forces from Chornobyl NPP during its occupation.
This message was spread out in mass media and widely disseminated among the public.
Chornobyl NPP officially informs that none of nuclear or radioactive substances were stolen from its industrial site during the occupation. The ChNPP staff was able to maintain full control over nuclear and radioactive materials at the site.
We call colleagues from NNEGC “Energoatom” to deny this misinformation and delete reference to this in its Telegram channel. Also we appeal to media representatives to take a more responsible approach in checking the fakes. Such messages spread panic among the public.
On 7 May 2022, the fire extinguisher recharge station resumed operation at ChNPP site, as reported by Volodymyr Khmil, the Head of ChNPP’s Mechanical Repair Shop.
The station is located in a facility that had been occupied and looted by the troops of the russian federation.
According to Mr. Khmil, because the occupiers were in the building, many pieces of equipment in the shop were damaged or stolen.
“The recharge station is very important for the safety of ChNPP, it serves for recharging and verification as well as for the maintenance of fire extinguishers.
Over 6 days of work, the staff of the shop was able to restore compressor equipment, completeness of tools (by taking and transferring them from other sections of the shop) as well as to wash and clean the premises after the vandal occupiers”.
Over several days, works on mine detection were carried out at the Chornobyl NPP site. They were being done by servicemen of the National Guard of Ukraine with the involvement of experts on radiochemical protection of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine.
As of 05 May 2022, these works have been completed.