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    Starting from 21st October up to 8th November 2019, the advance training course on BROKK manipulators hands-on repair and maintenance has been taking place at ChNPP site. Such manipulators are being used at the Industrial Complex for Solid Radioactive Waste Management.

    The training course is being delivered by Belgian TECNUBEL within the cooperation project with ChNPP, which has been going on for the last two years. The project is financed from the government fund of Belgium.

    The course provides for tutorials and hands-on training on making replacement of BROKK manipulator hydraulic components. The instructors – Project Manager and Product Expert Tarik Bouayad and Senior Experts Pier Collette and Nizar Belgacem – simulate various emergency events, and the course participants – ChNPP workers – have to run diagnostics and find out the solution for the simulated problem.

    Tests on the Project “Creation of a facility for release of materials from regulatory control …” have commenced at Chornobyl NPP. Overall purpose of this Project is to improve a level of safety and economic efficiency in managing all types of radioactive materials in Ukraine, and to implement all possible actions for reduction of waste amount and implementation of long-term tasks on the safe final disposal.

    The Project is funded by the European Union within the Instrument for Nuclear Safety Cooperation Program 2011, Part II. The Project works are performed by the Contractor – VF a.s. from the Czech Republic.

    Use of the facility for release of materials from regulatory control is the final stage of radioactive materials (RM) management process. Materials, which are meant for the release from regulatory control, will be delivered to the facility only following decontamination and other activities envisaged by the process. Using spectrometric measurements, this facility will enable to justify the possibility of RM release from regulatory control and their return to national economy.

    During 14-18 October the Chornobyl NPP’s delegation visited Dessel (Belgium) where the main office of radioactive waste management company Belgoprocess is located.

    This has been already the second visit of ChNPP team to Belgium since 2016 and the fourth general meeting within the framework of ChNPP-Belgoprocess bilateral cooperation agreement.

    The ChNPP team together with the Belgium colleagues discussed nuclear waste management issues, specifically regarding operation of waste processing installations, treatment techniques and waste characterization. On the other hand, it was continuation of the Quality Management and Assurance Program.

    “Our 4-days meeting, among other things, resulted in drafting a preliminary priority tasks for the next year [2020 — ed.]. After its final agreement in November we will apply with the relevant proposal to the Belgian Ministry of Economics — Department of Energy, for its approval and funding”, — Ivo Fransen, Belgoprocess’s Business Development Manager, sharing plans for the future.

    On October 11, the painters have finished the mural painting at Chornobyl NPP. The canvas is of 18 m height and 58 m length, and it is located on the eastern wall of the Turbine Hall facing the ChNPP office premises. Therefore, about two thousand persons of staff and visitors would see the mural every day.

    Beside others, one of the tasks for mural creation was the attitude optimization of the enterprise's personnel. According to some inquiries among personnel of the enterprise, 52% of respondents expressed for additional decorating of industrial site area at ChNPP, 65% of respondents supported the mural location on Turbine Hall's wall, and 59% of them positively assessed this specific work.

    It is worth reminding that on June 3, among 24 candidates, a winning sketch was selected to create a mural at ChNPP. The author was Valerii Korshunov together with his artwork called “Looking into the future”.

    During September 16–20 at Chornobyl NPP and Exclusion Zone, a training course was provided to the specialists for nuclear safety and nuclear event response from the United States of America.

    The training was held under trilateral cooperation between Radiation Safety Shop of Chornobyl NPP, charitable foundation called Clean Futures Fund (well-known for long-term project “Chornobyl Dogs”; USA), and Technical Resources Group Inc. (USA) as well.

    The Technical Resources Group Inc. (thereinafter TRG) renders the services relating to radiation event response, provides training and drills for rapid response services throughout USA and many other countries. Annually, TRG holds about 200 radiological training, trains thousands of emergency response specialists in USA and abroad.

    Almost for 10 years, TRG holds the advanced one-week training course under Radiation Specialist program. Clean Futures Fund and TRG joined together efforts to develop the Advanced Training Program for radiation safety which would help the radiation safety specialists to develop their skills and gain a better understanding of the consequences of radiation or nuclear accident.

    1. IAEA: National Workshop for RAW Characterization
    2. Decontamination of small diameter pipes
    3. Painters have sketched the future mural
    4. An important stage of ISF-2 project completed

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