2. Infocenter
    3. News

    The Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine Aleksandr Vilkul officially visited the Chernobyl NPP and the Exclusion Zone on July 2, 2013. Under his visit, Mr. Vilkul held an offsite meeting in Chernobyl of the Inter-Agency Emergency Response Center for Coordinating Actions of Central and Local Executive Authorities, and checked preparedness of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone for fire season. The Chief of Defense, the Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Vladimir Zamana, the Chairman of the Government Service of Ukraine for Emergencies Mikhail Bolotskikh, the Deputy Chairman of the Kiev Regional State Administration Vladimir Maksimenko, the Chairman of the State Agency of Ukraine for Exclusion Zone Management Vladimir Kholosha, the SSE ChNPP Director General Igor Gramotkin, and the representatives of central and local authorities have participated in the meeting.

    Upon completion of the offsite meeting, the Vice Prime Minister has visited Chernobyl NPP. At the Shelter Observation Pavilion, Mr. Vilkul got familiar with current state of the facility and with outcome of the project “Stabilization of Unstable Building Structures” aimed at improving its safety, following which he visited the construction site for New Safe Confinement, where active operations on the Arch assembling are being performed.

     

     

     

    On the 25th of June the SSE “Chernobyl NPP” received an official report on working results of the IAEA Expert Mission that was held from 03 to 07 June 2013. This report represents an overview of the main findings, observations, acknowledgments and recommendations for improvement identified by the IAEA Mission on partial collapse of Unit 4 Turbine Hall Roof at the Chernobyl NPP.

    Full text of the report is available here

    The second lifting of the eastern part of the Arch with weight 3788,6 tons is started today at Chernobyl NPP "Shelter" object site. Lifting operations are performed in two stages: June 12 Arch will be lifted at the height of 12 meters and June 13 at another 21 meters after that its total height will reach of 85 meters.

    The day before, on June 11, a complete inspection of steel arch constructions, operability of jacking system and geodesic surveying of arch metal constructions position and foundations was carried out.

    We remind you that the first lifting of the eastern arch segment with weigh 5,300 tons at the height of 22 meters was carried out on November 24, 2012. In total for the eastern part of the Arch 3 lifting will be performed. Third lifting is planned for the end of 2013, after which the eastern segment will be shifted in the direction of the "Shelter" object, and assembly of metal constructions of the western segment of the Arch will start at the opened site.

    The IAEA Expert Mission on reviewing causes, process of elimination and radiological consequences of the partial collapse of ChNPP Unit No.4 Turbine Hall roof and wall structures, which occurred on February 12, 2013, completed the work.

    The experts presented their preliminary general conclusions and recommendations at the summary meeting that was held on June 7.

    The experts positively evaluated actions of the Chernobyl NPP personnel both at the time of the event and during its elimination and investigation of the causes. In particular, it was noted that the ChNPP responded to the event in fast and professional manner, published information on it timely, and was fast in reporting the public on the progress of further actions. The ChNPP efforts towards managing the event consequences in such a way as to avoid delays in implementing the Shelter Implementation Plan (SIP) activities, in particular in NSC construction, were acknowledged.

    The experts gave some preliminary recommendations first of all related to preventing the possibility of damages of other building structures. Also they recommended to the ChNPP to implement some organizational and technical measures on enhancing the monitoring of the building structures and improving general industrial and radiation safety.

    The final official report on the IAEA Mission findings will be presented at the beginning of July and distributed among all stakeholders.

    1. The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine ratified an agreement between the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the Government of Kingdom of Norway
    2. Representatives of donor-countries to the NSA and CSF, as well as technical advisers of the EBRD Board of Directors and Nuclear Safety Department’s representatives visited the Chernobyl NPP
    3. IAEA Expert Mission at ChNPP
    4. Recommendations of international coordinated Chernobyl Shelter Fund audit are fulfilled

    Page 93 of 116