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    The works on dismantling of the light roof of the Unit 4 turbine hall are being carried out at the site of the New Safe Confinement (NSC).

    Sergei Poplygin, Head of Shop for Object Shelter and New Safe Confinement Operation commented on dismantling methods: “The method itself of dismantling, fragmentation and handling of dismantled roof is the following. The panel is dismantled with size of 12x3 meters. Using the crane, it is descended directly into the body of a special motor vehicle. Subsequently, this vehicle moves the panel to the fragmentation site at the territory of the former assembly area of the NSC arch. At this site, the panels are fragmented to allow their transportation in the body of a KrAZ vehicle”.  

    Then the fragments removed from the roof will be delivered to "Buryakivka" radioactive waste disposal site. 

    Chernobyl NPP officially stopped generation of electricity on 15th December 2000. This became one of the most tragic events in the ChNPP history second to the 1986 accident.

    At 13:17, by the order of the President of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma, Power Unit No.3 reactor was shut down forever with a turn of the key.

    The decision on the pre-schedule decommissioning of Power Unit No.3 and final shutdown of ChNPP was made by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine on 29th March 2000. Such actions were caused by the commitments of Ukraine to the world community stipulated in the Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of Ukraine and Governments of the G7 countries and the Commission of the European Communities on the Chernobyl NPP Closure. The Memorandum was signed on 25th December 1995.

    The regular meeting of the Chernobyl Shelter Fund and Nuclear Safety Account Donors Assemblies was held on December 8, 2017.

    According to the information of the Ukrainian delegation members, Assemblies participants established a new date for Arch (NSC) construction works completion - end of May 2018.

    Besides, Assemblies members have emphasized decreasing of the radiation levels at the site after New Safe Confinement Arch sliding, as well as starting and successful progress of ISF-2 comprehensive testing. Assemblies members expressed the hope that the Contractors will perform their work at ISF-2 and NSC facilities in due time.

    The next meeting of the Chernobyl Shelter Fund and the Donors of the Nuclear Safety Account Donors Assembly is scheduled for first half of 2018 in Ukraine.

    On 6th December, during the dismantling of a post-accident light roof covering of Unit 4 Turbine Hall, a piece of tail fins with broken elements of Mi-8 helicopter’s anti-torque propeller was found. This helicopter had crashed in 1986 during the elimination of the ChNPP accident consequences.

    It is a reminder that on the evening of 2nd October 1986, during the treatment of the ChNPP II Generation Units roof (spilling of bonding adhesive over horizontal surfaces), the helicopter of Volodymyr Vorobiov, due to the absence of an alarm rail at a high-altitude crane rope, touched the rope by its blades and plummeted to earth.  All members of the crew died from the fall.

    Currently, the possibility to retrieve and decontaminate the tail fins piece to use it as a museum specimen is under consideration.

    For your information:

    The present monument to the died pilots (i.e. Volodymyr Vorobiov, Oleksandr Yunhkind, Leonid Khrystych, Mykola Hanzhuk) is installed close to the Chornobyl helicopter landing site.

    The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine adopted changes to the Procedure for the Use of Funds to Support the Safety of Chernobyl NPP and for the Appropriation of Funds in 2017 to Pay off the Contribution to the Chernobyl Shelter Fund of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). The relevant decision was approved at a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers on 4th December.
    Thus, the Cabinet reviewed the Resolution “On making amendments into the Supplement to the Procedure for the Use of Funds envisaged in the state budget to maintain the Power Units and Shelter Object in safe condition, and implementing actions on preparation for the Chernobyl NPP decommissioning”. Objective of adopting the Draft Resolution is to ensure targeted and efficient use of budget funds, state control and implementation of actions to maintain the Power Units and Shelter Object in safe condition, and actions to prepare for the Chernobyl NPP decommissioning under the conditions of expiration of the Document “High priority measures on the NPP decommissioning and Shelter transformation into an ecologically safe system”.

    1. Accounting Chamber performed a financial audit of SSE Chernobyl NPP
    2. New Safe Confinement: A year under the protection
    3. IAEA experts assessed the ChNPP system for radioactive waste management
    4. ICSRM pre-commissioning activities are being continued

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