On July 29, a contract was singed for civil works related to New Safe Confinement facility (NSC). Commissioning Stage 2 (CS-2). Dismantling the unstable structures of the SSE ChNPP Shelter in terms of “early” dismantling. The signatories are the SSE Chornobyl NPP and Ukrbudmontazh who became an awardee as the result of auction held at Prozorro platform.

In November 2016, New Safe Confinement covered Shelter facility – one of the most powerful symbols of Chornobyl NPP. The surveys and expert evaluations, held within the whole period of Shelter existence, have revealed the structures the probability of whose collapse is very high. Following the stabilization actions taken in 2008 the maximum end-of-service-life deadline of the stabilized structures was specified as late 2023.

As per Shelter Implementation Plan the dismantling of these unstable building structures (so called early dismantling) is to be commenced following the NSC takeover for operation and to be completed by the end of 2023.

Scope of work under the recently signed contract comprises three stages. The first and second stages provide the inspection of Shelter facility and design development. Their completion is required to plan thoroughly the building structure dismantling, managing the large volumes of the resulting radioactive waste as well as ensuring the safety of personnel to the fullest extent.

The third stage of activities stipulates the equipment procurement and installation for dismantling and handling the disassembled items and the early dismantling as such.

It is the most complicated stage. The activities will be carried out under the conditions of high nuclear and radiation risk. Besides, the structures of Shelter built more than 30 years ago are simply supported and are kept on the supporting blocks only due to the force of gravity.

Such conditions together with corrosion processes make this facility extremely complicated for work performance. In order to complete this dismantling task the contractor has simultaneously to disassemble Shelter and to reinforce it as the removal of every element will increase the risk of Shelter collapse that in turn will cause the release of large amounts of radioactive materials inside the inner space of New Safe Confinement arch.

The disassembled elements will be remotely conditioned in the NSC Technological Building where they are to be cut, decontaminated, put into shipping casks and prepared for transportation to processing or disposal.

“This [Shelter dismantling – ed.] is the next logical step resulting from our work carried out for the latest 12 years. It is our future, global scope of activities which must be completed”, summarized Mr. Serhii Kalashnyk, ChNPP Acting Director General.

The contract price for activities makes over 2 billion of hryvnias. The project will be funded through the Budget of Ukraine as the previous works were predominantly financed by the Chernobyl Shelter Fund whose contributors were 28 states of the world.