Chernobyl: September 2008 Archives

Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada adopted bill #2635 aimed at a national program for decommissioning the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant and turning the “Shelter” covering Reactor 4 into an ecologically safe system. The decision was approved by 354 of 441 deputies present for the vote. The law, approved on its first reading, also provides language for budgeting the finances for these activities.

According to Ukraine’s legal framework, the decommissioning of the Chernobyl Nuclear Plant must include the following items:

• Cessation of operations (the preparatory phase of decommissioning) - removal of nuclear fuel and moving it to the spent nuclear fuel facility intended for long-term storage. Completion of this stage is expected no earlier than 2012.
• Final closing of the reactor and conservation of the plant. At this stage, there will be conservation of the reactors and the most radioactively contaminated equipment (2013-2022).
• Extract reactor facilities during the period in which the natural decline in radioactivity to an acceptable level occurs (2022-2045).
• Dismantling the reactors. At this stage, the equipment will be dismantled and the site cleaned in order to maximize the lifting of restrictions and regulatory control (2046-2064).

Making the "Shelter" into an ecologically safe system includes:

• Reducing the risks of the influence of ionizing radiation.
• Creation of additional protective barriers, particularly those that will ensure proper conditions for work in the next stage.
• Withdrawal from the "Shelter" of fuel-containing materials and high-level radioactive wastes, transferring them in safe condition, intermediate-controlled storage and disposal in deep repositories (stable geological formations) in case of early deterioration(approximately 30-50 years). An alternative method to ensure safe storage of materials at the "Shelter" site was not proposed.

Sergei Kiriyenko, head of Russia’s state-run Rosatom, recently told an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) conference the Russian Federation intends to help Ukraine improve security at the Chernobyl Nuclear Plant and speed up the start of work on the plant’s decommissioning. To assist in these efforts, Russia is contributing $17 million to the Nuclear Safety Account and the Chernobyl Shelter Fund.

Both the Nuclear Safety Account and the Chernobyl Shelter Fund are operated by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. The Nuclear Safety Account finances nuclear safety projects in Central and Eastern Europe. The Chernobyl Shelter Fund is helping to pay for the construction of the New Safe Confinement structure that will cover the remains of Reactor 4 and the original Sarcophagus at the Chernobyl Plant.

I am sad to report that Rabbi Yossie Raichik, director of the charity organization Chabad’s Children of Chernobyl, died today due to complications from a lung infection. Raichik was 55 years old.

After the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, Raichik moved to Israel to help facilitate the airlifting of children hardest hit by the Chernobyl accident. Since the organization’s founding in 1989, Children of Chernobyl has brought more than 2,500 children and 1,700 parents from the Chernobyl area to live in Israel.

Photo: Chabad.org

I recently ran across a 15 slide photo essay on the Unicef website. The photos were taken by 12-17 year old children from Belarus, Ukraine and the Russian Federation for the International Conference on Chernobyl held in Belarus, April 19-21, 2006.

I highly recommend you take several minutes to view this slideshow. It is interesting to see these images - effects of the Chernobyl disaster as seen through the eyes of the children.

If you ever had the desire to work a management position at the Chernobyl Nuclear Plant, here’s your chance:

Energy Recruitment Solutions (ERS), a recruiting firm specializing in personnel for the nuclear energy industry, is looking for a Project Manager, with the position located at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine.

This person will be part of the Project Management Unit (PMU) and is expected to manage two ongoing projects, the Interim Dry Fuel Storage Facility and Liquid Radwaste Treatment Plant. The project manager will also oversee several smaller support contracts. The purpose of the main projects is to support the decommissioning of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. Salary is dependent on qualifications and experience.

My guess is that this person will be required to live in Slavutych, the city that was built to replace Pripyat in the late 1980’s. The city is located approximately 50 km northeast of the plant, and commuting would be accomplished via a one hour train ride from the city to the plant. This guess is due to Chernobyl Plant workers being required to live in Slavutych. Also, as I previously reported in March, a US physicist working on the Chernobyl Shelter Implementation Program lives in Slavutych with his family.

In case you haven’t heard, 16 year old Tanya Kazyra, a participant in a summer program for children from Belarus’ Chernobyl-affected areas, refused to return home to Belarus at the end of her summer holiday with the Zapata family in Petaluma, California. She has not requested asylum - only refusing to return home. The Zapatas have willingly allowed Tanya to remain in their home. In response, the Belorussian government has temporarily placed a ban for all children on future travel abroad organized by charities.

These programs are designed to provide rest and recuperation for Belorussian children affected in some way by the 1986 Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant disaster. The programs allow these children to spend 6 to 8 weeks with a host family in another country.

Some charitable organizations believe these programs allow the children’s immune systems to recover, making it easier for them to fight the effects of lingering radiation at home in Belarus.

When considering the Belorussian government’s decision, don’t immediately assume they are doing something horribly wrong. All participants, including the sponsoring families, sign an agreement indicating the children will return to Belarus at the end of their stay. These children visit other countries on temporary visas. The programs are not exchange or adoption programs. The Belorussian government is merely trying to insure these agreements are honored by seeking bilateral agreements with the governments of participating families’ countries to ensure this type of situation does not happen again.

You may think Belarus is using a heavy-handed tactic, but these children (approximately 1,400 participate in such programs each year) can be looked at as ambassadors for Belarus. The entire country receives aid, due in part to the presence of these children in other countries. If a child does not return home, the country loses a powerful face in their attempt to obtain aid and improve conditions at home.

 In Tanya’s case, not only is the young lady violating the terms of the agreement, but the Zapatas have violated their agreement as well. I am sure Tanya’s life in Belarus is nowhere near as good as she has it with her sponsoring family in California, but her decision is jeopardizing many children’s opportunity to enjoy the same holiday abroad that she has had for the last nine years.

Tanya’s visa expires December 25, and her attorney has proposed that Tanya would seek a student visa to study in the United States, publicly apologize to the Belorussian government, help raise awareness in the US about Belorussian culture, history and traditions and help raise money for the Chernobyl Children’s Project charity in the area.

I don’t agree with all policies of the Belorussian government, but I can’t blame them for trying to enforce these agreements and not losing valuable ambassadors for their country. Hopefully this issue can be quickly resolved so these Belorussian children can again get a much needed holiday abroad.

The information presented here comes from a myriad of news stories and my own feelings. In the near future, I hope to contact people involved in the current situation (including Belorussian officials) to get a more complete picture of what is really happening. I will post an update when I have additional information.

The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant administration has announced that work on the assembly and testing of equipment at the new solid radioactive waste processing facility (PKTRO) is near completion.

Each phase of Technology on the Treatment of Radioactive Waste Management (RAO) passes separate verification. Later, the complete process chain will be tested in its entirety.

The process chain includes:

• Main source of waste: radioactive waste accumulated in the repository of solid waste (HTO).
• Waste is extracted from HTO storage compartments, loaded into a transport container and moved in cell-sorting and fragmentation (SIF) to PKTRO.
• Waste materials removed directly from the Chernobyl Plant reactors will be taken directly to PKTRO.
• Other automated processes used to incinerate and cleanse the materials.
• The remaining materials will be delivered to the storage site “Vector”

The entire route of containers and drums is completely automated. All processes can be monitored through the use of a video surveillance system.

Comprehensive tests of the entire process chain will be conducted through the end of 2008. After these tests are determined successful, further tests will be conducted with materials transferred directly from the Chernobyl Plant reactors.

Photo courtesy of Chernobyl NPP