New licence for Chernobyl used fuel facility

Thursday, 28 March 2013

Ukraine's nuclear regulator has issued a new licence for the construction and commissioning of a facility to store used nuclear fuel at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

The interim storage facility, ISF-2, is already under construction and will be used to condition and store used fuel assemblies from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The new licence supersedes the facility's existing licence, and will enable work to move on to include construction and pre-commissioning activities as well as supporting the process to obtain the permit needed for the facility to eventually be commissioned. Construction of the facility, which is being built by Holtec International and funded by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), is scheduled for completion in 2015.

Used fuel from Chernobyl units 1-3 has up to now been stored in pools at the reactors as well as in an existing interim storage facility, ISF-1. When completed, ISF-2 will provide long-term dry storage for the more than 20,000 fuel assemblies from the plant's operating life.

Researched and written
by World Nuclear News