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2009 Issues Archive
9 September 2009
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UK team guides nuclear storage plan at Chernobyl
British engineers are helping to secure dangerous nuclear materials left over from the Soviet Union by building a central store for them inside the former Chernobyl plant in Ukraine.
The UK government is spending £2.1 million and providing project management expertise to build the storage facility, which will house used radioactive materials collected from across Ukraine.
The project is part of a British commitment to an international effort to stop nuclear, chemical and biological materials from the former Soviet Union falling into the hands of terrorists or causing public health incidents. The 10-year Global Threat Reduction Programme focuses primarily on the Russian Federation and former Soviet Union states Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Georgia, Belarus and Kazakhstan.
The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), said: “These may not be the most secure places to have these materials. It makes sense to ensure they do not fall into the wrong hands and are stored in one place.
“The UK has the experience of nuclear safety required for these kind of projects.”
The plant will be built at the Vector Industrial Complex for Solid Radioactive Waste Management being developed within the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, a 30-mile area around the former power station. The area was sealed off in 1986 after the worst nuclear disaster in history.
DECC would not comment on the exact nature of the radioactive sources.
According to Crown Agents, the UK company managing the project, the sealed radioactive materials can be “abandoned, lost, misplaced or removed without authorisation, which can be dangerous”.
Crown Agents finalised management and design contracts with Ukrainian firm Koro last year.
It is expected that the project will move to the construction stage later this year, pending licensing approval.
The Crown Agents team will be responsible for procuring services, works and supply contracts, liaising with regulatory bodies in Ukraine, checking safety measure compliance and providing training.
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© PE Publishing, 9 September 2009
