Igor Ivanovich, you manage unusual enterprise, survived in the past the worst world in the history of Nuclear industry accident, and currently dealing with decommissioning of shutdown reactors and Shelter object transformation into ecologically safe system. What are the major challenges facing the ChNPP today?

ChNPP personnel represents unique experts of the highest level, due to their professionalism they easily passed from Nuclear Power Plant operation and energy generation tasks to tasks aimed on population and environment protection from the ionizing radiation impact. Chernobyl NPP is a demonstrative example of the dynamics of professionalism. Our main task today is concern for people, concern for the safe future.

Within this task, the plant's employers perform a whole range of works, subdivided into several stages.

During the first stage, whole standard Nuclear Fuel was retrieved from shutdown reactors and Unit's cooling pools and moved to the Spent Fuel Storage Facility for temporary storage. Currently 53 damaged Fuel Assemblies are stored in the cooling pools of Units 1 and 2 that over the next year will also be removed and placed in the in special channels in ISF-1.

Now Chernobyl NPP starts to implement the second stage - Final Shutdown and Preservation ofUnits (FS&P), which will last until 2022.

During the third stage - till 2045 - it will be necessary to perform work on Units safe enclosure within the period during which the natural decrease of radiation to the acceptable levels should occur.

During the last stage, which will be implemented by 2065, it is planned to dismantle reactor installations, as well as clean the site in order to remove restrictions and release from regulatory controls in maximum.

Initially, the ultimate goal of work at ChNPP industrial site is its transformation into a "brown spot", area where measures on equipment, unstable elements of buildings and constructions dismantling are implemented and the radioactivity of building constructions is reduced up to the acceptable level. Today we are speaking about a developed industrial site, which main direction of activity is assurance of Radioactive Waste management, including from other enterprises.

At the Final Shutdown and Preservation Stage it is expected generation of a large volume of Radioactive Material, radioactively contaminated dismantled equipment and its components. That is, you intend to provide Radioactive Waste and Spent Nuclear Fuel Management? What is supposed to do?

Currently at Chernobyl NPP site there are several facilities for Radioactive Waste Management - in particular this are Liquid Radioactive Waste Treatment Plant (LRTP) and Industrial Complex for Solid Radioactive Waste Management (ICSRM).

At the end of May active tests were carried out at LRTP with real waste, in process of which we practised the entire RAW Management process chain. Based on the results of these tests we are expecting in the next month to obtain from SNRIU separate permit to operate the plant. It is estimated that the plant will treat Liquid Waste for ChNPP needs and for needs of NAEC

"Energoatom", and its capacity will be 42 packages (200 liter drums) per day. We plan to increase the productivity of the final RAW packages suitable for disposal in a near surface disposal facility through establishment of additional lines or facilities for RAW handling. We have already preliminary agreement under which Czech and Slovak Republics may provide technical assistance in solving this problem not only for ChNPP, but also for the entire Ukraine.

Plant for Solid Radioactive Waste processing currently is in the second stage of hot tests. The first waste package is received - this is container with volume of 3 m3 in a special engineered near surface disposal facility for SRAW of "Vector" complex. The plant capacity is 20 cubic meters of Solid Waste per day, and capacity of the installation for Solid Waste retrieval from the Solid Waste Storage Facility (SWSF) is 3 m3 per day. Taking into account the fact that the plant has accumulated 2.5 thousand cubic meters of SRAW, storing in Solid Waste

Storage Facility and capacity of the retrieval installation, we suppose to process these solid waste within 3,5 years, and we will be able to process the Solid Waste coming from external facilities.

As far as I know, the supplementary agreement to the Contract for CSFSF construction was signed between President of Holtec International Mr Chris Singh and President of NAEC "Energoatom" Mr Yuri Nedashkovsky at the end of June. What it gives to Ukraine and to Chernobyl NPP?

Yes, absolutely true, the signing took place on June 24, and already on August 26 a real start was given to the construction of Centralized Spent Nuclear Fuel Disposal Facility (CSFSF). In the first turn, construction of such facility will allow enhance energy independence of our country.

Until the recent time, all Spent Fuel from Ukrainian NPPs, for considerable sum in 200 million US dollars per year, was exported for further processing in Russia. Russian removed from SNF all the valuable elements, and fuel in the form of radioactive waste was returned in our country.

By the way, only two countries transport the fuel for reprocessing in other countries for the money - Ukraine and Bulgaria, all others countries went the way of "deferred decision" - they place temporarily the Spent Fuel in storage facilities in the hope that in the near future progress development will lead to the development of the technologies, allowing maximize efficient reuse of Spent Nuclear Fuel.

The costs of CSFSF construction and operation will be almost four times less than the total cost, which Ukraine pays today transporting SNF to Russia. After the commissioning stage construction (it is assumed that it will happen in 2017), Spent Fuel from Khmelnytsky, Rivne and South-Ukrainian NPPs will be transported to own CSFSF. Expected design capacity of the Storage Facility will be 16 530 spent fuel elements, and period of operation - 100 years.

What Chernobyl NPP will obtain from CSFSF?

Any facility appearing within the Exclusion Zone, in the first place, affords opportunity to the personnel to continue working activity at the industrial site. In 1986, when the accident occurred, the biggest tragedy for the plant's employees, Pripyat town inhabitants was a loss of just acquired a dream city, their comfortable, newly furnished flats, wonderful places of the future, where really was nice to live. This pain they have carried through the life.

In 2000 last Chernobyl NPP Unit was shutdown. Since this time quantity of the working plant's personnel is permanently reduced. This is logical and understandable.

However, if we do not find any replacement of works at industrial site, there are all chances that our wonderful, unique Slavutich town - and now a lot of Pripyat inhabitants live here - will transform in dying sleepy town. To avoid such scenario, I try to make every effort to allow Chernobyl NPP staff as long as possible retain the existing or find new jobs, could steadily work at the plant and comfortably live in our wonderful town.

Yes, we are keeping in mind our difficult past, value highly the lessons that plant's history gave us, but we at the same time we are aimed to live in the present day, to be modern, professional, be in demand to have the entire Ukraine was a safe future that we are building to the extent that we can, already today...