A.i. Head of SAUEZM Oleksandr Kovalchuk at the parliamentary hearings «Parliament's Environmental Policy Priorities for 5 Years» presented the strategy of development of the Exclusion zone and perspective directions of work. In particular, he drew the attention of the members of parliament of Ukraine to the legal conflict arising during the activity of the Chornobyl radiation and ecological biosphere reserve.

Representatives of SAUEZM and Ukrainian enterprises on radioactive waste management discussed with the British Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) and a number of profile associations and commercial companies approaches to waste management and potential areas of cooperation for organizations. They paid great attention to the enhancement of international cooperation between Ukraine and the United Kingdom in the field of nuclear and radiation safety, radioactive waste safety and the provision of expert and advisory assistance from the United Kingdom on the improvement of national technologies.

Last week, a meeting of the Donor Assembly of the Nuclear Safety Account took place at the EBRD headquarters in London, during which the Ukrainian delegation discussed the state of work on the construction of a spent nuclear fuel storage facility (SNF-2) at Chornobyl NPP industrial site.

SSE «Radon Association» has started work on the direct removal of radioactive waste (RAW) from the decontamination waste disposal site Pisky-1 (WWTP) in Kyiv region. This project has been developed with the support of the European Union under the ISNF Program and is aimed at rehabilitation of Chornobyl RAW storage sites outside the Exclusion Zone.

At a meeting of the Euro-Atlantic Integration Coordination Commission of Ukraine with the participation of NATO Deputy Secretary General Bettina Kadenbach, representatives of the Government of Ukraine and the NATO discussed the state and prospects of developing relations with NATO.

Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted in the second reading and, in general, the law «On Amendments to Certain Laws of Ukraine on Improvement of the Legislation on Radioactive Waste Management». By this law the legislative framework of Ukraine in the field of radioactive waste management is brought into compliance with the international requirements of radioactive waste disposal.

Within the framework of the Instrument for Nuclear Safety Cooperation program (INSC), the European Union supported Ukraine in developing the National Plan for the Geological Disposal of Medium-Level Waste and a timetable for its implementation. During the kick-off meeting held in Kyiv with the participation of representatives of the European Union, State Agency of Ukraine on Exclusion Zone Management (SAUEZM) and State Specialized Enterprise «Central Enterprise for Radioactive Waste Management» (CERWM) the project implementation plan was presented and agreed by the project contractor.

At the SSE «Chornobyl NPP» within the framework of the IAEA project UKR 9038 «Support for decommissioning of nuclear power plant units and radioactive waste management at the site of the Chornobyl NPP and in the Exclusion zone» a workshop on the characterization of radioactive waste and packages with immobilized waste was conducted. Participants of the workshop got acquainted with international practices of radioactive waste characterization, in particular, examples of legislative regulation of this field, equipment for characterization and methods of measuring radionuclides activity.

The 63rd IAEA General Conference is taking place this week with the participation of the Ukrainian delegation led by the Head of the SNRIU Hryhorii Plachkov. The State Agency of Ukraine on Exclusion Zone Management is represented by the Head of the Agency Vitalii Petruk and the Head of the Department for International Cooperation and Public Relations Kateryna Pavlova.

A conciliation meeting chaired by the Head of State Agency of Ukraine on Exclusion zone management Vitalii Petruk was held in Chornobyl with the participation of experts from SSE «Ecocenter», Chornobyl Reserve, SE «COTIS» and the police in order to solve organizational issues while visiting the Exclusion zone by water. After the meeting there was a trip along one of the recently approved water routes: from city of Chornobyl to Otashiv village. The Head of SAUEZM Vitalii Petruk personally checked the readiness of recently opened routes of visit.

During the meeting of the Supervisory Board on the implementation of the projects of the Instrument for Nuclear Safety Cooperation (INSC) program in Vienna (Republic of Austria), the Head of the SAUEZM Vitalii Petruk presented the progress of Ukraine in the implementation of projects in the field of radioactive waste management (RW).

Complex «cold» tests at the spent nuclear fuel storage # 2 (ISF-2) of the Chornobyl NPP have been completed. The tests were performed using spent fuel assemblies simulators to test all technological systems of the facility.