Chornobyl NPP Looks for Ways to Save Energy

On 8-13 August 2016, at the Chornobyl NPP request, the IAEA arranged the workshop in Vienna, Austria.

According to ChNPP Group Leader and Deputy Technical Director Oleksandr Skomarokhov, management of radioactively contaminated water is one of the main plant issues. The evaporation technology is used at Chornobyl NPP for management of radioactively contaminated water. This technology has been developed in the 70ies of last century and it is still used on a number of operating power plants. Certainly, this technology is appropriate for nuclear power plants with their own generation and therefore cheap thermal energy. However, such a technology is expensive for ChNPP after shutdown.

For maximum energy saving and for reducing the cost of decommissioning, it is necessary to develop another model for management of radioactively contaminated water. ChNPP appealed to the IAEA for the assistance in selecting the methodology.

During four working days, IAEA experts, international experts and representatives of the nuclear power plant considered available methodologies in order to select the most appropriate methodology for ChNPP site.

Oleksandr Skomarokhov stated that the workshop was very fruitful. The methodology was selected. In the near future, it will be recommended for using at ChNPP.