LONG TERM STORAGE OF LIQUID RADIO ACTIVE

The nuclear power plant at Khmelnitsky (KhNPP) was built in the Ukraine in the years 1978 to 1987. A major plant was originally planned consisting of four blocks with the same design of the type VVER 1000 pressurised-water reactor, with an output of 1000 MWe per unit.

After the accident at the nuclear power plant of Chernobyl on 26 April 1986, a moratorium on construction and development of nuclear energy was decreed in the Ukraine. Unit 1 of Khmelnitsky NPP was started in December 1987, after the Chernobyl accident, but construction of the other 3 units was halted. The estimated state of completion of the construction of the remaining 3 units was approximately: 90% for Unit 2; 40% for Unit 3; and about 10-15% for Unit 4.

In the original project, a building was planned for processing and storage of liquid and solid radioactive wastes (special building) and a building for further processing and interim storage of products ready for final disposal. The construction of the latter building with a separated storage and processing section was stopped as part of the aforementioned moratorium.

At this time, no components for the originally planned plant for the processing of radioactive wastes had been delivered to the nuclear power plant. As a provisional solution for solidifying the liquid radioactive waste, a thin layer evaporator UGU1 500 was erected and went into operation in the special building in the year 1990. This plant is only capable of processing the accumulating evaporator concentrate. Until the time of this project, filter concentrations and sludges had been temporarily stored without any further processing.

Because of this situation, the institute "KievEnergoproekt" was commissioned, back in 1988, together with the nuclear power plant at Khmelnitsky, to find solutions to problems of further processing and long-term storage of the accumulating wastes.

In the 1993 TACIS Nuclear Safety programme, it was decided to include a project to support the further processing of the accumulated liquid radioactive waste. The aim of this project was the planning, project management and delivery of a centrifuge for processing radioactive waste water containing solids at the Khmelnitsky NPP (see project U1.04/93A).

The aim of the present contract was to engage an independent consultant to prepare the Terms of Reference for contracting the project U1.04/93A.

The objective of the contract was to prepare the technical Terms of Reference (ToR) required for contracting of the project U1.04/93A "Treatment of backlog of radioactive waste water (at Khmelnitsky NPP)".

The work required from the Consultant included:

• Collection of the detailed project information and agreement with the Ukrainian project Beneficiaries and partners;
• Write the Terms of Reference;

The contract was signed in February 1995. The Terms of Reference ("Long Term Storage of Liquid Radioactive Waste at Khmelnitsky NPP") were completed and the first tender procedure (Tender ref: NUCUK 93104) was launched in 1998. Tenders received were evaluated in December 1998, but the tendering was unsuccessful. The ToR was further developed under the later On-Site Assistance project at Khmelnitsky NPP (see contracts 24614 and 61872) and the call for tender was re-launched. The U1.04/93A project was finally implemented from February 2004 to December 2006.