Support on radioactive waste management at the Vektor Industrial Complex in Ukraine (U4.01/11AB)

Over the decades of using nuclear technologies, Ukraine has generated large quantities of radioactive waste (RAW). The waste of different origin and classification needed to be treated and stored or disposed of.

The RAW from Ukrainian nuclear power plants is processed and stored at the plant sites. RAW from other installation is processed and stored at six disposal sites managed by the Ukrainian State Enterprise “Radon”. A main division of Radon, the Central Enterprise for Management of Radioactive Waste (CEMRW), operates the Vektor Industrial Complex (VIC) in the Chernobyl exclusion zone (EZ).

One of the RAW storage facilities in the VIC is the engineered near-surface disposal facility (ENSDF). It was built within the TACIS programme as the Lot 3 of the Industrial Complex for Solid Radioactive Waste Management (ICSRM).

Besides ENDSF, two other near-surface disposal facilities, the Type I and Type II ones, have been constructed as a Phase 1 of the VIC and infrastructure objects. The Type I disposal facility is designed for disposal of solid short-lived low-level and intermediate-level RAW in closed reinforced concrete containers. Type II disposal facility is designed for disposal of large pieces of the solid short-lived low-level and partially intermediate-level RAW in concrete compartments (sections).

As a Phase 2 of the VIC, a Technological Building using various RAW processing technologies was to be constructed on the VIC site.

To obtain operating licences, CEMRW also submitted Safety Analysis Report (SAR) of the ENSDF, Type I and Type II disposal facilities to the Ukrainian regulatory body (SNRIU). The regulatory review of the SAR for Type I and Type II facilities resulted in numerous comments and recommendations requiring further analysis, review and improvement of safety justifications. Within a safety re-assessment of these facilities, Waste Acceptance Criteria (WAC) had to be developed as well.

To support the above activities, two INSC projects were established:

• the U4.01/11A project on “Support in establishment of RAW processing facilities as a part of Phase 2 of the Vektor Industrial Complex”
• the U4.01/11B project on “Support to the operator to allow full licence for ICSRM Lot 3 and Type I and Type II facilities at the Vektor Industrial Complex”.

The specific objective of the U4.01/11A project was to develop a Basic Design of the Technological Building (TB) for RAW processing on the VIC site. It included identification of suitable RAW processing technologies or equipment, basic design of the TB and Technical Specifications for the TB equipment.

The specific objective of the U4.01/11B project was to support the Beneficiary and End User in safety re-assessment and regulatory approval of ENSDF, Type I and Type II disposal facilities. The re-assessment had to build on the available up-to-date data and regulatory comments to the Safety Analysis Reports of the facilities.

For contracting purposes, the projects were combined in a single U4.01/11A+B project.

The U4.01/11A+B combined project was implemented under the contract No. 2015/360-150. The project Contractor was an international consortium of Empresarios Agrupados Internacional S.A. and Kiev Research and Design Institute “Kiev Energoprojekt - KIEP”. The Beneficiary of the project was the State Agency of Ukraine on Exclusion Zone Management (SAMEZ). The specialized state enterprise CEMRW was the End User of the project.

The project started on 2 December 2015 with the implementation period of 36 months. The project work included the following tasks:

Task A1/B1: Project preparation and inception phase

The Contractor organized an initial technical meeting and the project kick-off meeting for both projects on 16 January 2016. The Contractor submitted an Inception Report for the project in April 2016.

Task A2/B2: Collection, evaluation and analysis of input data on facilities for disposal of RAW at the Vektor Industrial Complex

Within these tasks, the Contractor:

• Evaluated and analysed available input data related to the radiological, physical and chemical characteristics of the RAW (existing and future inventories) intended to be processed in the Technological Building (TB)
• Evaluated and analysed completeness, quality and adequacy of the input data for the TB design and its safety justification
• Analysed national laws, rules, regulations and standards, as well as  international safety standards and best practice to assess safety of the Vektor Industrial Complex (VIC) disposal facilities

Moreover, the Contractor visited the VIC to see the existing RAW disposal facilities and get a first-hand information on the site.

The task results were presented in a final Task A2/B2 report describing in details the task work.

Task A3: Update of technical and economic justification of RAW processing technologies in the Technological Building at the Vektor Industrial Complex

The Contractor prepared a Technical and Economic Analysis of optimal technologies for RAW processing in the TB of the VIC. Detailed results of the task activities have been provided in the Task A3 report.

Task A4: Development of Design Terms of Reference for the Technological Building for RAW processing at the Vektor Industrial Complex

The Contractor developed the Design Terms of Reference and Licensing Plan for the Technological Building. Upon the project Steering Committee request, the contactor also prepared a Design Basis for the TB. The task activities were in details described in a Task A3 report.

Task A5: Development of Basic Design of Technological Building at the Vektor Industrial Complex

In this task, the Contractor prepared:

• a Basic Design (BD) of the TB, including a Safety Analysis Report
• Technical specifications for procurement of a standard TB equipment and for manufacturing a non-standard equipment according to the BD.

The Contractor presented results of the work in a Task A5 report.

Task A6: Support to the Beneficiary/End User during State Construction Expert Review (SCER) of the Basic Design documentation

The Contractor sent a final version of the Basic Design (BD) to the Ukrainian Regulatory Body (SNRIU) for approval in July 2018. Because of a change in a Ukrainian law, the End User decided not to submit the BD for the SCER review and have it reviewed by the SNRIU only. Finally, the task was closed two months after the contract completion date without SNRIU issuing any conclusion on the BD.

Task B3: Safety re-assessment of ENSDF

The Contractor prepared three revisions of a new Safety Analysis Report (SAR) for the ENSDF based on End User and SNRIU comments. Due to lack of site-specific input information, the Contractor had to use arbitrary or generic data.

In addition, calculation methods and GoldSim models used in the SAR Rev. 3 were handed over to the End User. It will allow the End User to carry out additional ENSDF safety assessment.

A Task B3 report was issued describing all Contractor’s activities in details.

Task B4: Safety re-assessment of Type I and Type II disposal facilities

The Contractor prepared separate Safety Analysis Reports for Type I and Type II RAW disposal facilities, taking into account regulatory comments from previous SAR reviews. Due to insufficient input information, arbitrary or generic data had to be used.  The Contractor prepared a table resolving SNRIU comments to the last SAR revision 2 allowing the End User to prepare a revision 3 of the SAR.

The Contractor also delivered a compiled GoldSim model and other files used in the SARs for the End User to be able to prepare next SAR revisions.

A Task B4 report was issued describing all Contractor’s activities in details.

Task B5: Recommendations and justification on radioactive waste acceptance criteria for disposal at ENSDF, Type I and Type II facilities

Within the task B5, the Contractor reviewed the existing waste acceptance criteria (WAC) for the ENSDF and proposed new WAC for the ENSDF, Type I and Type II facilities. The Contractor also recommended measures ensuring that the waste packages received at the individual disposal facilities comply with the WAC. A final WAC report was submitted for an SNRIU review.

A Task B5 report was issued describing all Contractor’s activities in details.

Task A7/B6: Dissemination of the project results and final report

The Contractor organized a final dissemination workshop in Kiev, prepared a final technical report of the project and issued a press release.

The Contractor completed all the project deliverables according to the project Terms of Reference (ToR).

The following project results required by the ToR, however, were still pending after the contract closure because of delays in the document review process:

• Review and approval of the Basic Design documents by the State Construction Expert Review
• Regulatory approval of the revised SAR Rev. 3 for ENSDF
• Preparing a SARs Rev. 3 for the Type I and Type II disposal facilities; regulatory approval of the SARs Rev. 3.
• Regulatory approval of the waste acceptance criteria for the ENSDF, Type I and Type II disposal facilities.

Based on some negative experience from the project implementation, the Contractor formulated the following recommendations in the project final report:

• The End User and Beneficiary must do their best to provide the Contractor with necessary information. If the data are not available, the Contractor must be informed as soon as possible to take an appropriate alternative solution.
• The document review deadlines must be respected by all project stakeholders to avoid delays in providing comments or approving the documents.
• The planned dates for the key meetings, site visits and workshops must be respected to allow for a timely project implementation.
• The time needed for translations must be considered in a project schedule.
• The applicable legal framework for a project implementation has to be defined and agreed by all stakeholder in the Kick-off meeting and should not change during the project implementation.
• Changes in the Beneficiary/End User organization and staff related to the project should be timely communicated to the Contractor and should not affect the project implementation.
• During the project planning, the Beneficiary/End User should assess their capacities available for the project participation and allocate adequate resources.
• Holding monthly follow-up videoconferences with all the stakeholders can improve stakeholder involvement in the project implementation.