The State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine (SNRIU) said a ceremony to mark the award of the licence was scheduled to be held at 11:00 local time on 20 August.
“This licence will provide regulatory control over both the current operation of the complex and the subsequent transformation of the zone into an ecological safe area,” SNRIU said.
The licence means Chornobyl NPP can begin full-scale operation of the NSC including handling of waste produced by remote decommissioning of the sarcophagus and the Unit 4 plant.
The NSC was constructed to seal off Unit 4, which was destroyed in the 1986 nuclear accident at Chernobyl. The giant steel structure with a height of 108 metres, length of 162 metres and an arch span of 257 metres will protect the environment from radiation releases and provide the infrastructure to support the deconstruction of the shelter and nuclear waste management operations.
The NSC was built away from the contaminated heart of the Unit 4 site and slid over the reactor in 2016. It was financed by 45 donor nations and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, whose representatives were scheduled to attend today’s event. The giant structure is the most prominent element of the Shelter Implementation Plan for Chernobyl, which involved more than 300 projects and activities.
The NSC was handed over to the Ukrainian authorities in July of 2019. The structure contains specialised, remote-operated equipment that is commissioned and ready for the day when the reactor building can be demolished. That could be 100 years from now, after its radioactivity has decayed to acceptable levels.
