Month: February 2019

From November 2018 till February 2019, experts of the “Ukratominstruments” corporation, consortium experts, within the framework of implementation of Task 1-2 of the EC Project U4.01/14C “Comprehensive Safety Assessment of Radioactive Waste Management Sites operated by State Corporation “Ukrainian State Association ‘Radon’ and Design of Remediation for Specific Facilities”, carried out the visits to separate RAW management facilities that are part of the State Corporation” Ukrainian State Association “Radon” (hereinafter – the SC “Ukr SA “Radon”), which is the End User of the contract for the provision of EU international technical assistance services. Visits are carried out on the each single site of radwaste management of Ukraine, namely:

–              SSE Kharkiv SISP

–              SSE Dnipro SISP

–              SSE Odessa SISP

–              SSE Kyiv SISP

Purpose of visit: familiarization with the key features of the existing situation on the radioactive waste management on the SISP’s sites in order to summarize the results and verify the adequacy of the data and documents available, make recommendations and conclusions on the measures that are to be implemented to the extent priority, as well as – to conduct preliminary analysis of uncertainties and their impact on future safety assessments and development of standard technical solutions within the project.

The attention of specialists in particular was focused on the study of:

–              Engineering-geological characteristics of problematic RAW sites

–              Physical-geographical characteristics of the territory

–              Particularities of the use of land resources located in the sanitary protection zone

–              Demographic data of the nearest settlements

–              Technical condition of the Liquid Radioactive Waste (LRW) storages Solid Radioactive Waste (SRW) storages, and other facilities of the Radon SISP

–              Nuclide condition of radioactive waste storages

–              Basic technological processes

as well as obtaining general information about  problematic RW sites.

The next step in conducting research and development works under the project by the consortium specialists will be the visit of the SSE Lviv SISP, which is scheduled for March 2019.

Therefore, the priorities for all project participants will be implemented in full. In its turn, this will ensure a gradual transition to the implementation of the following, no less important Project Objectives, namely, the Comprehensive Safety Assessment and the development of a Standardized Project Technical Solution.

FYI:  the overall objective of this international technical assistance project is to implement comprehensive safety assessments for five specialized facilities of the State Corporation “Ukrainian State Association ‘Radon’ and to develop measures for rehabilitation and remediation for problematic storages.

“Ukratominstruments” corporation yet again successfully passed the ТІС audit procedure, provided by the certification and personnel authority of TÜV Thüringen e.V. and confirmed the high standard quality system, implemented since 2003. By results of the audit corporation has received subsequent certificate of conformity of ISO 9001:2015 quality management system – the only document on the compliance of security that gives confidence in the safety of products and services received by the consumer and acknowledges the transparency of production processes, built on the use of the most effective resources with minimal impact on the environment. This is the business card of the corporation.

It should be noted that the implementation of quality management system – is a strategic decision of the “Ukratominstruments” corporation, one of the factors that helps not only keep on its activity, but also become one of the strongest in its field, not only in Ukraine but also abroad.

“Ukratominstruments” corporation has always tried to maintain a reputation as a supplier of competitive and quality products in the context of domestic and foreign markets. And for the time being it succeeds in it. ISO Certificates may be obtained by different companies of different sectors, but only if they can demonstrate responsibility to the experts and total quality control of manufactured goods and services. The certificate, of course, does not set quality standards for separate specific goods or services, but it determines the efficiency of production and management, from which, in fact, the quality depends on.

Obtaining the ISO 9001:2015 certificate helps “Ukratominstruments” corporation to solve a number of tasks within the business perspective, namely:

• Improve the quality of products and services and get a positive assessment and customer loyalty;
• To increase competitiveness both in Ukraine and abroad;
• Establish relationships with foreign partners in international projects;
• Obtain benefits for participation in international tenders;
• Improve transparency of the corporation’s management activities;
• Establish a mechanism for continuous improvement of the management system and improve the efficiency of experts at all levels.

Scope of ISO 9001:2015 certificate applies to activities such as design and development, organization of manufacturing, implementation, delivery and service of:

• instruments and devices for radiation, ecological control and monitoring
• information and diagnostic automated and control systems and environmental radiation monitoring systems,
• automated early warning and detecting systems
• conditioning devices for safe, temporary storage and transportation of nuclear waste.

The top management of “Ukratominstruments” corporation considers the product quality and system management process as the main condition for profit, stable economic position and social development for the benefit of consumers, partners, staff, shareholders and all stakeholders in the production of competitive products and services.

In view of this, on January 30, 2019, the first technical Workshop of the project consortium representatives with the End User, the State Corporation “Ukrainian State Association”Radon” (SC “Ukr SA”Radon”), the State Interregional Specialized Plants (SISP), which are part of the SC “Ukr SA”Radon”, with participation of technical experts, Key and Non-key project experts (from “Ukratominstruments” Corporation, Brenk, DMT and Plejades).

The topic of the technical seminar is dedicated to the analysis of data for the safety assessment of radioactive waste storage facilities at Radon sites in Ukraine. Among the materials related to this topic, the following presentations considered at the technical seminar should be noted:

• Data analysis for safety assessment;
• Overview of the information provided by SC “Ukr SA”Radon” in terms of completeness and compliance with the “Guideline for the safety re-assessment of the existing storage/disposal facilities and criteria of decision-making concerning subsequent measures on these facilities”;
• Discussion on how to manage uncertainties for retrieval approaches;
• International Experience with waste retrieval from old storage facilities or non compliant near surface disposal facilities by example of German Asse disposal as well as international experiences with radioactive waste retrieval and processing in Canada, Hungary, Slovakia, France and Estonia;
• Analysis of technical solutions for the removal of radioactive waste from storage facilities and proposed engineering approach.

The main objective of the technical workshop on the project was to discuss information from the

have an exchange on preliminary findings and to discuss the next steps to foster project progress.

Recall that the overall objectives of this international technical assistance project are:

• Implementation of comprehensive safety assessments for the five SISP of SC “Ukr SA”Radon” (Kiev, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Odesa and Lviv SISP) and determination of the current condition of the “problematic” storages;
• Transfer of sustainable capability to the SC “Ukr SA”Radon” in safety assessment by conducting qualified training for designated End-user specialists, both in Ukraine and abroad;
• Design of remediation measures for problematic storages located at five End user sites: developing the report with typical technical solutions, Remediation roadmap, related design documentation and safety case and subsequent Regulator approval.