Chernobyl balance sheet, cost, maps and contamination (France)

[izentrop]

The title of the ACRO study should have been "measurement of cesium-137 remains" without specifying Chernobyl given the lack of a precise protocol. http://www.bag.admin.ch/themen/strahlung/12128/14756/index.html?lang=fr

Do you want to suggest that the emissions from the Swiss nuclear power station Mühleberg (see your link), which apparently contaminated the sediments of Lake Biel (20 km) in 2000 and a few other times, should be taken into account in the cesium 137 pollution study from all over France?

No, but at least the remains of the atmospheric fallout from previous nuclear tests. Not knowing the age of the lichens that were taken, the measurements cannot guarantee the origin of the cs 137 found, the same for the samples of soil extracted in the mountains. https://prmarchenry.blogspot.fr/2014/03 ... ctive.html
I just wanted to point out that the ACRO report lacks the rigor to be meaningful.

I agree with what you wrote later.

[moinsdewatt]

Ukraine inaugurates this Tuesday the containment dome that covers the damaged reactor of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant,
an extraordinary project of two billion euros funded by the international community and which must ensure the security of the site for the next 100 years.

In the shape of an arch, this containment bell, which was inaugurated during a ceremony starting at 10:00 GMT, is a metal framework of 25.000 tonnes (36.000 tonnes with the various equipment provided), 108 meters high and 162 meters long.


Photo provided by the EBRD press service, November 14, 2016, showing the new sarcophagus covering the Chernobyl power plant

"What amounts to being able to cover the Stade de France or the Statue of Liberty", summarizes in a press release Novarka, a joint venture of the French groups Bouygues and Vinci, which designed and built the arch.

With a lifespan of at least 100 years, according to the manufacturers, it must make it possible to confine the radioactive materials and the existing sarcophagus. In addition, the containment bell has equipment that will allow the future dismantling of reactor number 4 to be carried out.

http://www.boursorama.com/actualites/l- ... 090ff4615c

.............. "We celebrated today in Chernobyl the successful end of the ark pushing operation, a key step before the completion of the international program to transform Chernobyl into a safe and environmentally safe site by November 2017, "they added. The arch will only be operational at the end of 2017, the time to install and commission its various equipment .............

http://www.lepoint.fr/environnement/tch ... 0_1927.php

[moinsdewatt]

And a very good article from Les Echos with Myriam Chauvot, special envoy to Chernobyl:
http://www.lesechos.fr/industrie-servic ... 046468.php

The surge of 36.000 tonnes of steel and concrete from the Chernobyl containment began on November 14, to make it cross the 327 meters separating it from the damaged reactor it was to cover.

Slowly, at the rate of 60 centimeters per push, carried out by more than 200 hydraulic cylinders, the arch, 162 meters long and 108 meters high, slipped. And has just found, above the reactor, the position which will now be its for at least a century. “We finished the push on Sunday at 17pm. A huge step has just been taken, "announced on Monday evening Nicolas Caille, the boss of Novarka, the Bouygues consortium and Vinci in charge of the Chernobyl site, during a dinner with the French media who attended the event.

2,1 billion euros of work

To mark the final containment of the reactor accident in 1986, this Tuesday morning, 500 to 600 people, including 200 media, will go to the site, where a tent has been erected 300 meters from the arch. Novarka, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) - which funded the € 2,1 billion worth of Chernobyl works - donor countries, the Ukrainian nuclear safety authority (CHNPP) and the government, all wanted to be there, for what was originally intended to be only a press visit at the initiative of Bouygues and Vinci in order to mark this turning point in the project.

Learn more about http://www.lesechos.fr/industrie-servic ... SOf8z8P.99

This is not the end of the work for the French tandem of Novarka. "The contract signed in 2007 ends on November 30, 2017," explains Nicolas Caille. We now have a year to install the waterproofing membranes for the arch and carry out all the ventilation, waterproofing, fire tests, etc. ”. Because the ark has a double role: to confine the radioactive dust, to prevent its diffusion, but also to serve as space for the future deconstruction of the old sarcophagus built in 1986 and which had only one lifespan of thirty or thirty -five years as well as the reactor to manage nuclear materials.

............................

Find robots to deal with radioactive magma

Assembled 300 meters from the reactor, the enclosure was equipped, in view of future dismantling operations, with tool holders as well as two overhead cranes, 100 meters long and 800 tonnes each, hung on its vault, 100 meters from the ground. These over-sized overhead traveling cranes will be used when it is necessary to break the concrete, saw the steel beams and recover the radioactive materials from the reactor. In passing, this will imply, once dismantled the Russian sarcophagus of 1986 still confining 80% of the highly radioactive magma, to have found the robots suitable for interventions without human presence.

Dismantling will therefore be a long-term task which will begin ... we do not know when. So far, Chernobyl has already cost 2 billion euros, including 1,5 billion for the Novarka contract. For now, if the EBRD has financed the 2 billion, it has no funds planned for the future. Deconstruction would require a new round of funding from donor countries. The arch having, under the Novarka contract, a minimum lifespan of 100 years, the danger is that nothing will happen for a long time.

[moinsdewatt]

[Video] The containment arch finally covers the Chernobyl nuclear power plant

29 Nov 2016 New Factory

This is the time lapse video of the entire pushing until the final installation is visible!
: http://www.usinenouvelle.com/article/vi ... yl.N470253

Surprising that I have to take the screenshot of the video to have the arch above the power plant.
Not found the photo in the media.

[Christophe]

A song by Renaud on Chernobyl and nuclear ... from 2006 that I barely discovered:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZEjuYDrddw

[moinsdewatt]

A solar power plant in Chernobyl

By Sciences et Avenir with AFP 11.01.2018

Ukraine is preparing to launch its first solar power plant in the area contaminated by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, to revive this abandoned territory.



With a relatively symbolic power of one megawatt, the plant is located just a hundred meters from the new waterproof steel "sarcophagus" which covers the remains of the damaged Chernobyl reactor, scene in 1986 of the worst nuclear accident in history. . Such a plant can cover the consumption of around 2.000 households living in apartments, explains to AFP Evguen Variaguine, director of the Ukrainian-German company Solar Chernobyl which carried out this project.

The group spent one million euros in this structure of about 3.800 photovoltaic panels installed on 1,6 hectares, double the lawn of a football stadium. He hopes to make the project profitable within seven years. From this unit which is to be inaugurated in the coming weeks, the group plans to reach a total of 100 megawatts in the area where the level of sunshine "is the same as in the south of Germany", emphasizes M. Variaguine.

Ukraine is seeking to develop its own energy production after the sudden stop of its purchases of Russian gas in the midst of tensions between Moscow and Kiev. It also wants to give a second life to the Chernobyl exclusion zone that surrounds the damaged nuclear power plant within a radius of 30 kilometers, some XNUMX kilometers north of Kiev, near the Belarusian border.

Contaminated earth

The reactor number 4 of the Chernobyl power plant exploded on April 26, 1986 contaminating, according to some estimates, up to three quarters of Europe. After this disaster, the Soviet authorities evacuated hundreds of thousands of people and a vast territory, covering more than 2.000 square kilometers, remained abandoned. Three other reactors at the plant continued to operate after the tragedy, but the last was closed in 2000, marking the end of all industrial activity in Chernobyl.

Man will not be able to come back to live in this area "for another 24.000 years", but prudent industrial exploitation is once again possible, according to the Ukrainian authorities. "This territory obviously cannot be used for agriculture, but it is perfectly suitable. for innovative and scientific projects ", Ukrainian Environment Minister Ostap Semerak told AFP in 2016.

The installation at the end of 2016 of a gigantic waterproof screed above the ruins of the damaged reactor contributed to the realization of the project. Funded by the international community, the new dome covered the old concrete "sarcophagus", cracked and unstable, and made it possible to better isolate the highly radioactive magma remaining in the reactor. Result: the level of radioactivity near the plant has been divided by ten in one year, according to official estimates.

Precautions remain necessary: ​​the supports of Solar Chernobyl's photovoltaic panels are not planted directly in the contaminated earth, but fixed on concrete bases placed on the ground. “We cannot drill or dig here due to safety regulations,” explains Variaguine.

Difficult investments

The consortium that employs him has already built in 2016 a solar power plant of just over four megawatts in the irradiated area in neighboring Belarus, several tens of kilometers from Chernobyl. On the Ukrainian side, the authorities have made nearly 2.500 hectares available for such projects. They have already received around sixty proposals from foreign groups - Danish, American, Chinese, French -, according to Olena Kovaltchouk, spokesperson for the local administration. Encouraging factor, Kiev buys solar energy at a tariff which "exceeds on average of 50% that applied in Europe", explains to AFP Oleksandr Khartchenko, executive director of the Center of energy research of Kiev.

The rush of Western investors to Chernobyl is not for tomorrow, however, warns this expert, given the weight of the bureaucracy and corruption endemic in Ukraine. "It is very important to have guarantees that work in the Chernobyl zone will be safe," warns Anton Usov, adviser of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (Berd), who does not plan for the instant no investment in this area in Ukraine.

https://www.sciencesetavenir.fr/nature- ... byl_119769

[moinsdewatt]

[Video] The titanic Chernobyl containment arch, a historic site

RÉMI AMALVY Usine Nouvelle 11/07/2019

VIDEO The key to the Chernobyl containment arch was symbolically given to the Ukrainian authorities on July 10. It marks the end of twelve years of construction, for a 2,1 billion euro project of titanic dimensions, involving several French manufacturers.


The arch is now the largest mobile land structure ever built. © Yuri Semitotskiy / NOVARKA

Twelve years of work. 33 million hours of work, carried out by more than 10 workers. The statistics for the construction of the containment of reactor no. 000 at Chernobyl are enough to make you dizzy. And that's not all ! It is now the largest mobile land structure ever built, with a range of 4 meters, a width of 257 meters, a height of 162 meters and a total weight of 108 tonnes (with its equipment).

The key to the colossus, finally finished, was symbolically handed over to the Ukrainian authorities on July 10 by French industrialists Vinci Construction Grands Projets and Bouygues Travaux Publics, partners of the Novarka group. For the occasion, a ceremony was held on the site in the presence of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

"This project is a piece of life for each of us. And we are all aware of the environmental progress that this structure represents for Ukraine, its neighboring countries and the entire European continent" declared Patrick Kadri, president of Vinci Construction Major Projects. The Deputy Managing Director of Bouygues Travaux Publics, Marc Adler, added in the same press release: "Chernobyl will go down in the history of civil engineering as a concentrate of innovation and the engineers who took part in it are already transmitting the lessons of this project beyond standards in engineering schools. "

In 2016, the arch had been moved 327 meters from its place of assembly to its final destination. A video covering all the stages of its construction was then released.

2,1 billion euros for a lifetime of 100 years

In total, the project will have cost 2,1 billion euros, entirely funded by the international community. The work now received, the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (ChNPP) will be able to start the dismantling of the damaged installations and the treatment of radioactive waste. This operation was made possible by the 26 demolition equipment integrated into the arch and remotely controlled, installed since the arch was placed on site at the end of 2016. Among them, giant arms, bridges and lifting systems designed by companies all over the world.

Designed with the French equipment supplier CNIM, a special material was affixed to create a membrane between the enclosure and the sarcophagus. The lifetimes of the different layers that make it up should allow it to last around 100 years. The membrane is also capable of withstanding temperatures ranging from -40 ° C to + 40 ° C, earthquakes and blunt shocks.

No accident was to be deplored during all of the operations. "It's a great source of pride," explains Vinci Construction, contacted by L'Usine Nouvelle. The reason: bearing systems for employees, a maximum dosimeter measurement lower than French standards, a half-day briefing on radiation for newcomers, and "very strict rules", resulting in dismissal for the slightest disrespect. "We couldn't afford to let anything go," says Vinci. On the scale of the site and the stakes since the drama of 1986, we can only understand it.

https://www.usinenouvelle.com/article/v ... ue.N865395

[Janic]

should allow it to last about 100 years

should and not go! The past does not even serve as a lesson for dreamers. In any case it is a juicy business!

[moinsdewatt]

Post continuation of April 26, 2016 http://www.oleocene.org/phpBB3/viewtopi ... 20#p389320

The “dry” storage of ISF2 fuel soon ready.

Chernobyl used fuel store ready for commissioning

24 September 2019

Holtec International has announced completion of the pre-commissioning program, or 'cold tests', for the Chernobyl Interim Spent Nuclear Fuel Storage Facility (ISF-2) in Ukraine. It is the world's largest dry storage installation.

The principal contractors on the ISF-2 facility project are Ukraine's UTEM, Germany's BNG and Italy's Maloni. The project, supported by the Nuclear Safety Account managed by the London-headquartered European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, will provide for the processing and storage of the used nuclear fuel from units 1, 2 and 3, which is required for the decommissioning of the Chernobyl plant.

Completion of cold testing was marked by the demonstration on 29 August of full functionality of the facility with no major issues or impediments to its licensed operation, Holtec said. This was confirmed at a working meeting by State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine on September 6.

ISF-2 will formally enter commissioning once the operator - Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (ChNPP) - obtains an individual operation license from the regulator. This will initiate the campaign to dismember each of Chernobyl's more than 21,000 fuel assemblies into three parts - two fuel bundles and an activated connecting rod - in a purpose-built 'hot cell' and place them in interim dry storage.
.......

http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/Artic ... missioning

[GuyGadebois]

Ukraine is preparing to launch its first solar power plant in the area contaminated by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, to revive this abandoned territory.

Life has never been better in this area than since the disaster!