As part of INUDECO 2024, the UkrNS held an International Panel on the situation at the occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant

On April 24, 2024, the Ukrainian Nuclear Society hosted an International Panel titled “Nuclear Threat to Ukraine and the World: Consequences of the Occupation of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant” as part of the IX International Conference “Challenges of Decommissioning Nuclear Facilities and Environmental Remediation” (INUDECO 2024).

The panel was opened by Dmytro Verbytskyi, Acting General Director of the Zaporizhzhia NPP branch of SE “NNEGC Energoatom,” who delivered a report on the current situation, risks, threats, and steps toward restoring nuclear and radiation safety at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.

Nataliia Rybalkа, Director of the Department for Radiation Technology Safety and Radioactive Waste Management of the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine and Deputy Chief State Inspector for Nuclear and Radiation Safety of Ukraine, addressed the challenges Ukraine faces in regulatory activities during wartime. She highlighted the complete lack of access to the ZNPP site for performing crucial regulatory oversight and shared the experience of the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate in resuming activities after the de-occupation of the Chornobyl NPP and Exclusion Zone.

Victor Lapchenko, Deputy Chief Engineer for Nuclear and Radiation Safety of the “Atomremontservice” separate division, and a former employee of the Zaporizhzhia NPP, presented a report on the dry storage facility for spent nuclear fuel at ZNPP and an analysis of the risks to this facility during the occupation.

The panel was followed by the session “Security and Resilience Challenges of the Energy Sector During the War.”

Speakers of this session included:

• Maksym Shevchuk, Deputy Head of the State Agency of Ukraine on Exclusion Zone Management, with the presentation “Progress in the Recovery of the Exclusion Zone After Occupation and Prospects for Implementing International Cooperation Projects at the Chornobyl NPP Site.”
• Mark Zheleznyak and Maksym Husev, Institute of Environmental Radioactivity, Fukushima University, with a presentation “An Overview of Two of the Most Discussed Environmental Radioactivity Risks in 2023 — Discharges of Treated Water from Fukushima Daiichi NPP into the Ocean and Potential Emergencies at ZNPP.”
• Tom Scott, University of Bristol, United Kingdom, with a presentation on “The TITAN Project — A Training Initiative for Technical Assessment of Nuclear Facilities in Ukraine.”
• Olena Pareniuk, Institute for Safety Problems of Nuclear Power Plants of the NAS of Ukraine, with a report on “The Strategy for Recognizing the Resilience of Nuclear Facilities During Wartime.”