During the events in Chornobyl on the occasion of the successful completion of the largest project of international cooperation in the field of nuclear safety, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky handed the State Hero of Ukraine Award to three liquidators of the Chornobyl nuclear power station accident: Oleksiy Ananenko – Senior mechanical engineer of the reactor shop of the SSE Chornobyl NPP 1983 – 1989 years, Valery Bespalov – senior engineer of the turbine shop of the nuclear power plant in 1986 and posthumously to Borys Baranov – Chief of the shift in 1976-2005, the reward was given to his son Oleksandr.

State Agency of Ukraine on Exclusion Zone Management is responsible for radioactive waste management at the final stage of nuclear fuel cycle. During recent years it has been actively working on formation of organizational and legal principles and creation of an infrastructure for radioactive waste management in Ukraine, - said the Head of the SAUEZM Vitalii Petruk during the International Conference «Ukrainian Nuclear Forum-2019».I

Within the cooperation framework between SAUEZM and US Forest Service the firefighting and personal protective equipment were purchased and transferred to the SSE «Pivnichna Pushcha». Previously, the representatives of the US Forest Service visited the forest fire stations of the enterprise, assessed their fire-fighting potential and identified the needs of firefighters in additional equipment.

At a regular meeting of the Joint Coordinating Committee of the Ukrainian-Japanese SATREPS project, annual cooperation results were discussed and directions for the following year were outlined. In particular, within the framework of the project the assessment results of the radioactive contamination of ecosystems in the drained sections of the ChNPP cooling reservoir, the dynamics of radionuclide migration by water were presented, as well as the legislative aspects of ensuring the effective management of the Exclusion zone.

Experts of the SSE «Kyiv SISC» have started preparatory works for the direct retrieval of radioactive waste from the object at the Radioactive Waste Disposal Site «Pisky-1» of the Kyiv region. Currently the preparation of the site and placement on it of the necessary infrastructure and physical protection system devices is underway.

At the Kyiv Special Complex they have demonstrated packaging kits for transportation and storage of spent sources of ionizing radiation (SSIR). The project was implemented within the framework of the Agreement between Ukraine and the USA on assistance to Ukraine in the elimination of strategic nuclear weapons, as well as the prevention of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Such packaging kits were transferred to 5 special complexes (Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Lviv, Odesa and Kharkiv), as well as to the State Specialized Enterprise «Central Enterprise for Radioactive Waste Management».

During the meeting of the EU Member States Committee for the Nuclear Safety Cooperation Instrument (NSCI) Program the Head of SAUEZM, Vitalii Petruk, presented the current state of the radioactive waste management (RW) system in Ukraine and the prospects for implementing the NSCI Program projects. He also briefed the participants on the projects of international technical assistance (ITA) on nuclear safety implemented in the Exclusion zone with the financial support of the European Commission under the NSCI Program and the achievements in the field of improving Ukrainian legislation in this area.

The NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA) has signed contract documents with a contracting organization within the framework of the Trust Fund project for Radioactive Sources Disposal in Ukraine «Liquidation of Radioactive Waste Repository stored at the «Tsybuleve» Object of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine». The contractor's selection was held within the framework of an international competition in which «NT-ENGINEERING» company won.

On May 6, the main stage of Spent Nuclear Fuel Dry Storage Facility (ISF-2) integrated testing with use of spent fuel assembly (SFA) dummies started at the ChNPP industrial site.

Head of SAUEZM Vitalii Petruk and the heads of dedicated organizations discussed with the projects coordinator in the Eastern Europe of the United States Forest Service the idea of creating an interdepartmental Joint Operations Center in the Exclusion zone. The United States National Interdepartmental Center for Fire Prevention and Safe firefighting can be a model for the Center.

Within the framework of the cooperation agreement, the SSE «Ecocenter» and the University of Bristol (UK) conducted joint tests of a radiation mapping system operating on the basis of drones. With the participation of an expert team from the National Center for Nuclear Safety in Great Britain, they conducted a 9-day trial radiation mapping in the villages Buryakivka, Kopachi and Lesny at an altitude of 15-35 meters. As a result, scientists have received comprehensive cartographic materials of contamination on an area of about 15 km².

Head of SAUEZM Vitalii Petruk and the Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade Yurii Brovchenko transferred to the forest fire stations of SSE «Pivnichna Pushcha»a part of the equipment for rapid response to fires in the Exclusion zone territory. In particular, for the enterprise in 2018 new fire truck tankers, forestry patrol cars, tractors and auxiliary equipment for clearance of fire lines and fire control were purchased.