Resolution No. 385-r of the Cabinet of Ministers validating the Concept of State Economic Program of treatment of spent nuclear fuel of domestic nuclear power plants for the period up to 2024.

Concept of State Economic Program of treatment of spent nuclear fuel of domestic nuclear power plants for the period up to 2024 is a multi-sectoral nationwide policy document aimed at treatment of hazardous waste, spent nuclear fuel from domestic nuclear power plants with a view of solving complex sectoral problems of waste management, increasing economic efficiency of spent nuclear fuel management scheme, establishing framework conditions and directions for safe and cost-effective handling of spent nuclear fuel.
The solution to the problem shall be ensured by implementing the following measures: (a) technological endurance of spent nuclear fuel in reactor holding pools ("wet" storage) until is reached the residual level of heat release acceptable for further transportation; (b) operation of spent nuclear fuel at Zaporizhzhya NPP in the term provided by the project (50 years); (c) transportation of spent nuclear fuel of Rivne, Khmelnytsky and South-Ukrainian nuclear power plants for technological storage and processing to specialized foreign enterprises before commissioning national centralized storage of spent nuclear fuel; (d) construction and operation of a centralized storage of spent nuclear fuel; (e) development of the Concept for the management of spent nuclear fuel from domestic nuclear power plants (with the definition of strategic directions for treatment of spent nuclear fuel for the period up to 2035 and on further perspective). Implementation of the Program is expected during 2019-2024.
Expected results: (a) solution of complex sectoral problems of handling spent nuclear fuel from domestic nuclear power plants; (b) establishment of conditions for environmentally friendly safe and cost-effective treatment of spent nuclear fuel from domestic nuclear power plants; (c) elimination of Ukraine's dependence on Russian service providers for export and reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel and raising the level of national energy security; and (d) protection of human life and health against radiation in the process of operation of national centralized storage of spent nuclear fuel and compliance with nuclear and radiation safety standards.