UKRAINE: National nuclear energy company Energoatom has completed the 337m hryvnia rehabilitation of the 43 km out-of-use single track railway between Vilcha and Yaniv in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, connecting its Centralised Spent Fuel Storage Facility to the national rail network.
A test train carrying a replica container of spent nuclear fuel is scheduled to run on July 20. The line will then be used to transport waste from power plants in Rivne, Khmelnytska and Yuzhnoukrainsk for long-term storage at the site.
Acting President of Energoatom Petro Kotin said completion of work to reinstate the line had been the last obstacle to the full commissioning of the storage facility.
In February the government transferred responsibility for the project from national railway Ukrzaliznytsia to Energoatom.
Tracklaying was then undertaken under contract by UZ, with crews working from each end and a golden spike celebration when the railheads met on July 9.
