Chernobyl NPP cooling pond decommissioning

Based on the design, the cooling pond (CP) is a source of technical water intake for the Chernobyl NPP needs. The CP was constructed by creating an artificial embanking dam at floodplain area of Prypiat River. The CP water volume is designed for cooling of four ChNPP Units in the electrical power generation mode. At the stage of decommissioning this object is redundant and subject to decommissioning. As of today there is no necessity of the Plant in such "technological object" as a cooling pond. Works on the level lowering in the CP can be commenced after constructing the dams at inlet and outlet channels. As a result of the beyond-design-basis accident at the ChNPP in 1986, radioactive aerosols and dispersed fuel particles from the destroyed reactor were deposited onto the CP surface, and contaminated waters from the Plant's technical supply systems were discharged. Due to the level lowering in the cooling pond, the SSE ChNPP administration fulfilled organizational and technical activities on radiation protection. The results of the conducted radiation monitoring show the absence of negative impact of the cooling pond slopes' drying process on the radiation situation in a case of possible further lowering of the water level.