"Golden spike" is driven!

The 43 km long railway track from Vilcha station to Yaniv station was built in record time – as promised by NNEGC Energoatom. The track construction was carried out by two railway crews, one from Vilcha station and the other from Yaniv station. On July 9, 2021, the two crews met and drove the «golden spike» into the track connected the Centralized Spent Fuel Storage Facility (CSFSF) with the Ukrainian railway network, the press service reports.

Five months ago, on February 3, 2021, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine by Ordinance №91-р transferred the Vilcha – Yaniv railway section (Exclusion zone, Ivankiv district of Kyiv region) to the fixed assets of NNEGC «Energoatom». The transfer was initiated by the Company itself to complete the construction in the shortest possible time.

 «After the transfer, Energoatom promptly held talks with «Ukrzaliznytsia» JSC, which served as contractor for laying of the railway track, signed a contract and financed the work,» said Mykola Bozhko, General Director of Atomprojectengineering.  «Work on the collection and removal of plant and shrubs remains from which the track was cleared is currently being completed. Builders are brushing up.» He added: by July 20, the first test special train will be run to the CSFSF with a simulator of a container with spent nuclear fuel.

Acting President of NNEGC «Energoatom» Petro Kotin noted that for three years the construction of this spur track remained the only obstacle to the full commissioning of the first start-up complex of CSFSF. However, in the short run, spent nuclear fuel will be delivered there from three nuclear power plants – Rivne, Khmelnytsky and South-Ukraine – which will be stored there for the next hundred years.

«We are grateful to our partners from «Ukrzaliznytsia» JSC for their prompt assistance in completing the reconstruction of the Vilcha-Yaniv railway track, which is crucial for the operation of the CSFSF,» said Mr. Kotin. «I am confident that we will be able to complete all authorization procedures at the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate and deliver the first containers with spent nuclear fuel to the CSFSF by Independence Day.»

Tags: The Cabinet of Ministers, NPP, NNEGC "Energoatom", CSFSF, electricity market, infrastructure, nuclear power plant, Kotin

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