u ENVIRONMENT AGENCY AUSTRIA umweltbundesamt EIA NPP Khmelnitsky 3&4 Procedure 2019 Expert Statement EIA NPP KHMELNITSKY 3&4 PROCEDURE 2019 Expert Statement Oda Becker Gabriele Mraz Commissioned by Austrian Ministry of Sustainability and Tourism Directorate I/6 General Coordination of Nuclear Affairs GZ BMNT-UW.1.1.2/0019-I/6/2018 REPORT REP-0692 Vienna 2019 Project management Franz Meister (Umweltbundesamt) Authors Oda Becker, technical-scientific consultant (content project management, chapters 4, 5, 6, 7) Gabriele Mraz, pulswerk GmbH (project coordinator, chapters 1, 2, 3) Translations and English editing Patricia Lorenz Layout and typesetting Elisabeth Riss (Umweltbundesamt) Title photograph © iStockphoto.com/imagestock For further information about the publications of the Umweltbundesamt please go to: http://www.umweltbundesamt.at/ Imprint Owner and Editor: Umweltbundesamt GmbH Spittelauer Lände 5, 1090 Vienna/Austria The Environment Agency Austria prints its publications on climate-friendly paper. © Umweltbundesamt GmbH, Vienna, 2019 All Rights reserved ISBN 978-3-99004-511-4 EIA Khmelnitsky 3&4 2019 – Table of Contents TABLE OF CONTENTS SUMMARY ........................................................................................................... 5 ZUSAMMENFASSUNG ..................................................................................... 10 РЕЗЮМЕ ........................................................................................................... 16 1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................. 23 2 OVERALL AND PROCEDURAL ASPECTS OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT (EIA) ............................ 24 2.1 Provided documents .......................................................................... 24 2.2 Treatment in the EIA documents ...................................................... 25 2.3 Discussion ........................................................................................... 26 2.4 Conclusions, questions and preliminary recommendations ............................................................................... 29 3 SPENT FUEL AND RADIOACTIVE WASTE ....................................... 31 3.1 Treatment in the EIA documents ...................................................... 31 3.2 Discussion ........................................................................................... 31 3.3 Conclusions, questions and preliminary recommendations ............................................................................... 32 4 REACTOR TYPE .................................................................................. 33 4.1 Treatment in the EIA documents ...................................................... 33 4.2 Discussion ........................................................................................... 38 4.3 Conclusions, questions and preliminary recommendations ............................................................................... 48 5 INCIDENTS AND ACCIDENTS WITHOUT INVOLVEMENT OF THIRD PARTIES ............................................................................ 52 5.1 Treatment in the EIA documents ...................................................... 52 5.2 Discussion ........................................................................................... 54 5.3 Conclusions, questions and preliminary recommendations ............................................................................... 60 6 INCIDENTS AND ACCIDENTS WITH INVOLVEMENT OF THIRD PARTIES .................................................................................. 64 6.1 Treatment in the EIA documents ...................................................... 64 6.2 Discussion ........................................................................................... 64 6.3 Conclusions, questions and preliminary recommendations ............................................................................... 67 7 TRANSBOUNDARY IMPACTS ........................................................... 69 7.1 Treatment in the EIA documents ...................................................... 69 7.2 Discussion ........................................................................................... 70 Umweltbundesamt REP-0692, Vienna 2019 3 EIA Khmelnitsky 3&4 2019 – List of tables 7.3 Conclusions, questions and preliminary recommendations ............................................................................... 74 8 QUESTIONS AND PRELIMINARY RECOMMENDATIONS ............... 75 8.1 Overall and Procedural Aspects of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) .................................................................. 75 8.2 Spent fuel and radioactive waste ...................................................... 75 8.3 Reactor type ........................................................................................ 76 8.4 Incidents and accidents without involvement of third parties .................................................................................................. 77 8.5 Incidents and accidents with involvement of third parties ............ 79 8.6 Transboundary impacts ..................................................................... 80 9 REFERENCES ..................................................................................... 81 10 GLOSSARY .......................................................................................... 86 LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Measures for severe accident management of the VVER 1000/V320 at Kozloduy NPP (JPEE 2018) ............................................................................. 58 Table 2: The 2018 Nuclear Security Index for Ukraine (NTI 2018) ................................ 67 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Reactor building of unit 3 and 4 of KhNPP (ENERGOATOM 2017a, p.10) ........ 35 Figure 2: Schematic diagram of initial filling of the reactor shaft (ENERGOATOM 2017a, p. 16) ................................................................................................. 36 Figure 3: Deposition of caesium-137 from a hypothetical BDBA in KhNPP-2 (WENISCH et al. 1998). ................................................................................... 71 Figure 4: Average deposition of Cs--137 after a hypothetical BDBA in KhNPP-3 ........ 73 4 Umweltbundesamt REP-0692, Vienna 2019 EIA Khmelnitsky 3&4 2019 – Summary SUMMARY At the Khmelnitsky site in Ukraine, the state enterprise “National Nuclear Ener- gy Generating Company Energoatom” is preparing the completion of nuclear power plant units 3 and 4 (KhNPP-3&4). At the site, two units VVER-1000/V- 320 are already in operation. Construction of KhNPP-3&4 started in 1985/1986 and was halted due to the 1990 moratorium on the construction of nuclear power units in the former USSR. In 2005, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine decided to renew the construction. The reactor VVER-1000/V-392 (Atomstroyexport) was chosen and this decision became law in 2012. Due to the deteriorating relations between Ukraine and Russia this law ceased to be in force in 2015. Energoatom chose Škoda JS a.s. as the reactor supplier. An environmental impact assessment (EIA) under the Espoo Convention start- ed in 2010. Austria has participated in this procedure since 2011 and submitted 1 an expert statement (UMWELTBUNDESAMT 2013 ) in 2013; in August 2013 bilat- eral consultations with the Ukrainian side took place. The objective of the Aus- trian participation in the Espoo procedure is to give recommendations on mini- mising or even eliminating possible significant adverse impacts on Austria. Overall and procedural aspects Most of the EIA documents provided in 2013 have remained unchanged, with the exception of documents on the recently selected reactor type VVER 1000/V- 320. No new assessments of possible trans-boundary impacts have been pro- vided. According to the Espoo Convention a description and an assessment of rea- sonable alternatives and also the no-action alternative have to be included in the environmental impact assessment documentation. In this regard the infor- mation in the EIA documentation is not sufficient. Spent fuel and radioactive waste Important information on the management of the spent fuel and radioactive waste from KhNPP-3&4 is lacking in the EIA documents: The expected invento- ry of spent fuel from KhNPP-3&4 is not given. Information on the status of the central interim storage where the spent fuel from KhNPP-3&4 shall be stored is missing. No information was provided about the planned options for the back- end of the fuel chain (reprocessing, final disposal in Ukraine, international dis- posal?). Spent fuel and radioactive waste can cause adverse environmental im- pacts and therefore the EIA should assess the nuclear waste management. 1 It can be downloaded at: http://www.umweltbundesamt.at/umweltsituation/uvpsup/espooverfahren/espoo_ukraine/kkwkhme lnitsky34/ Umweltbundesamt REP-0692, Vienna 2019 5 EIA Khmelnitsky 3&4 2019 – Summary Reactor Type For the completion of KhNPP-3&4, it is planned to use the buildings and struc- tures already built in the 1980s. Information about the conditions of the existing buildings, structures and equipment are not provided in the EIA documents. An over 10-year-old survey performed between 2005 and 2009 concluded that the existing buildings and structures are in an operable condition – no refer- ence to a more recent survey is made in the EIA documents. In this year an in- spection confirming the durability and reliability of the building