The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant has completed the first permanent transfer of processed solid radioactive waste to a dedicated near surface disposal facility, marking a major step in the decades long cleanup of the site of the 1986 nuclear disaster.
Seven sealed packages containing low and intermediate level radioactive waste were transported to the engineered near-surface disposal facility at the Vector complex, located about 130 kilometres north of Kyiv and around 20 kilometres from the Belarusian border.
The shipment was the first delivery from the newly commissioned Industrial Complex for Solid Radioactive Waste Management (ICSRM), which received an operating licence from Ukraine’s State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate in May 2026. The facility was developed with significant financial support from the European Commission.
The new processing complex is designed to help manage large quantities of radioactive material that remain from decades of nuclear operations and the Chernobyl disaster. One of its key tasks is the gradual emptying of an older storage facility that has been in use since 1978.
The legacy waste includes a wide range of contaminated materials, including protective clothing, thermal insulation, electrical cables, structural steel, reinforcing bars, contaminated soil, concrete and exhausted ion-exchange resins used in water-treatment systems.
Handling the material requires specialised equipment because of the radioactive contamination. A dedicated retrieval unit removes the waste from the storage facility at a rate of about three cubic metres per day. The equipment is designed to operate for approximately 30 years and is capable of handling different categories of solid radioactive waste.
After being retrieved, the material is placed into heavy duty metal containers with a capacity of about 1.3 cubic metres. The containers are moved through an enclosed processing area into a specially protected hot chamber, where each batch undergoes radiological examination and classification.
Waste identified as unsuitable for routine processing is separated. Low and intermediate level material is transferred into 165 litre steel drums, which are then compacted using powerful industrial presses. The process reduces the waste volume and stabilises the material before final disposal.
The resulting packages are transported across the Chernobyl exclusion zone to specially engineered near surface vaults at the Vector complex.
The ICSRM’s role extends beyond dealing with waste from the old storage facility. The complex is also intended to process radioactive waste generated during the continuing decommissioning of Chernobyl’s remaining reactor units as well as waste produced during maintenance activities around the Shelter structure covering the destroyed Unit 4 reactor.
The operation is overseen by the Central Enterprise for Radioactive Waste Management which operates under Ukraine’s state-run SSE CERWM.
The first shipment represents an important stage in converting decades of radioactive waste accumulation into a controlled, processed and permanently managed disposal stream. However the cleanup of Chernobyl remains a long term undertaking, with substantial quantities of radioactive material still requiring retrieval, treatment and disposal.