SGN participates to the sanitation of Chernobyl site

9/17/1999
Press release
A consortium formed between BELGATOM (Belgium), ANSALDO (Italy) and SGN, the engineering subsidiary of the COGEMA Group (France), signed a contract today with ENERGOATOM, the Ukrainian national nuclear generation company, for the design and construction of an installation for the retrieval, treatment and immobilization of liquid operating waste of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the Ukraine (Liquid Radwaste Treatment Plant, LRTP).

This contract, amounting to 17.4 million euros, is funded by the "Nuclear Safety Account", a fund initiated by G7 and administered by EBRD, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. It covers the design and construction of an installation for the safe conditioning of the waste (concentrates, ion exchange resins, perlites) currently stored in liquid form in five 5,000 m³ tanks and nine 1,000 m³ tanks (total 34,000 m³). These operations will spread over ten years from industrial commissioning of the installation, scheduled in 2001. Within the consortium, SGN is specifically charged with defining the process, and the general design of the installation and its process equipments.

SGN will also provide administrative management of the project. While, SGN, since 1992, has participated in several preliminary studies concerning the sanitation of the Chernobyl site, this LRTP contract is the third major contract gained by the company. In September 1997, SGN, leader of a consortium with AET and EWN, signed a multiannual contract to run the projects funded by TACIS (On Site Assistance Team, OSAT), involving the construction of an installation for solid waste treatment and conditioning (ICSRD).

In September 1998, SGN, leader of a consortium with AET and JGC, signed a contract concerning emergency measures to be applied for the Chernobyl shelter (SIP).