Energoatom has received a special permit from the State Nuclear Regulatory Commission to commission the centralized spent nuclear fuel storage facility, the company said on Monday.

"Permission to carry out this activity today, April 25, 2022, was issued to Energoatom by the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine," the company said in a Telegram channel.

Energoatom noted that this special permit was expected as early as March 9 of this year, but was delayed due to Russian aggression and the presence of the occupying forces in the Chornobyl exclusion zone, where the central nuclear fuel facility is located.

"Now the centralized spent nuclear fuel storage facility is completely ready for operation. Fortunately, it was not affected by the actions of the occupiers. All equipment, computers and special equipment are operating as normal," the company stressed, indicating that the design life is at least 100 years

As reported, the centralized spent nuclear fuel storage facility is an autonomous nuclear facility designed for long-term storage of spent nuclear fuel from Yuzhnoukrainsk, Khmelnytsky and Rivne nuclear power plants, which until 2021 was exported to Russia for storage and processing, which cost Ukraine about $200 million annually.

Its construction, for which Energoatom signed a contract with the American company Holtec International, started in 2017. In December 2020, the construction of the first start-up complex of the facility was completed.