The Chornobyl Nuclear Power Station, which is the city’s main employer in Slavutych, is offering the town’s young people the opportunity to find out more about careers related to working at the CHNPP and to see what it is like from the inside. The career guidance events will be held as part of a recently signed Memorandum of Cooperation between the Chornobyl NPP and the Department of Education and Science of the Slavutych City Council.

Young people from Slavutych will be able to take part in career guidance tours at the Chornobyl NPP’s office in Slavutych, visit the metal barrel and container production complex, and learn about specific professions at the city’s Vocational and Technical Training Centre. These include radioactive waste processors at the Liquid Radioactive Waste Treatment Plant and the Solid Radioactive Waste Treatment Start-up Complex, a hot cell operator at the SSF-2 facility, and other specialisms. The Chornobyl Nuclear Power Station is keen to ensure that the town’s schoolchildren and young people can familiarise themselves in advance with the professions relevant to the enterprise.

‘The Chornobyl station is Slavutych’s largest employer and taxpayer. We currently employ around 2,200 people, 99 per cent of whom live in this town. At the same time, the plant bears a huge responsibility: the site houses five operational nuclear facilities and a facility unique in the world – the OU-NBK complex.

We need engineering staff. Yes, our power station no longer generates electricity, but there is one important thing to bear in mind – the Chornobyl station isn’t going anywhere. Even if we do not build anything new – and we do plan to build – there will be enough work here to last for hundreds of years to come. This includes the processing of radioactive waste, the storage of nuclear fuel, the maintenance of the OS-NSC complex and many other areas,” said Serhiy Tarakanov, Director General of the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant.

Last year, a national pilot scheme for a career guidance system for children and teenagers was launched in Ukraine across 396 local communities in all regions. Its aim is to create a comprehensive, sustainable and accessible system to support pupils in choosing their future careers. The Slavutych municipal local authority has also joined the initiative. For its part, the Chornobyl NPP is ready to play its part in this process – to introduce young people in Slavutych to the plant’s operations and demonstrate the career development opportunities that the city’s largest employer has to offer.

The pilot scheme is being implemented as part of the Swiss-Ukrainian DECIDE project in partnership with the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, regional military administrations, local authorities, educational institutions and employers. The career guidance system is designed to give children the opportunity to learn about different professions, as well as to try their hand at them in real or near-real conditions, whilst receiving support in choosing their future educational and career paths