INSTITUTE OF ENVIRONMENTAL GEOCHEMISTRY OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF UKRAINE

Their core work

The Institute of Environmental Geochemistry (IGNS) studies how radioactive substances behave in geological and environmental systems — how radionuclides migrate through soils, rocks, and groundwater, and what conditions keep them contained. As part of Ukraine's National Academy of Sciences, they bring decades of post-Soviet nuclear legacy expertise to questions that Western Europe rarely has direct field experience with. Their applied work covers the full radioactive waste lifecycle: from characterizing waste packages and monitoring radionuclide mobility to assessing the long-term safety of geological disposal sites. They contribute geochemical and material-science expertise to European-level nuclear waste safety programs.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Their first H2020 project (EURAD, 2019) placed them within the broadest possible framing of radioactive waste — from geological disposal to long-term safety strategy. The second project (PREDIS, 2020) pulled focus sharply toward the upstream end of the waste management chain: pre-disposal treatment, package integrity, monitoring, and radionuclide behavior at the point of handling rather than final storage. This shift suggests a deliberate move into the more operationally immediate problem of preparing waste before it reaches a repository, where methods are less standardized and more countries need practical guidance. Given Ukraine's own nuclear infrastructure challenges, this upstream focus likely reflects both domestic need and growing European demand for pre-disposal expertise.

They are moving upstream in the nuclear waste lifecycle — from disposal strategy toward the characterization, treatment, and monitoring of waste before it reaches any final repository, which is where most European countries currently need the most practical progress.

How they like to work

IGNS operates exclusively as a consortium partner or third party — they have never led an H2020 project. Both projects they appear in are large, pan-European programmes (EURAD alone involves dozens of national nuclear research bodies), suggesting they contribute specific Ukrainian geochemical expertise rather than driving research agendas. Their 130 unique partners reflect the scale of the consortia they join, not a broad personal network — working with them means plugging into well-established nuclear safety programmes where they are a trusted national counterpart.

IGNS has connected with 130 unique consortium partners across 28 countries, almost entirely through two large joint European nuclear programmes. Their network is wide in geographic terms but concentrated within the EU nuclear waste research community — expect overlap with EURATOM partners, national waste agencies, and geological survey institutes.

What sets them apart

IGNS is one of very few Ukrainian scientific institutes actively embedded in EU-funded nuclear waste research, giving them a rare position as a bridge between post-Soviet nuclear experience and Western European regulatory frameworks. Ukraine hosts significant nuclear infrastructure — including the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone — and IGNS brings real-world environmental data on radionuclide behavior in contaminated geological settings that most Western partners can only model theoretically. For a consortium building a nuclear waste safety or monitoring project, IGNS offers field-grounded expertise and a geopolitically relevant national perspective that strengthens EU-neighbourhood scientific ties.

Highlights from their portfolio

• PREDIS
  Their only directly funded H2020 project (EUR 125,113), focused on pre-disposal radioactive waste management — a practical gap most EU countries still need to close before any geological repository can open.
• EURAD
  Europe's flagship joint programme on radioactive waste management, where IGNS participates as a third-party expert — inclusion signals recognition of their expertise by the EU nuclear research community.