Rosatom boasts long-acquired expertise in handling hazardous radioactive substances, including radioactive waste (RW) and spent nuclear fuel (SNF). The solutions and competencies developed over the years enable Rosatom to contribute to the remediation of legacy hazardous sites in Russia. The nuclear corporation also shares its unparalleled experience with other countries, implementing legacy management projects there. These activities logically fit into the nuclear industry goals of minimizing the negative impact on people and environment.
In Russia
Russia is one of the few countries that have a well-developed and ever-expanding infrastructure for RW and SNF management. Spent nuclear fuel is processed to extract fissile materials that will be reintroduced into the fuel cycle. Radioactive waste (anything that remains after extracting all useful substances) is rendered safe and sent for disposal.
The National Operator for Radioactive Waste Management (NORWM, part of Rosatom) builds and operates near-surface repositories for RW to be finally isolated from the ecosystem. One of the repositories was put in operation in Novouralsk, Sverdlovsk Region, in 2016. It was upgraded and expanded in 2020 and is planned to remain operational until 2036. Similar near-surface repositories are being built in the Chelyabinsk and Tomsk regions.
NORWM is also building an underground research laboratory in the Nizhnekansky rock massif at a depth of 500 meters. Its primary objective will be to study the possibility of burying medium- and high-level radioactive waste in the deep geological formations of the massif.
In addition, Rosatom is engaged in the decommissioning and disposal of nuclear submarines and other nuclear- and radiation-hazardous marine vessels and facilities. One of the examples is the Lepse depot ship, which was used for refueling nuclear icebreakers in the 1960s 1980s. Rosatom removed spent nuclear fuel from the ship and cut its hull into the stern and bow sections. Properly packed, they are now stored in a long-term storage facility in Sayda Bay (Murmansk Region), along with other similar items.
The above are only some of Rosatom’s activities in the nuclear back-end (decommissioning of nuclear- and radiation-hazardous facilities). Since Rosatom has extensive competencies in legacy management, the government has entrusted the nuclear corporation to lead decommissioning activities at other hazardous industrial facilities in Russia, not necessarily nuclear-related.
The first project in this field was the rehabilitation of landfill site near Chelyabinsk. The project was completed in 2021, and the air quality in Chelyabinsk has improved since then. The former landfill is now used to grow flowers for the city’s lawns, so the project can serve as an example of the best eco practices. Now Rosatom is rehabilitating a municipal landfill in Magnitogorsk.
Some of its legacy management projects are much more complex and far-reaching — these include rendering safe the Baikal Pulp and Paper Mill, UsolyeKhimProm chemical plant (both located in the Irkutsk Region), and an industrial waste landfill site in Krasny Bor (Leningrad Region). As for UsolyeKhimProm, Rosatom was hired by the government to deal with hazardous facilities at the former chemical production site. By now, more than 90 % of all aboveground and underground structures on the site have been dismantled.
All these legacy projects in Russia are accompanied with the efforts to develop and adopt recycling solutions with the goal of reintroducing useful materials into economic circulation.
Russia considers spent nuclear fuel to be a resource, not waste. For over 45 years, Rosatom’s subsidiary Mayak has been reprocessing spent nuclear fuel from various reactors to extract useful fissile materials and individual isotopes from it. Such materials can be used, in particular, in a transition to the so-called ‘closed’ nuclear fuel cycle. For this purpose, an experimental power production facility is being built in Seversk to combine, for the first time ever, a nuclear power plant with a fast neutron reactor and fuel reprocessing facilities on a single site.
Today, all fissile materials extracted from spent nuclear fuel are already used to fabricate nuclear fuel for thermal reactors and the BN 800 fast reactor (installed at Unit 4 of the Beloyarsk NPP). The latter has been running entirely on recycled fuel and using no enriched uranium for over a year.
Meanwhile, Rosatom continues to improve solutions and expand reprocessing capacities for spent nuclear fuel from thermal neutron reactors: the second section of an experimental facility is about to be launched at the Mining and Chemical Plant in Zheleznogorsk to test and pilot commercial solutions and equipment for SNF reprocessing.
As part of the circular economy approach in non-nuclear sectors, seven eco technology parks are being built to process Hazard Class I and II wastes and recycle useful components extracted from them. One of these plants will recycle lithium-ion batteries, another will recycle mercury waste (e. g., lamps), and so on.
Overseas
Rosatom supports legacy management initiatives in other countries by rendering safe nuclear- and radiation-hazardous facilities. These initiatives are governed by the CIS Uranium Mining Site Rehabilitation Program (in effect until the end of 2024) and include, among others, the reclamation by Rosatom of four uranium tailing dumps and a dumping ground of the beneficiation plant at the Taboshar mining site near Istiklol, Tajikistan. According to the monitoring data from the Chemical, Biological, Radiation and Nuclear Safety Agency of Tajikistan’s National Academy of Sciences, background radiation at the rehabilitated sites has dropped to natural levels. Tailing dumps in the Sughd region of the country will be rehabilitated next. After 2024, rehabilitation projects will be governed by a new intergovernmental agreement.
Rosatom’s technical solutions make it possible to both render the old tailing dumps safe and secure a positive transnational effect from remediation activities. For example, the solutions employed to prevent radioactive leaks from tailing dumps have improved safety of the Central Asian rivers flowing through several countries, which has a positive effect on the environment of the entire region.
Rosatom is also discussing cooperation opportunities for the management of radioactive and industrial hazardous waste with Belarusian colleagues. In particular, the parties plan to launch a joint initiative to rehabilitate a pesticide dump site near the town of Gorodok, Belarus.
“Sustainability is one of Rosatom’s priorities in its cooperation with foreign countries. We strive to jointly solve existing environmental problems and also develop technology and solutions that will prevent similar problems in the future,” Andrey Nikipelov, Deputy Director General for Power Engineering and Industrial Solutions at Rosatom, said with confidence.
