The discussion has already started. This April at the Public Council of Rosatom SC meeting the members took a close look at some results of the last 5 years Federal Program and the future plans. According to Alexander Abramov, the Rosatom main supervisor of radioactive waste issues, SNF and decommissioning, when the “Nuclear and Radiation Safety” Federal Target Program was started in 2008, the tasks were enormous. More than 120 nuclear and radiation hazardous sites, including four NPP units, ten uranium-graphite production reactors and about 50 other objects were shut-down, but not decommissioned.
At that moment some significant amount of radioactive waste was not properly sealed, more than 18,500 tons of irradiated fuel was accumulated, plants interim storage facilities were almost full. In order to solve the problems of the Soviet heritage the State spared more than RUB 140 million to the industry. This money was spent for final shut down and preservation of the “Mayak” shallow ground repository, Seversk Chemical Combine, Mining and Chemical Combine. Some SNF processing plants were created, some at-reactor dry storage facilities and spent fuel pools were built or reconstructed at the MCC.
By the way, the at-reactor dry storage facility at the combine is considered one of the most significant projects. Its putting into operation allowed starting the unload of the Leningrad NPP interim storage facility in 2012. The problem of “Mayak” was relieved a great deal in five years, said Abramov. “Before the implementation of the project the risks connected with the Techensky Reservoir Cascade overflow were estimated as high, today they are not” – he emphasized. Today the risks of environmental threats of research reactors spent fuel ponds are also mitigated. About 20% of fuel is taken away and processed at the RT-1 SNF reprocessing plant. Speaking about decommissioning of nuclear and radiation hazardous sites: the inventory of 169 objects was done, 443 RTGs were withdrawn from use, with 390 already recovered. On the whole, the Federal Target Program implementation is going in accordance with the plans, says Alexander Abramov.
“Some great work has been done and we are not shy to speak about it. When a nuclear plant is being built, everyone can see what is going on. Everything connected with nuclear and radiation hazard should be shown and commented upon”, – Rafael Arutiunian, first deputy director of Nuclear Safety Institute emphasized. If the details of the program work will go beyond the limits of special forums and Rosatom Public Council, the population will do its part and support the solving of the problems of the Soviet nuclear heritage.
Prospective Work
The program implementation is still in process while Rosatom is already looking forward to the next stage. This summer at the Public Council of Rosatom meeting there will be presented a concept of the Federal Target Program for 2016-2020, while in September it could be sent to the White House, according to the State Corporation estimations. One of the priority issues is fine tuning technologies of large reactors decommissioning.
