Estonia: Nuclear Facilities Overview

The Sillamae Metal and Chemical Production Plant, a former Soviet uranium refinery, has nearly 8 million metric tons of hazardous waste on site. A study sponsored by the European Commission in 1998 ranked the radioactive waste dump at Silmet fourth most dangerous out of 7,000 plants, mines, and repositories in Europe that pose an environmental risk. In July 2000, Hans Jakob Eriksen of the Danish Environmental Protection Agency, who serves as the Danish coordinator of environmental aid to Estonia, reported that the dump contains at least 1,200 metric tons of depleted uranium and 600 metric tons of thorium. The problem is being addressed by the PHARE program.

During the Soviet era, the Paldiski facility served as a naval training base for nuclear submarine personnel and housed three military units. Paldiski has two decommissioned pressurized-water submarine training reactors and a waste facility housing approximately 800,000 liters of liquid radioactive waste stored in concrete tanks. Safety and waste issues at the facility are being addressed by the Paldiski International Expert Group (PIERG).  On 30 September 1995 control over the facility was successfully transferred from Russian to Estonian officials. The Estonian government appointed the Estonian Radioactive Waste Management Agency (AS ALARA Ltd.), a state-owned company, to manage the facility.

Tammiku is one of two Estonian repositories for low- and intermediate-level waste (the other is Paldiski). It has served as a central treatment and storage facility for radioactive waste in Estonia and was designed in accordance with criteria developed in Moscow in the late 1950s. Approximately 55 percent of Tammiku's storage capacity is occupied. The government intends to close the Tammiku facility and to store all radioactive waste at the Paldiski facility.

The Saku repository was built in the early 1960s. It consists of 16 in-ground concrete vaults for storing solid waste and one cylindrical tank for liquid radioactive waste. Nine of the vaults are full and have been covered with concrete. It is estimated that the storage facilities will be full by the year 2010.

Dvigatel's primary function is to supply equipment for chemical- and energy-related industries, including specialized equipment for nuclear power plants. Formerly one of the largest enterprises in the Soviet Union’s military-industrial complex, Dvigatel fills orders from groups such as the Swedish firm Asea Brown Boveri, the Troitsk Institute of Innovative and Thermonuclear Research, and the Russian Ministry of Atomic Energy (Minatom). Minatom contracts have included producing equipment for spent fuel reprocessing, long-term storage of nuclear materials, and for air filtration in nuclear power plants. 

Estonia has no operating nuclear power reactors.  However, Arvi Hamburg, Adviser to the Minister of Economic Affairs, stated that nuclear power may be an option for the future, so that Estonia can meet its power needs after the year 2000. A feasibility study and financial analysis would  have to be conducted first, since Estonia's electricity consumption is expected to increase 50 percent by the year 2010.