Russia:  Zelenogorsk (Krasnoyarsk-45)


Electrochemical Plant (EKhZ) Activities MPC&A Archived Developments

For major recent developments, see the Nuclear Fuel Cycle Developments file.

The closed city of Zelenogorsk (Krasnoyarsk-45) was established in 1955 on the bank of the River Kan approximately 120km east of Krasnoyarsk. The city is the location of the Electrochemical Plant (EKhZ), one of four Russian uranium enrichment facilities. Zelenogorsk has a population of approximately 67,000. 
["Krasnoyarsk-45/Zelenogorsk Electrochemical Plant," Federation of American Scientists (FAS) website, http://www.fas.org/nuke/.../krasnoyarsk-45/.]{Entered 1/26/01 GD}

ELECTROCHEMICAL PLANT (EKhZ)

LOCATION: Zelenogorsk (Krasnoyarsk-45), Krasnoyarsk Kray
Address: 1 ulitsa Pervaya Promyshlennaya, Zelenogorsk, 663690, Krasnoyarsk Kray
Telephone: (39169) 33350, 33321
Fax: (39169) 24225, 21262[1]
E-mail: market@ecp.kts.ru[2]
Sources:
[1] Nuclear.ru Web Site, http://www.nuclear.ru/. {Entered 10/27/2000 GD}
[2] Electrochemical Plant Web Site, http://www.ecp.ru/ie/pages/rus/plant.htm. {Updated 11/13/2002 DA}
HOMEPAGE: http://www.ecp.ru/
SUBORDINATION: Federal Atomic Energy Agency
STRUCTURE:
In addition to the uranium processing facilities, EKhZ has a instrumentation shop, located in the buildings formerly used for military purposes.[1] EKhZ also maintains facilities to produce stable isotopes, depleted zinc, and audio and video tapes for the German company BASF.[2,3]
Sources:
[1] Nuclear Business Directory, Moscow: 1995, p. 76.
[2] "Krasnoyarsk-45/Zelenogorsk Electrochemical Plant," Federation of American Scientists (FAS) Web Site, http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/.../krasnoyarsk-45/
[3] Matthew Bunn, "Retooling Russia's Nuclear Cities," Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists online edition, http://www.bullatomsci.org/.../so98/so98bunn.html, Vol. 54, No. 5, September/October 1998. {Updated 11/2/2000 GD}
ACTIVITIES:
Established in 1955, the Electrochemical Plant is Russia's most prominent centrifuge enrichment facility. It accounts for 29 percent of Russia's enrichment capacity. The plant began production of weapons-grade HEU in 1962 and initially used the gaseous diffusion method for uranium enrichment.  Later, gaseous diffusion was replaced with centrifuge technology.[2,3,4] EKhZ ceased production of HEU in 1987 and decommissioned its gaseous diffusion equipment in 1990.[1] Since 1992 EKhZ's main product has been LEU enriched to up to five percent U-235, which is used to fabricate fuel for nuclear power reactors, some of which is exported to the United States, Germany, France, Japan, Canada, China and other countries.[1,2,4] Since 1972, the plant has been producing stable and radioactive isotopes.[5] Since 1997, the facility has been involved in downblending HEU from dismantled weapons under the US-Russian HEU Deal. The Electrochemical Plant fluorinates HEU oxide shipped from Seversk and then downblends it into LEU suitable for nuclear power reactor fuel.[3]

In 1996, EKhZ in partnership with the German company BASF, started, as part of its conversion efforts, production of audio and video cassettes with an annual output of 25 million and 36 million respectively.[5] As of November 2002, the Electrochemical Plant employed over 10,000 people, more than 4,500 of whom have higher education degrees.[6]
Sources:
[1] Nuclear Business Directory, Moscow: 1995, p. 76; 
[2] Electrochemical Plant Web Site, http://www.ecp.ru:8101/nc/pages/rus/plant.htm.
[3] "Russian and Soviet Nuclear Facilities: Krasnoyarsk-45," Federation of American Scientists Web Site http://www.fas.org/nuke/.../krasnoyarsk-45/index.html. {Updated 12/8/2000 ES}
[4] Boris Ivanov, "Odin iz krupneyshikh v Rossii proizvoditeley yadernogo topliva dlya atomnykh elektrostantsiy - Zelenogorskiy elektrokhimicheskiy zavod - otmechayet 40-letiye," RIA Novosti, http://www.rian.ru/, 1 November 2002; in Integrum Techno, http://www.integrum.com/.
[5] "Zelenogorskiy Elektrokhimicheskiy zavod - vedushchiy v Rossii proizvoditel nizkoobogashchennogo urana, otmechayet 40-letiye," Nuclear.ru Web Site, http://www.nuclear.ru/, 1 November 2002.
[6] Electrochemical Plant Web Site, http://www.ecp.ru/ie/pages/rus/plant.htm. {Updated 11/13/2002 DA}
MPC&A:
The Electrochemical Plant participates in the US Department of Energy MPCA program.  An initial site survey was completed in September 1996.[1] DOE has chosen several areas at EKhZ for upgrades related to the Plant's participation in the US-Russia HEU Agreement.  These include the primary highly enriched uranium (HEU) storage facility, the Intermediate Storage and Fluoridation facility, the HEU to low enriched uranium down-blend area, the material transfer facility, and the plant's perimeter. Many of the MPC&A upgrades at the EKhZ have focused on access control and accounting systems for materials.[2]
 
For a detailed description of the MPC&A work performed at EKhZ in 1997-1998, please see DOE's December 1997 document United States/Former Soviet Union Program of Cooperation on Nuclear Material Protection, Control, and Accounting: Partnership for Nuclear Security or DOE's September 1998 document United States/ Former Soviet Union Program of Cooperation on Nuclear Material Protection, Control, and Accounting: Partnership for Nuclear Security.
Sources:
[1] Scott McAllister, "Material Protection, Control, and Accounting Program Activities at the Electrochemical Plant," US Department of Energy Web Site, http://www.nn.doe.gov/mpca/.../rd025.htm. 
[2] Gennady Skorynin, "The Cooperative Efforts of the Materials Protection, Control, and Accounting Program at the Electrochemical Plant (Krasnoyarsk-45) in Russia," US Department of Energy Web Site, http://www.nn.doe.gov/mpca/.../rd107.htm. {Entered 10/27/2000 GD}
 
ARCHIVED EKhZ DEVELOPMENTS:

This section is no longer being updated.  For major recent developments, see the Nuclear Fuel Cycle Developments file.

7/2003: OVER 450 EKhZ EMPLOYEES TO RETIRE
As reported by Nuclear.ru, 453 plant employees applied for retirement after the EKhZ administration and the plant trade union offered financially incentives for early retirement. According to EKhZ Director Anatoliy Shubin, this large number of highly qualified specialists will be difficult to replace. For that reason, the plant signed agreements with many employees to continue in their jobs for up to six months in order to train new or transferred personnel.
["453 rabotnika EKhZ podali zayavleniya ob ukhode na pensiyu," Nuclear.RU Web Site, http://www.nuclear.ru/, 30 July - 1 August 2003.] {Entered 8/4/2003 DS}
                                                     
4/7/2003: EKhZ DIRECTOR DISCUSSES RISK REDUCTION MEASURES
Nuclear.ru, with reference to the EKhZ press service, reported on 7 April 2003 that a meeting of heads of Minatom enterprises and East Siberian regional authorities in Zheleznogorsk, organized by the Ministry of Civil Defense Affairs, Emergencies, and Liquidation of Consequences of Natural Disasters, had been held to discuss measures to deal with the consequences of natural disasters, industrial accidents, and terrorism. According to EKhZ Director Anatoliy Shubin, EKhZ's main challenges include securing reliable power, heat, and steam supply and ensuring the safe operation of the plant's water tower, which is located in a flood zone. An action plan adopted at the Zheleznogorsk meeting calls for the construction of plant, designated W, to convert existing depleted uranium tailings into non-hazardous form. Shubin reported that both Minatom and Tekhsnabeksport had signed the documents initiating construction.
["Na soveshchanii v Zheleznogorske obsuzhdalas uyazvimost promyshlennykh obyektov v svyazi s tekhnogennymi avariyami i terrorizmom," Nuclear.ru Web Site, http://www.nuclear.ru/, 7 April 2003.] {Entered 4/18/2003 DA}

4/1/2003: EKhZ APPLIES NEW REPAIR METHOD
On 1 April 2003, the EKhZ information and press service told Nuclear.ru that a unique method of repairing separation equipment unit by unit, which was developed by EKhZ specialists, is being used in the overhaul of the chemical purification shop, and has proved to be very efficient. During the previous major repair, in 1976-1980, each unit was down for 19 months on average; the new method reduces the downtime to five months. EKhZ plans to complete the overhaul of the chemical purification shop, which started five years ago and involves the installment of new generation centrifuges, during the next four years. The EKhZ electrochemical shop will be next to undergo major repairs and upgrades.
["Na EKhZ vpervyye v otrasli primenena metodika poblochnogo remonta razdelitelnogo oborudovaniya," Nuclear.ru Web Site, http://www.nuclear.ru/, 1 April 2003.] {Entered 5/12/2003 DA}

3/25/2003: US MONITORING EQUIPMENT INSTALLED AT EKhZ
A US-manufactured nondestructive monitoring system has been installed at the EKhZ HEU downblending line, Nuclear.ru reported on 25 March 2003 with reference to the EKhZ press service. This monitoring system is part of transparency arrangements under the US-Russian HEU Purchase Agreement. According to EKhZ chemical shop head Mikhail Krygin, the system, which is designed to measure the input and output of uranium, was installed at the request of US monitors concerned that Russia was diverting some weapons-grade uranium from dilution, while making up the difference by enriching natural uranium. Krygin was skeptical about the necessity of this monitoring system, but he praised the US role in improving the physical protection of fissile materials at EKhZ. He reported that the United States is funding the construction of new gates at the downblending facilities and the installation of video surveillance equipment, radiation detectors, and other security equipment.
["V Zelenogorske na ustanovke smesheniya VOU i NOU vnedrena amerikanskaya systema nerazrushayushchego kontrolya," Nuclear.ru Web Site, http://www.nuclear.ru/, 25 March 2003.] {Entered 5/4/2003 DA}

2/14/2001: POWER CUT IN ZELENOGORSK CREATES TOXIC EMISSION SCARE
The Electrochemical Plant faced the threat of a toxic gas emission on the night of 14 February 2001, according to ITAR-TASS. The local electricity provider cut off the power supply to the nearby Sibvolokno manufacturing plant in Zelenogorsk. According to city mayor Valentin Kazachenko, the outage led to a loss of control of the manufacturing plant's hazardous materials. This could have resulted in emission of toxic carbon disulfide into the atmosphere, threatening EKhZ, ITAR-TASS reported. Power was restored to the Sibvolokno manufacturing plant after several hours, though Kazachenko warns that the plant's 9 million ruble debt (nearly US$314,000 as of 15 February 2001) for electricity may result in further outages. 
[ITAR-TASS, 15 February 2001; in "Power Cut in Siberian Closed City Creates Pollution Scare," FBIS Document CEP20010215000021.] {Entered 10/30/01 EC}

9/2/1998: ZELENOGORSK BUDGET SUFFERS FROM PAYMENT CUT-OFF
On 2 September 1998, Interfax reported that the mayor of Zelenogorsk had written to Krasnoyarsk Kray Governor Aleksandr Lebed and Minister of Atomic Energy Yevgeniy Adamov about the cut-off of payments of hard currency proceeds to the Electrochemical Plant by Moscow's Konversbank. As a result, the city, which is entirely dependent on taxes paid by EKhZ, could not pay salaries and welfare benefits or procure medical supplies.
["Zaderzhki platezhey Konversbankom obostryayut sotsialnuyu napryazhennost v odnom iz tsentrov atomnoy industrii," Interfax, 2 September 1998; in Integrum Techno, http://www.integrum.com/.] {Entered 12/9/2002 DA}

Page last updated 24 March 2004
The development section in this file is no longer being updated. For major recent developments, see the Nuclear Fuel Cycle Developments file.

Comments or questions? Contact Elena Sokova at MIIS CNS: esokovaATmiis.edu

This material is produced independently for NTI by the Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of and has not been independently verified by NTI or its directors, officers, employees, agents. Copyright © 2003 by MIIS.

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