ACTIVITIES: RT-1 was commissioned in 1977 to reprocess spent
fuel from VVER-440, BN-350, BN-600, research, and naval propulsion reactors.[1,9]
Most of the feed is from VVER-440 reactors. This is the only Russian facility
that reprocesses spent power reactor fuel.[2] Starting in 1978, fuel containing
uranium reprocessed at Mayak has been used in BN-350, BN-600 and RBMK reactors,
and more recently in VVER-1000s.[1] The plant's nominal reprocessing
capacity (based on spent fuel from the VVER-440 reactors) is 400 tons of
spent fuel per year. Yevgeniy Dzekun, chief engineer at RT-1, estimates
the historical average throughput of spent fuel at RT-1 to be 200MT of
heavy metal per year (MTHM/yr.) In 1991 and 1992, respectively, 170
and 120MT of spent fuel were reprocessed at RT-1.[7] According to Western
estimates, RT-1 reprocessed 124MTHM in 1993 and 160MTHM in 1994. In 1995,
RT-1 Director Yevgeniy Dzekun reported that the facility would reprocess
at least 150MTHM. In June 1997, Minatom confirmed Dzekun's reprocessing
figures for 1995 and reported that RT-1 had reprocessed "slightly more"
than 100MTHM in 1996.[8] In 2000, according to
Mayak Director Vitaliy Sadovnikov, RT-1 had reprocessed 126.4t.[10] As of
November 1995, RT-1 reprocessed over 3,000MT of spent fuel, corresponding to
about 30MT of reactor-grade
plutonium. This plutonium is stored at Mayak in the form of powdered plutonium
dioxide.[1,5] According to the official Minatom web site, RT-1 had reprocessed 3,500t of spent fuel by the year 2001,
including 3,100t of fuel from VVER-440 reactors.[9] Almost all uranium extracted from the spent fuel is
sent to the Ust-Kamenogorsk
fuel fabrication plant in Kazakhstan; very little remains at the plant.[3]
However, some VVER-440 uranium solution (containing typically 1.3 percent
U-235) is blended with HEU to produce uranium with an enrichment level
of about 2.0 percent for RBMK reactor fuel.[6] The RT-1 facility
is made up of a spent fuel storage pool, three chopping-dissolution process
lines, and a modified PUREX process.[4] High-level liquid radioactive waste
from the reprocessing is converted into a glass-like
material at the Vitrification Plant and then stored in special containers.[9]
(See also the information
on Plant B, below).
Sources: [1] Valeriy Bogdan, Victor Murogov,
Vladimir Kagramanyan, Mikhail Troyanov, "Ispolzovaniye plutoniya v Rossii,"
Yadernyy
kontrol, November 1995, pp. 13-17. [2] A. Mikushin, "A 'Nuclear Train',"
Gudok,
9 February 1995, p. 4; in "Rail Transport Of Spent Nuclear Fuel To 'Mayak'
Plant," FBIS-SOV-95-033-S. [3] Ye. G. Dzekun, "Praktika obrashcheniya
s delyashchimisya materialami na PO 'Mayak'," Byulleten Tsentra Obshchestvennoy
Informatsii po Atomnoy Energii, No. 3-4, 1995, pp. 13-14. [4] Oleg Bukharin, Osnovnyye Elementy
Yadernogo Toplivnogo Tsikla v Byvshem SSSR i Rossii (Moscow: Ministry
of Foreign Affairs Publishing House, September 1992), p. 11. [5] V. A. Sidorenko, "O kontseptualnykh
aspektakh razvitiya yadernoy energetiki Rossii do 2010 g," Byulleten
Tsentra Obshchestvennoy Informatsii po Atomnoy Energii, No. 11-12,
1995, pp. 9-12. [6] Oleg Bukharin, "Security Of Fissile
Materials In Russia," Annual Review of Energy and Environment, 1996,
Vol. 21, p. 477. {Entered 8/13/97, SA} [7] Mark Hibbs, "RT-1 Operation Faces
Operation Cost Crisis, Uncertain Future Demand Schedule," NuclearFuel,
1 January 1996, Vol. 21. [8] "Minatom Seeks to Revive Foreign
Reprocessing Contracts for RT-1," Nuclear Fuel, 30 June 1997,
pp. 7-8. {Updated 7/12/00 SS} [9] "Zavod po regeneratsii
obluchennogo yadernogo topliva (RT-1)," Minatom Web Site, http://www.minatom.ru. [10] "Stoimost modernizatsii zavoda RT-1
otsenivayetsya generalnym direktorom PO Mayak v summu ot 250 mln rub. do 4 mlrd
rub." NAUFOR, News Wire SKRIN "Emitent," 16 May 2001; in Minatom
Press Digest, http://www.minatom.ru/, 17 May
2001. {Updated 7/25/2001 ES}
STATUS: Since 1991, the reprocessing of foreign spent fuel has become the main
source of revenue for Mayak, and has served to cover the cost of domestic spent
fuel reprocessing.[1] Spent fuel is stored in a cooling pond for three
years before being chemically reprocessed to separate the fuel-grade plutonium
and uranium from the radioactive waste, which is then
vitrified.[6] According to Deputy Director Yuriy Glagolenko, changes
in domestic legislation that require reprocessed and vitrified waste to be
returned to supplier countries had forced Mayak to temporarily withdraw from the
foreign spent-fuel reprocessing market.[6] (For details, see the entry from
15 March 2000 below.) According to Victor Fetisov, general director of Mayak
Production Association, only 34.5 percent of Mayak's activities are devoted to
defense orders; most of its capacity is used for transporting and reprocessing
spent fuel.[2] Bukharin states that as of 1995, the net profit of the RT-1
reprocessing plant was probably no more than $10 million.[1] Vek reports
that the Chelyabinsk Oblast administration collects 50 percent of the money
Mayak earns from spent fuel reprocessing.[2] According to a presidential edict,
25 percent of the hard currency earned from reprocessing imported spent fuel
must be split between resolving environmental problems at Mayak (12.5 percent)
and addressing social issues within Chelyabinsk Oblast (12.5 percent).
Mayak officials reported that in the late 1990s the proceeds from reprocessing
spent fuel at the combine made up more than 97 percent of the oblast's hard
currency budget.[7]
Until 1996, Mayak Production
Association had contracts with nuclear utilities from Finland, Germany,
Hungary, Ukraine, and Bulgaria. By 1996, however, Bulgaria, Germany,
and Finland had stopped using Mayak's services.[2] Before 1996, the
Finnish reprocessing contract was one of Mayak's most lucrative. Minatom's
reprocessing arrangements with the Finnish utility Imatran Voima Oy (IVO)
date back to an agreement between IVO and the USSR covering spent fuel
from the two VVER-440 units at Loviisa.[1] Loviisa's last shipment
to Mayak took place in December 1995.[3] According to Bukharin, the
Finnish Trade and Industry Ministry has prepared legislation banning shipments
of spent fuel to Mayak after 1996, citing safety and environmental concerns.[1]
Both Bukharin and Vek state that Finland has switched to storing
its spent fuel domestically in an interim dry storage facility.[1,2]
According to NuclearFuel, however, as of January 1996, Finland still
had not decided whether to keep sending spent fuel to Mayak.[3] In
January 1995, an initial shipment of approximately 60 MTHM of spent fuel
was sent to Russia from Hungary, under a spent fuel return agreement signed
on 1 April 1994. Hungary still wants to continue sending spent fuel
to Mayak, but has been constructing its own interim dry storage facility
in order to gain flexibility in its spent fuel contract in the future.[1]
RT-1 Chief Engineer Yevgeniy Dzekun said that the management of Hungary's
Paks plant is concerned with the consequences of Russian legislation passed
in 1995, which requires RT-1's foreign customers to take back high-level
reprocessing waste (HLW) in vitrified form after 25 years of interim storage.
Dzekun suggested that the new interim storage facility in Hungary could
be licensed to store HLW. Yevgeniy Mikerin, head of Minatom's fuel
cycle operations, said that as of January 1996, both Paks and IVO were
paying "somewhat less" than the Western price, according to Minatom's policy
to "slightly undercut market prices."[3] In September 1998, Bulgaria's
Kozloduy nuclear power plant sent 240 tons of spent nuclear fuel to PO
Mayak for reprocessing, and in February 1999, Kozloduy officials announced
that the plant would send another 240 spent nuclear fuel casks to be reprocessed
at Mayak.[5] According to a July 2000 report aired on RTR Television,
Mayak only reprocesses nuclear fuel from domestic nuclear power plants
and icebreakers.[6] Negotiations for reprocessing spent fuel from
Bulgarian and Czech nuclear power plants were ongoing in early 2000.[4]
Sources: [1] Oleg Bukharin, "Future of the Reprocessing Business
at the RT-1 Plant," Selected Papers from Global' 95, pp. 175-181. [2] "Biznes na yadernom musore," Vek, 23-29 May
1997, No. 17-18, p. 18. [3] Mark Hibbs, "RT-1 Operation Faces Operation Cost
Crisis, Uncertain Future Demand Schedule," NuclearFuel, 1 January 1996,
vol. 21, no. 1, pp. 10-11. {Entered 12/97 EV} [4] "Mayak v 2000 godu pererabotayet 100-125 tys. tonn
otrabotannogo yadernogo topliva," Interfax, 15 March 2000.{entered
5/12/00 FW} [5] "We Send Russia 240 Cassettes with
Used Nuclear Fuel," Kontinent, 16 February 1999, p. 10; in "Some
240 Used Nuclear Fuel Cassettes to be Sent to Russia," FBIS Document
FTS19990216000861. [6] Lyudmila Shesterkina, "Federation"
television broadcast, 8 July 2000; in "Mayak-Spent-Fuel-Processing Plant
Profiled," FBIS Document CEP20000710000289. [7] "'Mayak' za nedelyu (17-23 aprelya
2000 g.)," PO Mayak Web Site, http://www.ozersk.ru/mayak.
{Entered 7/12/00 SS}
RADIOISOTOPE PLANT ACTIVITIES: This facility, also known as Plant 45, was set up
in 1962, and uses some production equipment originally intended for use
as a second reprocessing line in Plant BB.
The plant produces and separates special isotopes used for various industrial,
agricultural, and medical applications, including radioisotope thermoelectric
generators. In 1992, Mayak and Amersham International (UK) announced
the creation of a joint venture, Reviss Services, under which special isotopes
produced at the Radioisotope Plant would be turned into finished goods
and marketed by Amersham.
[Thomas Cochran, et al., Making
the Russian Bomb: From Stalin to Yeltsin (Boulder: Westview Press,
1995), pp. 79-80, 90-91.] {Entered 4/20/99 LBN} PLANT B ACTIVITIES: Construction for this facility, also known as Building 101, Plant 25, and
the predecessor of RT-1, began in December 1946. In
December 1948, the facility began reprocessing material from
production reactor A, using a process developed by the
Radium Institute. This process was changed after the 1957 explosion of
a liquid waste tank. Output was steady until 1959, when it began to decline, and
in the 1960s, production virtually stopped. In the mid-1970s, new
equipment and technology was installed,[1] and in 1977, a new facility, RT-1,
was commissioned on site.[2]
Sources: [1] Thomas Cochran, et al., Making the Russian Bomb:
From Stalin to Yeltsin (Boulder: Westview Press, 1995), pp. 79-83.] [2] "Zavod po regeneratsii obluchennogo yadernogo topliva
(RT-1)," Minatom Web Site, http://www.minatom.ru.
{Entered 4/20/99 LBN}{Updated 7/25/2001 ES}
PLANT BB ACTIVITIES: The construction of this facility, also called Plant 35, began in 1954, and
was completed in 1959. The plant was built to provide a safer process for
plutonium extraction. The acetate precipitation process used in
Plant B was repeated twice at Plant BB (hence the name), and the final
product was plutonium oxide. The plant was originally designed to have two
production lines, but the first line was more effective than originally
projected, and construction of the second line was therefore halted. The
buildings intended for this second line were later taken over by the
Radioisotope Plant. It is assumed that this plant was shut down at
approximately the same time that Mayak's first two production reactors were shut
down, and reprocessing stopped in 1987.
[Thomas Cochran, et al., Making the Russian Bomb:
From Stalin to Yeltsin (Boulder: Westview Press, 1995), pp. 79-83.] {Entered
4/20/99 LBN}
2/27/2004: MAYAK'S SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL REPROCESSING LICENSE RENEWED Nuclear.Ru reported that on 27 February 2004 the civilian nuclear oversight
body (formerly known as Gosatomnadzor) renewed Mayak's
Plant 235 operating license for three years.[1]
The license was renewed under a set of conditions that include the limiting of radioactive
waste discharges into the Techa reservoir system and Lake Karachay with monthly
verification.[2] Sources:
[1] "Tsentralnaya balansovaya komissiya FAAE rassmotrela itogi raboty PO 'Mayak'
v 2003 g," Nuclear.Ru Web Site,
http://www.nuclear.ru/,
30 March 2004.
[2] Anna Davydova, "'Mayak' poluchil litsenziyu na pererabotku OYaT," UralPolit.Ru Web Site,
http://www.uralpolit.ru, 2 April 2004. {Entered
5/11/2004 DS}
6/16/2003: IRANIAN SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL
WILL NOT BE PROCESSED AT MAYAK According to Mayak
spokesperson Yevgeniy Ryzhkov, spent fuel from the
Bushehr
nuclear power plant, constructed in Iran by Russia, will not be sent to Mayak for reprocessing, as has been previously speculated. ["Mayak plant refuses to process nuclear fuel from
Iran," Pravda.ru Web Site,
http://english.pravda.ru/main/2003/06/16/48228.html, 16 June 2003.] {Entered 8/14/2003 DS}
3/5/2003: GOSATOMNADZOR RENEWS
MAYAK'S LICENSE
On 5 March 2003, Gosatomnadzor (GAN)
renewed Mayak's Plant 235 operating license for 2003. In late 2002, GAN refused to
renew it for environmental reasons (for details see the
1/1/2003 entry). The license renewal is contingent on
the phase-out of the disposal of liquid radioactive waste in the Techenskiy reservoir
system by 2008-2010. Mayak Director Vitaliy Sadovnikov told Nuclear.ru that GAN
would introduce monthly inspections with regard to the amount of disposed waste. GAN
announced that the decision to renew the license was coordinated with
the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Ministry of Health, and
Minatom.[1,2]
Sources: [1] "Gosatomnadzor Rossii vydal FGUP PO 'Mayak' litsenziyu na pravo raboty
radiokhimicheskogo zavoda RT-1,"Nuclear.ru Web Site,
http://www.nuclear.ru/, 6 March 2003.
[2] "Spravka o litsenzii FGUP PO 'Mayak'," Gosatomnadzor Web Site, 6 March 2003,
http://www.gan.ru/. {Entered
3/9/2003 DA}
3/4/2003: SADOVNIKOV SAYS SNF
REPROCESSING AT MAYAK NOT COST-EFFECTIVE On 4 March 2003, Antiatom.ru reported that Mayak Director Vitaliy
Sadovnikov stated at the annual Mayak staff meeting that the revenue from the reprocessing of
spent nuclear fuel (SNF) in 2002 did not cover reprocessing costs. Mayak
received 16% less SNF in 2002 than in 2001, and the resulting revenue accounted
for only 13% of Mayak's total income. Sadovnikov also announced that the
wear rate of Mayak equipment had reached more than 60%. If no changes are
made, Mayak could be out of business in three to five years, according to Sadovnikov. ["Pererabotka
yadernykh otkhodov v Rossii ekonomicheski neeffektivna i mozhet prekratitsya
cherez 3-5 let," Antiatom.ru Web Site,
http://www.antiatom.ru/, 4
March 2003.]
{Entered 4/3/2003 DA}
2/18/2003: MAYAK LIKELY TO REPROCESS KURSK FUEL On 18 February 2003, UralPolit.ru
reported that the Nerpa shipyard
had completed unloading spent
nuclear fuel (SNF) from the nuclear reactors of the Kursk submarine. According to
the agency, the SNF from Kursk is to be reprocessed at
PO Mayak. However, in January 2003, Gosatomnadzor refused to renew Mayak's
reprocessing plant annual
operating license (for details, see the 1/1/2003).
Mayak's administration hopes the license will be renewed in March 2003. ["Iz reaktorov 'Kurska'
vygruzheno vse yadernoye toplivo, kotoroye planiruyetsya pererabotat na 'Mayake',"
UralPolit.ru Web Site, http://www.uralpolit.ru/,
18 February 2003; in Integrum Techno,
http://www.integrum.com/.] {Entered 2/23/2003 DA}
2/14/2003: MAYAK TO REPROCESS SNF FROM HUNGARY On 14 February 2003, Nikolay
Shingarev,
head of Minatom's Intergovernmental Cooperation and Information
Policy Directorate, announced that Minatom
intends to sign a contract for the reprocessing
of 12,000 spent nuclear fuel (SNF) assemblies from Hungary at PO Mayak. In 1998, Russia imported only 10% of the planned 3,500 Hungarian SNF
assemblies for reprocessing. According to Shingarev, the revenue will be
used for the implementation of environmental projects. ["'Mayak' budet pererabatyvat 12 tysyach sborok OYaT iz Vengrii,"
Inform-Ekologiya Web Site,
http://www.informeco.ru/, 14
February 2003.]
{Entered 2/23/2003 DA}
1/1/2003: GOSATOMNADZOR REFUSES
TO RENEW MAYAK'S LICENSE ON ENVIRONMENTAL GROUNDS
On 1 January 2003, PO Mayak's Plant 235 halted the reprocessing of spent nuclear
fuel (SNF) following the refusal of the Russian
Federal Inspectorate for Nuclear and Radiation Safety (Gosatomnadzor or GAN) to
renew the plant's operating license for 2003. GAN
officials announced that the decision was prompted by Mayak's ongoing dumping of low- and medium-level liquid radioactive waste into Lake Karachay and the Techenskiy
water
reservoir system.[1,2]
According to Nikolay Shingarev, head of
Minatom's Intergovernmental Cooperation and Information Policy Directorate,
the license will most likely be renewed after Minatom agrees to install new waste processing
technology at Mayak and submits a plan to mitigate the waste problem.[3] Mayak Director Vitaliy
Sadovnikov expressed his support for GAN's decision, which should, in his opinion,
prompt government action in resolving critical environmental issues at Mayak.[1] Russian environmentalists
expect that Minatom will use the occasion to demand
federal funds for the construction of the South Urals nuclear
power plant, promoted by Mayak and Minatom as way to deal with the
overfilled waste system.[4]
Sources: [1] Roman
Girsh, "'Mayak' bolshe ne svetitsya," Kommersant, No. 2, 11
January 2003; in Integrum Techno,
http://www.integrum.com/. [2]
Yekaterina Ignatova, "Pogashennyy 'Mayak'," Novaya gazeta, No.
3, 16 January 2003; in Integrum Techno,
http://www.integrum.com/. [3] Ann MacLachlan, "Russia's Mayak Reprocessing Plant Temporarily Shut by
Regulator," Nuclear Fuel, Vol. 28, No. 2, 20 January 2003, p. 10. [4] Oleg Volkkov, "V teni 'Mayaka'," Vremya novostey, No. 4
(679), 14 January
2003; in Integrum Techno,
http://www.integrum.com/. {Entered 2/13/2003 DA}
7/10/2002: SPENT FUEL STORAGE
FACILITY TO BE EXPANDED On 10 July 2002, Vladimir Korotkevich,
head of Minatom's
Nuclear Fuel Cycle Department, announced that the capacity of the spent fuel
storage facility at PO Mayak's
RT-1 plant would be increased from 6,000t to 9,000t by the end of 2004. The
project cost is estimated at $400 million. ["Ministerstvo
RF po atomnoy energii k kontsu 2004 goda planiruyet uvelichit obyom khranilishcha
obluchennogo yadernogo topliva," UralBusinessConsulting, http://www.uralbusinessconsulting.ru/,
10 July 2002.] {Entered 8/15/2002 DA}
11/2001: RUSSIAN EXPERTS
DISCUSS RT-1 UPGRADE From 19 to
21 November 2001, Ozersk hosted a meeting of experts from PO Mayak,
Snezhinsk, Yekaterinburg, St. Petersburg and Moscow to discuss modernization of the RT-1
plant. The first stage of the upgrade
includes the introduction of the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) from
VVER-1000 reactors and, possibly, foreign light-water reactors. Plans for the
first stage also call for construction of a SNF storage facility, development of fuel assembly
dismantlement technology, and the completion of a disassembly line. In late November 2001,
Minatom's Scientific and
Technical Council met in Moscow to discuss the second stage
of the RT-1 plant upgrade, including technological optimization to make the plant
more
cost-efficient, as well as management of radioactive waste from SNF reprocessing. ["Vazhneyshaya
zadacha 'Mayaka'," PrO Mayak, No. 49, 7 December 2001; in Minatom's
press digest, http://www.minatom.ru/,
10 December 2001.]
{Entered 9/12/2002 DA}
10/16-18/2001: INTERNATIONAL
EXPERTS ASSESS SITE FOR INTERMEDIATE SNF STORAGE From 16 to 18 October 2001, a group of experts from Great Britain, France, Norway and
Sweden inspected Building 301 at PO Mayak's Plant 23 in order to assess its
suitability for intermediate spent nuclear
fuel (SNF) storage. Bo Gustafsson, senior vice president of the Nuclear Waste
Department of the Swedish Nuclear
Fuel and Waste Management Company (SKB), told PrO Mayak that the inspection was the result of
a meeting in St. Petersburg of the
Contact
Expert Group
(CEG).[1] Viktor Akhunov, head of the
Minatom Directorate for Environment
and Nuclear Facility Decommissioning, presented a proposal for the construction of interim SNF cask storage at
Mayak at the CEG meeting, held 14 - 16 May 2001. The CEG, consisting of experts from 12 countries, including Russia,
decided to endorse the
project's further development and implementation.[2] Great Britain, Norway and Sweden,
named as
potential project sponsors at the meeting, requested an on-site inspection and a technical work plan for the project.
According to Gustafsson, the inspection showed that Building 301 could be used for SNF storage after some repairs. He noted that this building was
better suited for storage than facilities in the United
States, Lithuania and Germany, where SNF containers are stored outdoors.[1]
Sources:
[1]"Perspektivnoye
sotrudnichestvo," PrO Mayak, No. 45, 26 October 2001; in Minatom's
press digest, http://www.minatom.ru/, 31 October 2001.
[2]"Chairman's Summing Up of
the Twelfth CEG Meeting's Major Decisions and Recommendations" CEG Web Site,
http://www.iaea.org/worldatom/Programmes/CEG/content.html.
{Entered 7/23/2002 DA}
5/16/2001: MAYAK WORKERS CAMPAIGN FOR RENEWAL OF FOREIGN SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL REPROCESSING Fourteen thousand PO Mayak workers signed a letter
addressed to the members of the Russian State Duma
calling for the passage of legislation allowing reprocessing of foreign spent nuclear fuel in Russia.
As of May 2001, the RT-1 Spent Fuel Reprocessing
Facility was utilizing only a quarter of its capacity.
["Rabochiye 'Mayaka' - za pererabotku
yadernogo topliva," Strana.ru, http://ural.strana.ru/print/990002293.html,
16 May 2001.] {Entered 7/19/2001 RA}
5/15/2001: PO MAYAK GENERAL DIRECTOR SPEAKS ON
MODERNIZING RT-1 PO Mayak General Director Vitaliy Sadovnikov estimated that the cost of
modernization of
the RT-1 Spent Fuel Reprocessing
Facility could range from 250 million rubles ($8.6 million as of
15 May 2001) to 4 billion rubles ($137.7 million as of 15 May 2001). According
to Sadovnikov, the modernization of the reprocessing plant could be fully funded by Mayak itself if it had
a sufficient number of contracts for spent nuclear fuel reprocessing. RT-1
is capable of reprocessing up to 450t of spent fuel a year. However in
2000 only 126.4t were reprocessed, engaging the plant at only 30% of
its capacity. Sadovnikov pointed out that modernizing RT-1 would allow the facility
to reprocess spent fuel not only from VVER-440, BN-600, research, and naval propulsion
reactors, but also from VVER-1000 reactors, which are more widespread in the nuclear
industry than VVER-440s. Seven nuclear power plants
(NPPs) in Russia, 10 NPPs in
Ukraine, and two NPPs in Bulgaria are viewed as potential clients for
VVER-1000 fuel reprocessing; these reactors produce up to 400t of fuel per year.
The RT-2 plant in Zheleznogorsk, which
is designed to process VVER-1000 fuel, is still under construction and no funds have been allocated for its
completion. According to Sadovnikov, financial and technical projects for
RT-1 modernization, on the other hand, were practically finalized by former Minister of Atomic Energy Yevgeniy
Adamov. Whether the project will be included in the agenda of the new Minatom administration
is yet to be decided.
["Stoimost modernizatsii zavoda RT-1
otsenivayetsya generalnym direktorom PO Mayak v summu ot 250 mln rub. do 4 mlrd
pub." NAUFOR, News Wire SKRIN "Emitent"; in Minatom
Press Digest, http://www.minatom.ru/, 17 May
2000, 16 May 2001.] {Entered 7/19/2001 RA}
4/20/2001: AMENDED RUSSIAN ENVIRONMENTAL LAW DOES
NOT AUTOMATICALLY GUARANTEE MAYAK NEW CONTRACTS FOR SPENT FUEL
REPROCESSING Yevgeniy Ryzhkov, head of the PO Mayak public
relations department, said that Mayak used to earn about $60 million annually from
reprocessing foreign spent fuel before the import of foreign spent
fuel was prohibited by Russian law. Because of current legal
restrictions, in 2000 Mayak had no contracts with foreign countries for reprocessing, lost potential revenues, and was not able to contribute to
environmental programs. If the law is amended, Mayak can renew negotiations on
reprocessing with Bulgaria, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Finland, and Germany.
However, there is no guarantee that contracts with the countries that have Soviet-built reactors
will be renewed automatically. Ryzhkov also added that waste from the reprocessed foreign spent
fuel would remain in Russia for 30 years, then be vitrified and sent back to
these countries.
["Popravki k zakonu o poryadke obrashcheniya s
radioaktivnymi materialami eshche ne garantiruyut ozerskim atomshchikam
polucheniya sverkhdokhodov," Ural-Press-Inform, 20 April 2001; in
Integrum Techno: http://www.integrum.ru.]
{Entered 4/27/01ES}
11/30/2000: MINATOM ANNOUNCES MODERNIZATION OF RT-1
PLANT, BUILDING OF RT-2 PLANT TO BE COMPLETED BY 2015 In November 2000, Russian
Ministry of Atomic Energy (Minatom) representative Boris Nikipelov
announced at a
St. Petersburg conference that Minatom plans to modernize the RT-1 plant at Mayak between
2001 and 2006. Nikipelov also stated that the
RT-2 plant at the Zheleznogorsk Mining and Chemical Combine, which has
only been partially completed, would be ready to reprocess spent fuel by
2015.
["V blizhayshiye 5 let Minatom RF nameren modernizirovat zavod po pererabotke
obluchennogo yadernogo topliva
RT-1," RosBiznesKonsalting, 30 November 2000.] {Entered 12/14/2000 GD}
4/24/2000: MINATOM SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COUNCIL
MEETS IN OZERSK On 24 April 2000, Minatom's Science and Technology
Council convened a two-day meeting in Ozersk to discuss proposed reconstruction
of PO Mayak's RT-1
Spent Fuel Reprocessing Facility, which currently reprocesses spent
fuel from VVER-440 and BN-600 reactors. The proposal would expand RT-1's
reprocessing activities and enable the facility to reprocess spent fuel
from VVER-1000 reactors. According to materials published on PO Mayak's
home page, Minatom will finance the reconstruction project, which should
be completed by 2004. First Deputy Minister of Atomic Energy Valentin Ivanov,
Minatom's Nuclear Fuel Cycle Department Head Vladimir Shidlovskiy and leading
specialists from PO Mayak took part in the meeting.
["'Mayak za nedelyu (24-30 aprelya
2000 g.)," PO Mayak Web Site, http://www.ozersk.ru/mayak.] {Entered 6/26/00
SS}
4/21/2000: REGIONAL LEGISLATORS DISCUSS FINANCING,
TOUR MAYAK For details, please see the 4/21/00
entry in the PO Mayak Developments file.
{Entered
6/26/00 ES} 4/2000: MINATOM REPROCESSED 160 TONS OF NPP SPENT
FUEL IN 1999 In Minatom's April 2000 announcement of the previous
year's accomlishments, the ministry reported that in 1999 it reprocessed
160 metric tons of spent fuel from NPPs constructed by the Soviet Union.
According to Minister of Atomic Energy Yevgeniy Adamov, the reprocessed
fuel was placed in "civilized long-term storage," and will remain there
until the technology to use it further has been perfected.
[Mikhail Klasson, "Minatom otchitalsya
za proshlyy god," Vremya MN, http://news.mosinfo.ru/news/2000/ VMN/04/data.vm041215.htm]{Entered
5/3/2000 CC}
3/20/2000: PROPOSED SPENT FUEL STORAGE MOVES FROM
MAYAK TO KOLA On 20 March 2000, the Norwegian non-governmental
organization Bellona
reported that plans to construct a naval spent fuel storage facility at
Mayak have been amended and an interim storage facility will be built on
the Kola Peninsula instead.
(See the entries from 28 May 1998 and 29
October 1997 below.) According to Bellona, Minatom's decision to support
construction of the interim storage on the Kola Peninsula was partially
influenced by the lack of sufficient reprocessing capacity at Mayak and
by opposition from the United States and other donor nations to financing
construction of a wet storage facility at Mayak, for which a construction
permit has already been granted. According to Minatom, it would be much
harder to obtain the license to build a dry storage facility, which is
generally considered more proliferation-resistant, as Chelyabinsk Oblast
environmentalist groups could block the government's and Mayak's efforts.
Moreover, a construction permit had already been obtained for the partially
built facility at Kola, where most of Russia's naval spent fuel is located.
The site for the new project has not been determined, although three storage
sites for spent fuel casks will likely be constructed at Kola. In the past,
insufficient storage space and the expense of transporting naval spent
fuel to Mayak caused Russia to delay its submarine decommissioning.
The US Cooperative Threat
Reduction (CTR) program has provided some funding for transportation
and storage of spent naval fuel and for the production of twelve 40MT metal
and concrete casks for naval spent fuel. CTR has received permission
to provide funding to Mayak to transport and reprocess spent naval fuel
from 15 submarines.
[Thomas Nilsen, "Mayak Spent Fuel Storage
Moves to Kola," Bellona Foundation Web Site, http://www.bellona.no,
20 March 2000.] {Entered 7/3/00 SS}
3/15/2000: PROJECTED MAYAK REPROCESSING
FIGURES On 15 March 2000 Interfax reported that Mayak planned
to reprocess 100,000-125,000MT of spent fuel in 2000, mainly from domestic
NPPs (Beloyarsk NPP,
Kola
NPP, and Novovoronezh
NPP) and from nuclear submarines. According to the same report, in
1999, Mayak reprocessed nearly 120,000MT of spent fuel--less than planned,
and significantly lower than 1998 levels. (The figures provided by Interfax
are 1000 times higher than those provided by other sources. See Mayak
activities section above. The correct figures for the 2000 reprocessing
plan should be 100-120MT, and for 1999--120MT.) The cost of reprocessing
one metric ton of spent fuel, including the cost of transport, ranges from
$500,000 to $1.5 million, according to Mayak officials. Russian Federation
government orders currently account for less than 30 percent of Mayak's
operations. Changes in federal law regulating processing, transportation
and storage of spent fuel led Hungary and Finland to cancel contracts worth
$50-70 million annually to Mayak. Contract negotiations for importing spent
fuel from the Czech Republic and Bulgaria are currently under way.
["Mayak v 2000 godu pererabotayet 100-125
tys. tonn otrabotannogo yadernogo topliva," Interfax, 15 March 2000.] {Entered
5/8/00 LWB}
6/99: US FUNDS LIMITED SPENT NAVAL FUEL
REPROCESSING AT MAYAK For details, see the 6/99
entry in Naval Radioactive
Waste Developments file.
{Entered 7/29/99 JET} 3/17/99: HARD CURRENCY EARNINGS, FUEL REPROCESSING
PLUMMETS AT MAYAK On 17 March 1999, Yuzhno-Uralskaya sluzhba novostey
reported that PO Mayak's hard currency contributions into the Chelyabinsk
Oblast budget totaled 19 million rubles ($800,000 as of 17 March 1999)
and had fallen to one-third of FY1998 levels. According to Yuzhno-Uralskaya
sluzhba novostey, the sharp decrease in Mayak's hard currency earnings
was linked to the suspension of spent fuel reprocessing contracts with
Hungary and Finland. Although Mayak has reprocessing contracts with Ukraine,
Bulgaria, and Slovakia, the unpredictable economic situations in these
countries prompted Mayak officials to predict further reductions in the
combine's hard currency earnings, part of which are used to clean up radioactive
waste and environmental damage caused by Mayak's past plutonium production
activities.
[M. Zaytseva, "Valyutnaya vyruchka
PO 'Mayak' sokrashaetsya," Yuzhno-Uralskaya sluzhba novostey, http://www.chelpress.ru,
17 March 1999.] {Entered 7/3/00 SS}
12/98: US DOE AND BRITISH NUCLEAR FUELS BUILD ON
COOPERATION
AT PO MAYAK The US
Department of Energy's (DOE) MPC&A program and the UK Department of Trade and Industry
(DTI), working through British Nuclear Fuels
Limited (BNFL), continued collaboration with PO Mayak to upgrade the security of fissile
material at Mayak's RT-1 plant. Initial discussions for
the collaborative project took place in February 1998. During the
December 1998 meeting, officials discussed the ongoing computerized
accountancy networking project and other, future projects. Overall, the
cooperation is focused on upgrading the RT-1 plant's ability to analyze and track
the flow of nuclear material through the facility.
["Tri-Lateral Cooperation to Upgrade
Nuclear Material Security at the Mayak Production Association," December
1998 News, US Department of Energy website, http://www.nn.doe.gov/mpca/oldnews/12-98.htm.]
{Entered 11/14/2000 GD}
12/98: MINATOM COUNCIL DISCUSSES REPROCESSING
VVER-1000 SPENT FUEL AT MAYAK'S RT-1 PLANT In late December 1998, Minatom's Scientific-Technical
Council on Fuel and Special Nuclear Materials met to discuss reprocessing
spent nuclear fuel from VVER-1000 reactors and agreed to convene a working
group to study the possibility of reprocessing VVER-1000 spent fuel at
Mayak's RT-1 plant. Russia currently stores VVER-1000
spent nuclear fuel at the Mining and Chemical
Combine (GKhK) in Zheleznogorsk (Krasnoyarsk-26). According to Atompressa,
19 VVER-1000 reactors generate 420MT of spent nuclear fuel each year, and
of this amount, GKhK accepts 380MT from Russian, Ukrainian and Bulgarian
reactors for storage. Minatom officials reported that GKhK already stores
3,000MT of spent nuclear fuel and its storage facility would reach full
capacity in 2008. Proponents of the plan to reprocess the fuel at Mayak
noted that costs to reprocess VVER-1000 fuel at the RT-1 plant and to modernize
the plant would be considerably less than the costs of finishing the construction
of the RT-2 facility in Zheleznogorsk.
Moreover, the RT-1 plant primarily reprocesses fuel from VVER-440 reactors,
which will gradually be phased out beginning in 2000. Supporters predicted
that the project would provide an economic boost to RT-1 as well as to
the entire nuclear sector as it would create the possibility of reprocessing
spent fuel from foreign VVER-1000, pressurized water, and boiling water
reactors and thus allow Minatom to secure its position on the international
market.
[M. Kondratkova, "New Prospects for
Plant RT-1," Atompressa, February 1999, No. 4, p. 7; in "Variant
of Solution to Problem of Spent Fuel," FBIS Document FTS19990324001378.]
{Entered 7/12/00 SS}
7/10/98: MINATOM SEEKS US FUNDING TO HELP BUILD
STORAGE FACILITY AT MAYAK In an interview published on 10 July 1998, Deputy
Minister of Atomic Energy Nikolay Yegorov stated that the United States
may provide funding for construction of a spent fuel storage facility at
Mayak, and he estimated that construction of the facility would cost $20
to $30 million.[1] In 1986, construction of a storage pool
was interrupted and as a result, the facility is only 30 percent complete.[3]
According to Yegorov, the new storage facility would speed up the removal
of spent fuel from nuclear submarines. Yegorov noted that although Mayak
has the capacity to processes 10 to 12 trainloads of nuclear waste each
year, it only reprocesses six to eight trainloads annually due to financial
constraints.[1] In July 1998, the US Cooperative
Threat Reduction (CTR) office sent a team to Mayak to evaluate plans
to build the wet storage facility, which Minatom favors over plans that
would use dry storage technology.[2] Russia has used wet storage for several
decades, but US officials favor the use of dry storage, which they argue
is more proliferation-resistant.[1] According to the Norweigan non-governmental
organization Bellona,
CTR may approve the use of funds to finish construction of the wet
storage facility in exchange for guarantees from Minatom that the waste
will not be reprocessed for fuel.[2]
Sources: [1] Veronika Romanenkova, "Russia Wants
US Aid to Build Nuclear Waste Storage Facility," ITAR-TASS, 10 July 1998. [2] Thomas Jandl, "CTR Weighs Wet Storage
Option Despite Proliferation Risk," Bellona: Nuclear Chronicle from
Russia, July/August 1998, p.5. [3] Thomas Jandl, "Mayak Storage Facility:
US Weighs Proliferation Risk vs. Existing Policy," Bellona: Nuclear
Chronicle from Russia, May/June 1998, p. 13. {Entered 7/24/00 SS}
5/28/98: INTERNATIONAL GROUP
RECONSIDERS MAYAK NAVAL SPENT FUEL STORAGE PROJECT Since spring 1997, the St.
Petersburg All-Russian Scientific Research and Design Institute of Energy
Technology (VNIPIET) has been working with a consortium of western
companies, including SKB of Sweden, Kvaerner Maritime of Norway, BNFL of
the United Kingdom, and SGN of France, to solve the problem of storing
spent nuclear fuel resulting from naval activities in Russia's far north.
Experts at VNIPIET, an organization that falls under control of the Ministry
of Atomic Energy (Minatom), designed the spent fuel storage facilities
at Andreyeva
Bay and Gremikha
and Belyanka-class liquid radioactive waste transport vessels.
Traditionally, spent fuel handling procedures have included shipment of
the fuel to the Mayak Chemical Combine for reprocessing at the RT-1 facility,
but the rate of shipment has decreased over the last several years to only
a few trips per year. Russia does not have enough TUK-18 rail transport
containers and the Russian Navy lacks the funds to pay the $2 million per
trip transportation costs for the trips that do occur. Fuel unloading
vessels, facilities, and equipment are aging, and decommissioned nuclear
submarines add to the volume of spent fuel accumulating in the far north.
Moreover, at least ten percent of the Navy's spent fuel is either damaged
or comes from liquid metal-cooled reactors; Mayak cannot reprocess either
of these types of fuel. The consortium and VNIPIET originally proposed
the construction of a new, limited-capacity, dry storage facility for spent
fuel from decommissioned submarines only at Mayak, but Minatom favored
completion of a wet storage facility already licensed and under construction,
since licensing a new facility could take several years. The consortium
and VNIPIET are investigating other options now, citing their doubt that
the wet storage facility could meet international standards. Minatom
and the consortium are beginning to agree that a storage facility at Mayak
might not present the ideal option. According to the Bellona Foundation,
a temporary storage facility on the Kola Peninsula is a likely alternative,
while the search for a long-term solution continues.
[Igor Kudrik, "Storage Facility for
Maritime Spent Fuel," Bellona: Nuclear Chronicle from Russia, May/June
1998, pp. 10-11.] {Entered 10/23/98 JET}
10/29/97: WESTERN CONSORTIUM
AGREES TO FUND DESIGN OF STORAGE FACILITIES AT MAYAK FOR KOLA WASTE A consortium of western companies, consisting of
SKB of Sweden, BNFL of the United Kingdom, SGN
of France, and Kvaerner
of Norway, has signed an agreement with Russia to provide 25 million Swedish
kronor ($3.3 million) for designing two modern storage facilities at Mayak.
These facilities will primarily store spent fuel generated by the nuclear
submarines and icebreakers stationed on the Kola Peninsula. According
to Sweden, more funding may be available from the European Investment Bank,
the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and other financial
institutions for the construction stage of the project.
[Marat Zubko, "Zapadnyye kompanii pomogut
Rossii razgresti atomniye svalki," Izvestiya online edition, http://win.www.online.ru/rproducts/ izvestiya-izvestiya-year/29-Oct-97/21.rhtml,
29 October 1997.] {Entered 8/5/99 JET}
3/12/97: NUCLEAR MATERIAL ACCUMULATES IN RUSSIA As of 12 March 1997, Russia's only storage facility
for reactor-grade plutonium, located at the Mayak Production Association,
was almost full.
[Oleg Zolotov and Vadim Karpov, "How
to Curb the 'Peaceful Atom' ? In Russia 150 Tonnes of the Nuclear Component
of Missile Warheads Has to be Recycled," Trud, 12 March 1997, p.1;
in "N-Waste Imports Grow as Storage, Processing Problems Build," FBIS-TEN-97-004.]
{Entered 8/29/97 EV} 1/97: SPENT FUEL SHIPMENT TO MAYAK COMPLETED A transfer of spent submarine reactor fuel to Mayak
from the Pacific Fleet for reprocessing was completed in 1996. Two trains
transferred the fuel rods to Mayak. The transfer of waste from the Pacific
Fleet temporary storage facility made the unloading of other reactors possible.
The Pacific Fleet Press Center said that there is as much as three metric
tons of spent fuel remaining in Pacific Fleet reactors.
[Nezavisimoye voyennoye obozreniye,
No.
1, January 1997, p.1.] {Entered 8/28/97 EV} 12/3/96: MAYAK RECEIVES A SHIPMENT OF SOLID RADIOACTIVE
WASTE The Mayak complex received its last shipment of submarine
spent fuel rods for 1996 from the Pacific Fleet. Additional spent fuel
rods from a 3000 ton stockpile of spent fuel accumulated by the Fleet will
be shipped in 1997.
[Interfax, 12/3/96; in FBIS-SOV-96-233,
"Nuclear Waste Shipments Head for Chelyabinsk."] {ENTERED 12/16/96 KVY}
8/7/96: PACIFIC FLEET SPENT FUEL TRANSFERRED
TO MAYAK On 1 August 1996 the first shipment of spent nuclear
fuel from the Pacific Fleet arrived at Mayak Chemical Combine by train.
According to Pacific Fleet headquarters in Vladivostok, it will take from
five to ten years to completely unload the spent fuel from the on-shore
facility in Primorskiy Kray, depending on financing. The Pacific Fleet
will ship ten additional trainloads of spent fuel from Primorskiy Kray
to the Urals before the end of the year.
[Ye. Tkachenko, "Yadernyy' eshelon
pribyl na Mayak," Uralskiy rabochiy, 7 August 1996, p. 3.] {Entered
11/7/97 EV} 1996: FINLAND TO STOP SHIPPING SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL
TO RUSSIA Finland will no longer ship nuclear spent fuel to
Russia and the Mayak facility in particular.
["Russia. Finland," Byulleten Tsentra
Obshchestvennoy Informatsii po Atomnoy Energii, No. 3-4, p. 60.] 12/14/95: FINLAND SENDS SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL TO
MAYAK Eight railcars filled with 240 spent fuel assemblies
were delivered to Mayak from the Finnish nuclear power plant in Loviisa.
Mayak will earn $480,000 per each reprocessed ton of spent fuel. According
to the 10/20/95 Federal Law "On Use of Nuclear Energy," spent fuel is not
considered radioactive waste, and hence can be taken from a foreign country
for reprocessing. It is not known whether the waste will be returned to
Finland or stored in Russia after reprocessing.
Sources: [1] Yadernyy Kontrol, January
1996, p. 9. [2] Natalya Timashova, "Another Load
Of Foreign Radioactive Waste Could Remain In Russia," Izvestiya,
14 December 1995, p. 3. [3] Vadim Kantor, "Finnish Nuclear
Power Plant Is Getting Ready To Share Its Waste," Segodnya, 29 November
1995, p. 12. [4] Penny Morvant, "Spent Finnish Nuclear
Fuel Sent To Russia," OMRI Daily Digest, 5 December 1992, p. 2. 6/16/95: 58 PERCENT OF MAYAK FUNDS COME
FROM FOREIGN CONTRACTS In an interview with Segodnya, Viktor Fetisov,
director of the Mayak plant, stated that 58 percent of all funds come from
commercial contracts with Ukrainian, Baltic, Hungarian, Finnish and Russian
enterprises. The remaining funds come from contracts with the state. It
was reported that Mayak annually reprocesses from 130 to 150 tons of radioactive
waste.
[Igor Mossin, Lyudmila Shikanova, "Viktor
Fetisov: My nesem yadernyy krest," Segodnya, 16 June 1995, p. 5.]
3/22/95: MINATOM AND SIEMENS RESEARCHING REPROCESSING
FACILITY CONSTRUCTION AT CHELYABINSK-65 It was reported that joint research sponsored by
Minatom and the German company Siemens might result in the construction
of a DM90 million nuclear fuel reprocessing facility at Chelyabinsk-65
with an annual production capacity of 20 MT. The fuel would be used in
fast breeder reactors at the Beloyarsk nuclear power plant. Georgiy Kaurov,
spokesman for Minatom, denies that there is any definite plan for such
a construction project.
[Besik Urigashvili, "Weapons-Grade
Plutonium...," Izvestiya, 22 March 1995.] 3/1/95: ATOMFLOT SENDS SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL TO MAYAK Spent nuclear fuel from the Atomflot base was transported
by a special train to the Mayak Production Association at Chelyabinsk-65.
Participants in the endeavor were: Atomflot, Izhorskiye Zavody
(which constructed the containers for the radioactive material), Murmansk
Shipping Line, and the Northern Fleet.
Sources: [1] Irina Parfentyeva, "'Mayak' Launches
The Northern Fleet. A Trainload Of Spent Nuclear Fuel Is Heading Towards
Urals," Vecherniy Chelyabinsk, 15 March 1995, p.1. [2] Russian Television Network, 1 March
1995; in "Spent Nuclear Fuel Shipments 'Entirely Safe'," JPRS-TEN-95-005,
3/1/95. [3] Arkadiy Zheludkov, Izvestiya,
14 March 1995; in "Northern Nuclear Waste Disposal System Eyed," JPRS-TEN-95-008,
6/15/95, pp. 65-66. 2/21/95: SPENT FUEL FROM MURMANSK TO BE SENT TO
MAYAK Twelve TUK-18 containers of nuclear spent fuel from
the Murmansk-based Atomflot will soon be shipped to the RT-1 facility at
Mayak.
["First Train From Murmansk To 'Mayak',"
Murmanskiy
Vestnik, 21 February 1995, p. 1.] 8/31/94-9/1/94: MINATOM RATES RT-1 ACCIDENT BETWEEN
0 AND 1 ON INES A "fire-related event" occurred at RT-1, which Minatom
rated between Level 0 and Level 1 on the International Nuclear Event Scale
(INES). Press reports based on Gosatomnadzor's conclusions stated that
the event was a Level 3 incident, but Minatom denied these reports. The
IAEA has classified the fire as a Level-1 event on the INES scale.[1,2]
Sources: [1] Mark Hibbs, "Gosatomnadzor Now
Scrutinizing Minatom Report On RT-1 Accident," Nucleonics Week,
8 September 1994, pp. 2-3. [2] "Russian Federation," NUKEM,
February 1995, p. 26. 4/94: RUSSIAN-BULGARIAN DRAFT AGREEMENT: RUSSIA
TO ACCEPT SPENT FUEL FOR STORAGE AND REPROCESSING Russia and Bulgaria concluded a draft agreement for
Russia to accept spent fuel from the four VVER-440 units at Kozloduy for
storage and reprocessing at Mayak's RT-1. This agreement is an extension
of the 1993 protocol, according to which spent fuel from Bulgaria's VVER-1000
reactors Kozloduy-5 and -6 was brought to Russia.
["Agreement with Russia on Fuel Reprocessing,"
Nuclear
News, May 1995.] 1994: FOREIGN WASTE PROCESSED AT MAYAK The Mayak nuclear facility was paid approximately
70 billion rubles for processing foreign radioactive waste in 1994.
[A. Mikushin, "A 'Nuclear Train',"
Gudok,
9 February 1995, p. 4; in "Rail Transport Of Spent Nuclear Fuel To 'Mayak'
Plant," FBIS-SOV-95-033-S.]
Page last updated 22 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
RT-1 Spent Fuel Reprocessing
Facility
Archived Mayak
Spent Fuel Reprocessing Developments
For major recent developments, see the
