Russia: Northern Fleet Radioactive Waste Developments

To return to the main Northern Fleet entry, see the Northern Fleet file.
To return to the main naval radioactive waste file, see the Spent Naval Fuel and Radioactive Waste Overview.

This file contains information on general radioactive waste issues in the Northern Fleet. Information on radioactive waste issues at particular facilities is included in the relevant facility file. For example, for information pertaining to the storage of nuclear waste from the icebreaker fleet, see the Civilian-Use Naval Reactor section and the Atomflot file.

3/1/2002: SWEDEN AND NORWAY TO HELP OVERHAUL RADON STORAGE FACILITY IN MURMANSK
On 1 March 2002, Interfax reported that Sweden and Norway intended to sign an agreement with Russian authorities in March 2002 to help finance the overhaul of the Radon radioactive waste storage facility in Murmansk, which stores 800m³ of radioactive waste. Under the project, which entails costs of $250,000, waste will be stored in concrete containers above ground. At present, storage is underground. New containers should allow safe storage for the next 50 years.
[Interfax, 1 March 2002; in "Norway, Sweden to Help Fund Overhaul of Radioactive Waste in Kola Region," FBIS Document CEP20020301000333.] {Entered 3/13/2002 EF}
 
6/20/2001: LIQUID RADIOACTIVE WASTE PROCESSING FACILITY OPERATIONAL
On 20 June 2001, a liquid radioactive waste processing facility at Atomflot began test operations. The facility has the capacity to process all of the liquid radioactive waste that has accumulated in Murmansk Oblast nuclear facilities as a result of nuclear submarine dismantlement.[1] It is expected to process 5,000m³ of liquid radioactive waste annually. The project, called the Murmansk Initiative, started in December 1994 and cost $4.5 million.[2] It was completed jointly by the US Environmental Protection Agency, Brookhaven National Laboratory, the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Russian Ministry of Atomic Energy, additional Russian agencies, and scientists from all three countries. The facility was granted permission for one year of experimental operation.[1] (For information on a similar facility at Zvezdochka, see the 10/19/2000 entry in the Zvezdochka section.)
Sources: 
[1] Rozaliya Zykhovskaya, "Unikalnaya ustanovka dlya pererabotki zhidkikh radioaktivnykh otkhodov voshla v stroy," Polyarnaya zvezda, 21 June 2001;  in Integrum Techno, http://www.integrum.ru.
[2] "Modernized Nuclear Waste Disposal Installation Presented in Murmansk," Interfax, 20 June 2001. {Entered 6/28/2001 EF}
 
7/19/2000: EU INTENDS TO EXPAND COOPERATION ON NUCLEAR SAFETY WITH RUSSIA
On 19 July 2000, at the European Union's request, Tractebel Energy Engineering experts went to Murmansk to assess the overall situation at various facilities where nuclear waste is kept in order to design a project to improve their security. The ultimate goal of the project is the construction of a radioactive waste storage facility. Belgatom and the All-Russian Scientific Research and Design Institute of Energy Technology are preparing technical documentation, which is supposed to be completed by January 2001. Financing of the project is dependent upon EU approval. The Murmansk Shipping Company is very interested in the project because its own storage facilities are already 85% full and in five to seven years there will be no room to store low- and medium-level radioactive waste.
[Yuriy Banko, "Yevrosoyuz gotov k sotrudnichestvu," Murmanskiy vestnik, 21 July 2000.] {Entered 5/23/2001 EF}
 
6/27/2000: MURMANSK OBLAST MAY HOST SOLID RADIOACTIVE WASTE AND TEMPORARY SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL STORAGE
Murmansk Oblast Conversion Committee Chairman Aleksandr Ruzankin has refuted information reported by the Norwegian environmental organization Bellona on plans to create a federal spent nuclear fuel storage facility in Murmansk Oblast. According to Ruzankin, Murmansk authorities are considering the creation of a solid radioactive waste storage facility on the Kola Peninsula or Novaya Zemlya. Spent nuclear fuel may be temporarily housed in special containers on storage pads at a ship repair facility in Polyarnyy, Nerpa Shipyard in Snezhnogorsk, at Zapadnaya Litsa, and at Atomflot in Murmansk. Ultimately the spent fuel will be sent to Mayak in Chelyabinsk Oblast. A new specialized train for shipment of the containers is supposed to speed up the process of removing spent nuclear fuel from the region. The construction of a new container-loading facility at Atomflot, which should reduce train loading time from two weeks to two days, is also planned. 
[Polyarnaya pravda, in Vsya Rossiya, 27 June 2000; in Integrum Techno, http://www.integrum.ru.] {Entered 2/8/2001 EF}
 
6/7/2000: LEPSE NUCLEAR WASTE STORAGE PROJECT IN JEOPARDY
Deputy Minister of Atomic Energy Valeriy Lebedev said on 7 June 2000 that the joint Russian-Norwegian project to dismantle the Lepse floating radioactive waste storage ship may be called off.  The Lepse project is one of 10 Russian-Norwegian projects in the field of radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel.  Lebedev said that the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs refuses to finance the development of technical designs until an environmental impact statement is completed.  The environmental study, meanwhile, is being held up by the liability concerns of the EU, UK, and France, also participating in the Lepse project.  (For more information on this issue, please see the 6/20/00 entry in the Naval Foreign Assistance Development file.)  Lebedev said that Russia may relinquish its responsibility for the development of the project and transfer the Lepse to the federal enterprise SevRAO. Norway planned to put up 23 million Norwegian kroner ($2.6 million as of 7 June 2000) of the total project cost of 73 million Norwegian kroner ($8.4 million as of 7 June 2000).
["Realizatsiya proyekta utilizatsii plavuchego khranilishcha yadernykh otkhodov 'Lepse' pod ugrozoy sryva--Minatom RF," Interfax, 7 June 2000.] {Entered 7/19/00 YF}
 
3/16/2000: FEDERAL ENTERPRISE SEVRAO CREATED TO COORDINATE SPENT NORTHERN FLEET NUCLEAR FUEL STORAGE
On 16 March 2000 the Ministry of Atomic Energy announced the establishment of the Northern Federal Enterprise for the Treatment of Radioactive Waste, or SevRAO, in accordance with Government Directive No. 220-r of 9 February 2000. SevRAO will facilitate spent nuclear submarine fuel storage and transportation to reprocessing facilities.[1,2]  Headed by Vice Admiral Valeriy Panteleyev, former deputy commander of the Northern Fleet, SevRAO will begin operations in May 2000.  SevRAO's main office will be in Murmansk; two regional offices will be established in Zaozersk and Ostrovnoy.[1]
Sources:
[1] "V Murmanskoy oblasti sozdayetsya predpriyatiye, kotoroye budet obespechivat khraneniye i dostavku na pererabotku otrabotannogo yadernogo topliva," Agenstvo voyennykh novostey, 16 March 2000; in National News Service, http://nel.nns.ru.
[2] Government Directive No. 220-r, O peredache Minatomu Rossii radiatsionno-opasnykh obyektov Minoborony Rossii i poryadke ikh funktsionirovaniya, 9 February 2000; in The Legislation in Russia, http://law.optima.ru. {Entered 7/21/00 YF}
 
12/16/99: RADIATION LEVELS IN MURMANSK HIGH
On 16 December 2000, Russian central television reported that radiation levels and the risk of a nuclear incident are extremely high in Murmansk, where about 100 decommissioned submarines, some with nuclear reactors and spent fuel aboard, are moored. [CNS estimates that there are at most 79 decommissioned submarines in the Northern Fleet.]  The submarines suffer from corrosion and leakage problems, and there is a constant risk of fire or coolant-related accident.  The Lepse, a spent nuclear fuel storage barge moored near Murmansk, contains approximately 600 fuel rods from reactor cores, some of which are still hot and present a radiation risk.  The city regularly issues radiation forecasts, warning citizens when levels are dangerously high.  An unnamed official denied that the city is at high risk and contended that Russia can manage the situation without outside help.  However, the official admitted that a lack of resources was delaying efforts to deal with the problem.  The television report added that some progress has been made: various measures have been taken to increase the safety of uranium waste stored at the Murmansk rail depot.
[Russian central television, 16 December 1999; in "Radiation Risk Critical at Russian Nuclear Submarine Base," BBC Summary of World Broadcasts, 18 December 1999; in Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe, http://web.lexis-nexis.com] {Entered 8/2/00 YF}
 
10/21/99: LEBEDEV DENIES HAZARDS AND CHECKS ON LIQUID WASTE REPROCESSING
On 21 October, Deputy Minister of Atomic Energy Valeriy Lebedev visited the Kola Peninsula to examine radiation levels near Murmansk and Northern Fleet nuclear facilities. He stated that radiation levels are "normal and present no hazard to the population."  He also checked on the progress of nuclear submarine decommissioning and the installation of liquid radioactive waste reprocessing facilities.  Lebedev stated that the activities are adhering to the timetable established in a recent government decision.  The Ministry of Atomic Energy and the Ministry of Defense will receive 667 million rubles (approximately $26 million as of 21 October 1999) this year from the federal budget in order to finance and complete the work.  This figure is four times higher than originally planned.
[Vasiliy Belousov, ITAR-TASS, 21 October 1999; in "Official Denies Russia To Store Western Nuclear Waste," FBIS Document FTS19991022001091.]  {Entered 12/9/99 JET}
 
4/19/99: NORWAY INVITED TO PARTICIPATE IN NUCLEAR INSPECTION
The Russian Federal Inspectorate for Nuclear and Radiation Safety (Gosatomnadzor) invited the Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority to participate in an inspection of liquid radioactive waste collection tanks at the Zvezdochka shipyard.  Erling Stranden, a department head at the Norwegian Authority, said that Norway sees the inspection as a "vote of confidence."  (Access to facilities has been a problem in the past.)  Stranden also said that there is an urgent need to improve the storage tanks, since some of them have started to leak.  In the short term, an outer collection tank keeps nuclear materials from leaking out into the environment.
["Invited to a Joint Inspection," Aftenposten, 19 April 1999; in "Joint Russian, Norwegian Nuclear Inspection," FBIS Document FTS19990423000543, 19 April 1999.]  {Entered 5/25/99 HA}
 
4/99: SHIPMENT OF SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL SETS OFF FOR MAYAK
In early April 1999, loaded with spent naval fuel from the PM-63 service ship, the first trainload of spent naval fuel of 1999 left Severodvinsk, bound for the Mayak Chemical Combine's reprocessing facility.  Although ten trainloads of spent fuel per year must reach Mayak in order to catch up with the increasing amount of fuel being removed from decommissioned nuclear submarines, financial problems and a lack of equipment have greatly limited the number of trainloads sent.  In 1998, only three trainloads of fuel traveled to Mayak, at a cost of $1-$1.5 million each.  The Russian government is supposed to provide the funds, but the payments are consistently late.  An additional trainload of spent fuel will leave for Mayak from Severodvinsk in May 1999, with three more trainloads slated for 1999.  One train can carry approximately 580 spent fuel assemblies, the equivalent of two or two and a half reactor cores.
[Igor Kudrik and Alexey Klimov, "Nuclear train leaves Severodvinsk," Bellona website, http://www.bellona.no/e/russia/nfl/news/990430.htm, 30 April 1999.]  {Entered 5/25/99 HA}
 
7/30/98: YEGOROV NOTES SPENT FUEL STORAGE PROBLEMS
According to Russian Deputy Minister of Atomic Energy Nikolay Yegorov, the Northern Fleet region houses more than 80t of spent nuclear fuel under inadequate storage conditions.  Yegorov added that the government does not have the resources to dispose of the spent fuel from decommissioned Northern Fleet nuclear submarines.[1]  It may take as long as a decade and as much as $1.5 billion to dispose of the waste properly, according to Yegorov.  The Russian federal budget allocated only $35 million for the purpose of waste disposal, an amount that falls short even when combined with the contributions of other countries.[2]
Sources:
[1] "Russian minister warns of risk of nuclear radiation," BBC News online edition, http://news.bbc.co.uk/, 30 July 1998.
[2] "Passing the Buck Little Help in Nuclear Clean-Up," Jamestowon Monitor, 31 July 1998.  {Entered 8/26/98  HA}
 
5/28/98: INTERNATIONAL GROUP RECONSIDERS MAYAK NAVAL SPENT FUEL STORAGE PROJECT
For details, see the 5/28/98 entry in the Naval Foreign Assistance Developments file.
{Entered 10/23/98 JET}{Moved 8/5/99 JET}
 
5/9/98: RADIOACTIVE WASTE MAY BE LEAKING INTO NORTHERN SEAS
According to information released in May 1998 by the Bellona Foundation, radioactive contamination levels have risen near some naval bases in the Kola Peninsula region.[1,2]  Scientists from the Murmansk Marine Biological Institute gathered more than 100 sediment samples, and experts at the V.G. Khlopin Radium Institute and the Kuznetsov Laboratories in St. Petersburg analyzed the samples for cesium-137, cobalt-60, plutonium-239, and plutonium-240 levels.  This disclosure marks the first time data on radiation levels near naval bases has been made public, despite official Norwegian attempts to gain permission to conduct tests there.[1] The samples reveal that cesium-137 levels in sediments in Andreyeva Bay range from 8 Bq/kg at a depth of 12 centimeters below the surface to 114 Bq/kg at a depth of five centimeters below the surface (12 times higher than background levels) near the area's main spent fuel storage facility.  Bellona notes that these results might indicate increased leakage from aging and corroded storage tanks at the facility.  In addition, the samples indicate that the amount of cobalt-60 in sediments near the Polyarnyy naval base and the Polyarninskiy Shipyard increased from 10 to 80 Bq/kg between 1995 and 1997.[1,2]  Although some samples near other bases showed minor increases, tests from some bases registered normal levels for these isotopes.[1]
Sources:
[1] Thomas Nilsen, "Measurements from the Kola coast show alarming increas in radioactivity levels," Bellona website, http://www.bellona.no/e/russia/nfl/news/980424.htm, 24 April 1998.
[2] Rob Edwards, "Hot waters," New Scientist, 9 May 1998, p. 11.  {Entered 8/14/98  HA} {Updated 1/25/99 TR}
 
5/5/98: WASTE FACILITY FOR MURMANSK OBLAST
On 5 May 1998, Acting Minister of Atomic Energy Yevgeniy Adamov and Murmansk Oblast Governor Yuriy Yevdokimov signed an agreement providing for a Minatom state enterprise for radioactive waste and spent fuel storage to be established in Murmansk Oblast.  Vladimir Dovgan, the oblast Industry, Transportation, and Communications Committee chairman, reported that the waste facility will be based at the Nerpa shipyard. Nerpa has equipment and personnel capable of scrapping decommissioned nuclear submarines.  Northern Fleet spent fuel storage bases and various specialized companies like Atomflot will be involved in the new enterprise.  Dovgan reported that the Norwegian government is willing to participate in the project and that English, French, and German organizations have offered financial support to help solve the problem of radioactive waste storage. Minatom agrees that this funding must go directly to Murmansk Oblast.  First Deputy Minister of Defense Nikolay Mikhaylov is seeking a way to allow international experts to inspect Russian nuclear fuel storage facilities and independently determine the operational costs at these facilities.  For several years, Murmansk Oblast has been unable to receive consent on this matter from the Ministry of Defense, but progress is being made.  Several issues remain unresolved: the location of the facility and the time frame of its construction are still undetermined and the new facility for reprocessing liquid radioactive waste at Atomflot has not been completed.  Dovgan reported that working groups on specific cooperation areas are being created to fulfill the agreement and to determine the time frame and costs of the project.
[Vladimir Tatur, "Budut razgrebat yadernuyu pomoyku," Vecherniy Murmansk, 8 May 1998,  p. 2.] {Entered 8/11/98 LBB}
 
4/98: FINANCES NEEDED FOR SERVICE SHIP REPAIRS
The Russian Defense Ministry has allocated $1.8 million for repair work on the PM-63, the only service vessel in Severodvinsk capable of loading TUK-18 railway cars with spent fuel from nuclear-powered vessels.  However, more than $3 million are still needed to finish the maintenance, which was required after the Severodvinsk city council resolved that the transfer could only occur after completion of the repairs.  Despite the lack of finances, Navy officials are confident that the fuel will be shipped in May 1998 as scheduled.
[Igor Kudrik, "Slow start for nuclear transports," Bellona: Nuclear Chronicle from Russia, April 1998, p. 2.] {Entered 7/30/98 HA}
 
3/27/98: YEVDOKIMOV NOTES URGENT PROBLEMS OF WASTE STORAGE AND REPROCESSING
According to Murmansk Oblast Governor Yuriy Yevdokimov, the Lepse and Volodarskaya service ships in the Murmansk region of the Kola Bay house nearly 860,000 cubic meters of liquid radioactive waste that cannot be reprocessed.  The Lepse is filled to capacity and requires special attention.  While the European Commission has provided $15,000 to help fund a program to solve the problems with the Lepse, Minatom is reviewing a program, drafted by the Murmansk and Arkhangelsk Oblast governments, to handle all radioactive waste in the north through 2005.  Funding for the program, however, is problematic.  Yevdokimov also proposed the possibility of burying radioactive waste in mining tunnels on Novaya Zemlya.
["Gubernator Murmanskoy oblasti predlagayet ispolzovat gorniye vyrabotki na Novoy Zemle dlya zakhoroneniya radioaktivnykh otkhodov," Interfax, 27 March 1998.] {Entered 10/6/98 JET}
 
10/29/97: WESTERN CONSORTIUM AGREES TO FUND DESIGN OF STORAGE FACILITIES AT MAYAK FOR KOLA WASTE
For details, please see the 10/29/97 entry in the Naval Foreign Assistance Developments file.
{Entered 8/13/99 JET}
 
10/23/97: MINATOM PLANS NEW SOLID WASTE FACILITY ON NOVAYA ZEMLYA
According to Viktor Akhunov, head of Minatom's department of environment and nuclear waste treatment, Minatom plans to construct a new facility on the south side of Yuzhniy Island, Novaya Zemlya for the processing and disposal of solid low-level radioactive waste generated by nuclear-powered submarines based in Severodvinsk.  By the beginning of 1998, experts will prepare a construction plan for the facility, which will use Minatom-designed trench technology to bury 3000 cubic meters of waste in trenches 14m deep.  Local officials and experts from Arkhangelsk and Murmansk have not objected to the project.  The first stage will be built over the next three years at a cost of approximately $140 million.  Waste disposal costs are estimated at about $5000 per kilogram.  According to Akhunov, funds will come from the federal budgets of Minatom, the Ministry of Defense, and the Ministry of the Economy.  Minatom will also negotiate with international financial institutions, such as the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), for additional financing.
[Sergey Rybak, "Russian LLW Disposal Facility is Planned for Novaya Zemlya," Nucleonics Week, 23 October 1997, pp. 13-14.]  {Entered 8/10/99 JET}
 
8/97: FINNS SUSPEND WASTE PROCESSING PROJECT
For details, please see the 8/97 entry in the Naval Foreign Assistance Developments file.
{Entered 8/5/99 JET}
 
3/25/97: RUSSIAN SECURITY COUNCIL CALLS FOR MEASURES TO RECYCLE NUCLEAR SUBMARINES
A meeting of the Russian Security Council Interdepartmental Commission on Environmental Safety recognized the urgency of the situation in North West Russia. The Kola Peninsula is currently the site of more than 7,000 cubic meters of liquid radioactive waste. The Council determined that the more than 100 spent nuclear fuel cores held in navy and merchant fleet storage facilities should be recycled. While over 90 Northern Fleet nuclear submarines have been decommissioned, nuclear fuel has so far been removed from only 26 of the submarines. The Council called on the government to increase funding of programs to recycle nuclear submarines.
[NTV, Segodnya newscast, 25 March 1997; in "Russia: Panel Demands 'Urgent Measures' on Sub Nuclear Waste," FBIS-TEN-97-091.]
 
2/18/97: KOLA PENINSULA NEEDS STORAGE FACILITIES
As of 18 February 1997, three inspectorates--the Kola inspectorate, the Murmansk inspectorate, and the inspectorate for nuclear and radiation safety at shipyards--supervise all Kola non-military nuclear installations.  According to Yuriy Khripunov, the spokesman for the public relations department of the Northern European district of Gosatomnadzor, during 1996 there were no accidents resulting in the release of radiation on the Kola Peninsula.  A minor leak occurred in the first reactor's circuit on the icebreaker Arktika but did not cause any damage to the environment.  Lepse personnel received doses of radiation that were higher than usual but within the acceptable norm.  The new Atomflot liquid nuclear waste facility has partially helped solve the problem of waste accumulation at some civilian nuclear facilities as well as the Northern Fleet.  Last year four special trains of spent nuclear fuel were sent to Mayak for processing.  The Kola inspection committee has prohibited the Radon nuclear combine from storing nuclear waste, due to potentially dangerous storage conditions there.  Radon director A. Nazarko has failed to comply with instructions to improve storage conditions.  According to Khripunov, in order to clean up radioactive waste on the peninsula, it is necessary to reconstruct the Radon nuclear combine and create a regional disposal facility.
[Yuriy Khripunov, “Spetskombinat ‘Radon’ Vzyvayet,” Murmanskiy vestnik, 18 February 1997, p. 2.] {Entered 8/22/97 EV}
 
12/7/96: MORE STORAGE SPACE NEEDED FOR RUSSIA’S NAVAL NUCLEAR WASTE
A seminar discussing the problems of handling nuclear waste and spent nuclear fuel took place on the nuclear icebreaker Sibir.  The seminar was attended by Finnish specialists and Russian experts from Mayak, Atomflot, Radon, Minatom, and Gosatomnadzor.  During a press conference, Vyacheslav Ruksha, maintenance director of the Murmansk company Atomflot, said that at the current pace of waste transportation, it will take 40-50 years to send all of Murmansk Region's accumulated spent fuel to Mayak for reprocessing.  Seminar participants proposed that onshore intermediate-term storage facilities be constructed so that spent fuel currently stored on floating platforms can be removed.  They also discussed the need to choose a site for long-term storage of solid radioactive waste.  Russia has created a prototype metal and concrete container that is safe for the transportation and temporary storage of spent fuel.  The leader of the Finnish delegation, Yukka Laksonen, of National Center of Nuclear and Radioactive Security, spoke highly of the level of security at the civilian Atomflot installations and welcomed Atomflot efforts to cooperate with the Northern Fleet in securing the facilities.
[“Skromnoye obayaniye nashikh sosedey,” Komsomolets zapolyarya, 7 December 1996, p. 3.] {Entered 8/21/97 EV}
 
2/17/96: PLANS EXIST FOR SOLID WASTE STORAGE PLANT ON KOLA PENINSULA
Georgiy Kaurov, Head of the Information Department of Minatom, stated that there exists a plan to build solid radioactive waste and spent fuel storage in Bashmachnikov Guba on the Kola peninsula.
["Gosudarstvenniye tayny Rossii neizvestny tolko rossiyanam," Segodnya, 17 February 1996, p. 2.]
 
2/96: SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL LEAVES MURMANSK FOR RECYCLING
Spent fuel from Russian Northern Fleet nuclear submarines and  civilian nuclear-powered icebreakers has left Murmansk. A train, the fourth to depart with spent nuclear fuel, will transport the fuel to Mayak in the Urals for recycling. The removal of the spent fuel from Murmansk will alleviate the problem of nuclear fuel accumulating at storage facilities on the Kola Peninsula. Both civilian and military spent nuclear fuel inventories are increasing without adequate storage space. The shortage of adequate storage facilities had previously prevented the removal of spent fuel from decommissioned nuclear submarines moored in Murmansk, but now more storage space is available.
["Spent Nuclear Fuel Moved From Murmansk," Military Industrial Complex Newsletter, Issue 2, February 1996, p. 3.]{Entered 7/24/97 LK}
 
1/16/96: NORTHERN FLEET IS HOLDING TONS OF LIQUID WASTE
According to nuclear specialists in the northern region, the Northern Fleet is in possession of 30,000 cubic meters of liquid radioactive waste.
[Victor Lotovkin, "Japanese And Americans Are Solving Our Problem Of Liquid Radioactive Waste," Izvestiya, 16 January 1996, p. 1.]
 
11/6/95: BELLONA CITES 16 FACILITIES WITH WASTE ON KOLA PENINSULA
The environmental organization Bellona estimated that about 16 storage ships or reactors on the Kola Peninsula contain spent nuclear fuel which is difficult to remove.
[Aftenposten (Oslo), 6 November 1995, p. 4; in "Western Experts Monitor Nuclear Waste On 'Lepse,'" FBIS-SOV-95-215, 6 November 1995.]
 
6/26/95: NAVAL OFFICIAL STATES THAT NORTHERN FLEET FACILITIES ARE IN CRITICAL CONDITION
According to a statement (not available to the general public) by Vice-Admiral V. Tomilin, chief of the Russian Navy Main Technical Directorate, 8,000 cubic meters of liquid and solid radioactive waste is stored throughout the Murmansk Region. More than 25,000 spent fuel assemblies and 5 active cores from nuclear submarine reactors are located in the region. Tomilin also notes the poor technical condition of the Northern Fleet shore bases for the storage of radioactive waste, which are full. Radioactive waste has not been shipped for reprocessing since the Soviet era. Only 20 percent of all the floating bases for loading nuclear spent fuel satisfy modern standards. Eighty-four percent of the vessels that ship nuclear waste require major repair work. For 1994, the cost of shipping and reprocessing one train-load of spent fuel was 2.3 billion rubles. Murmansk needs to ship more than a hundred train-loads of spent fuel.
["Children of Nuclear Carnival," Komsomolskaya pravda, 23 June 1995, p. 5.]
 
4/28/95: NORWEGIAN OFFICIAL CHARGES RUSSIA OF HIDING SECRET STORAGE FACILITY
It was reported that Bruno Larson, head of the Norwegian delegation to the Council of Barents Region, accused Yevgeniy Komarov, head of the Murmansk administration, of concealing a secret radioactive waste storage facility located on Kola peninsula.
[Vladimir Abarinov, "'Radioactive' Governor Summons Not To Exacerbate The Situation Further," Segodnya, 28 April 1995, p. 3.]
 
2/25/95: SPENT FUEL WILL REACH MAYAK BY RAIL FROM MURMANSK
Russia launched a project to transport by rail the spent fuel from submarines at Murmansk to the Mayak reprocessing facility.
[Igor Dvinskiy, "Nuclear 'stuffing' of the submarines is being moved to the Urals," Segodnya, 28 February 1995, p. 7.]

Last updated 1 August 2002
Comments or questions? Contact Cristina Chuen at MIIS CNS: cristina.chuen@miis.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 © 2002 by MIIS.

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