To return to the main spent fuel and radioactive waste entry, see the Spent Fuel
and Radioactive Waste overview.
For major recent developments, see the
Nuclear
Fuel Cycle Developments file.
Radon has 16 branches located throughout Russia:
Bashkiriya, Chelyabinsk,
Groznyy
(closed), Irkutsk,
Kazan, Khabarovsk,
Leningrad,
Moscow,
Murmansk
(closed), Nizhniy Novgorod, Novosibirsk,
Rostov-na-Donu,
Samara,
Saratov,
Volgograd,
and Yekaterinburg.
Radon facilities specialize in disposal
of radioactive waste from medical, scientific and technical facilities.
Radon is not subordinate to Minatom, and does not handle waste from
nuclear
power plants.
Blagoveshchensk,
Bashkortostan Autonomous Republic
Chelyabinsk
Director: Anatoliy Greshnyakov
(CLOSED)
Groznyy[1],
10 km from Tolstoy Yurt village [2]
The radioactive waste burial site is 57 percent full.
It holds medium- and low-level radioactive waste and cesium and cobalt
isotopes.
(For
major recent developments, see the
Nuclear Fuel
Cycle Developments file):
4/16/2003: RADIATION SOURCES FOUND AT DESTROYED GROZNYY CHEMICAL
PLANT
Containers holding powerful radioactive sources were found on the grounds of
a destroyed chemical plant in the Zavod region of Groznyy, the capital of the
republic of Chechnya in southern Russia, Regions.ru reported on 16 April
2003. According to Ziva Kadyrov, the Director of Radon Groznyy,
there were originally 17 sources at the plant, one of which had been stolen by
teenagers from the neighboring village of Kirov. Two of the teenagers died from
radiation sickness. Kadyrov said that a plan to decontaminate the chemical plant
has been submitted to the government of Chechnya for approval. Meanwhile
security has been stepped up around the facility. According to investigators,
there are currently twelve missing radioactive sources in Chechnya. Radioactive
sources have also gone missing from the Groznyy State University under unknown
circumstances. Since the beginning of 2000, Radon has recovered and disposed of
80 containers with radioactive materials in Chechnya. All such containers are
removed from Chechnya to be stored at special facilities. In addition, a Radon
burial site in Chechnya's Tersk mountain range has been walled in and is being
guarded by security.
7/12/2000: SPECIALISTS SECURE RADIATION SOURCES
AT GROZNYY
A group of specialists from Lider, the center for
high-risk rescue operations of the Ministry of Civil Defense Affairs, Emergencies,
and Liquidation of Consequences of Natural Disasters, conducted a week-long highly secretive operation to detect and
safeguard sources of radiation in Groznyy. Using robots and other devices,
radiation sources were located and rendered harmless. The experts cited an earlier incident in which a
radiation source emitting 2,000 roentgens per hour at Groznyy chemical
works killed three boys when they entered the facility.
3/20/2000: CHECHENS REPORTEDLY REMOVED RADIOACTIVE
MATERIALS FROM RADON SITE
On 20 March 2000 Profil reported that according
to sources in the Russian Ministry
of Defense, Chechen fighters removed several containers of radioactive
materials from the Groznyy branch of the Radon Special Combine prior to
the seizure of the facility by federal troops in January 2000. The
Defense Ministry is concerned that the Chechen fighters may use radiological
or toxin weapons not only against federal troops in Chechnya, but also
in terrorist attacks in other parts of Russia, possibly against nuclear
installations and industrial chemical facilities.
11/29/99: BOMBS NO THREAT TO RADON
According to Colonel Sergey Naryshkin, head of the North Caucasus
Radiation and Chemical Defense Troops, bombs and shell strikes pose no threat to
radioactive material at Radon Groznyy. Buried deep under layers
of concrete mixed with bitumen and resin interfaces, the radioactive waste at Radon poses
no environmental danger. It cannot be retrieved or blasted, Naryshkin
said. Burial of radioactive waste at Radon officially ceased 10 years
ago, but Naryshkin said that when Russian troops arrived
at the facility they found evidence of recent activities: there were new locks and hatches
on some shafts. Naryshkin said some experts believe that radioactive waste from other countries could have been smuggled there for storage.
9/21/99: CHECHEN LEADER THREATENS TO BUILD BASE
ON RADON WASTE STORAGE SITE
The Chechen leader Khattab has threatened to build
a base for his fighters on the radioactive waste storage storate site belonging
to the Groznyy branch of the Radon Special Combine, Segodnya reported
on 1 November 1999. According to the paper, Khattab told Georgian
officials that he planned to build his camp on the waste storage site in
order to deter Russian artillery and air strikes against his men. The paper
quoted Khattab as claiming that bombing or shelling the waste storage site
would trigger a "worldwide ecological catastrophe."[1] According
to Igor Sobolyev, general director of the Radon scientific-production association,
the catastrophe, though serious, would be localized. In addition, Russia
has offered assurances that it will not hit radioactive targets.[2] Chechen
fighters and Russian federal forces have been engaged in fierce fighting
around Groznyy since the renewal of hostilities in the region in September
1999.[1]
7/13/98: GROZNYY DEPOSITORY TO BE CLOSED
Yuriy Vishnevskiy, head of the Russian
Federal Inspectorate for Nuclear and Radiation Safety (Gosatomnadzor),
said at a press conference that the depository of radioactive materials
at the Groznyy division of Radon will need to be shut down. It has been
embedded in concrete, but there is no one to monitor developments at the
facility. Gosatomnadzor does not intend to send inspectors there, since
it would not be able to guarantee their safety. According to Vishnevskiy,
the depository poses no "direct threat."
Irkutsk
Kazan, Tatarstan
Autonomous Republic
(For
major recent developments, see the
Nuclear Fuel
Cycle Developments file):
10/96: DANGEROUS LEVELS OF RADIOACTIVE
WASTE AT RADON FACILITY POSE THREAT TO HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENT
There are more than 500,000 cubic meters
of radioactive waste in Radon's reservoirs. The reservoirs, filled to capacity
with water, hold plutonium and tritium in unsafe containers. Because of
the lack of proper thermal insulation, cracks have developed in the walls
of the radioactive waste containers. The poor condition of the burial facility
makes it vulnerable to erosion by ground water and leakage. If tritium
and plutonium leak into the ground water, the Kazanka River, the Volga
and the Caspian Sea could be contaminated with radiation. The reservoirs
pose a grave health and environmental threat, particularly since a summer
camp for children and a sanatorium are located only a few kilometers from
the site.
8/22/94: TATARSTAN TO CONVERT STORAGE
FACILITY
A decision was made by Tatarstan authorities
to convert the Radon radioactive waste storage facility located in the
Chistopol region into a temporary nuclear waste storage after the year
2000.
Bolshekhekhtsirskiy
nature reserve, 40km from Khabarovsk
Director: Vladimir Ivanovich Yemelyanov
(For
major recent developments, see the
Nuclear Fuel
Cycle Developments file):
5/16/2001: RADON TO RECEIVE ALARM SYSTEM
On 16 May 2001, Priamurskiye vedomosti reported
that Radon Khabarovsk was to receive an alarm system during the course of
2001. The facility was already surrounded by a fence and a 10m control
zone. As of May 2001, Radon Khabarovsk had completely filled two storage areas with a combined
volume of 800m3 and partially filled several newly refitted
storage areas with 940m3 of radioactive waste. While the
combine used to receive 40-60 m3 of radioactive waste per year in
the 1980s, it receives about half that amount at present. As of 2001, facility
maintenance costs 7.5 million rubles (about $258,000 as of 16 May 2001) per
year.
1/2001: NEW STORAGE FACILITY PLANNED FOR RADON
A 19 January 2001 article in the Khabarovsk Kray newspaper
Tikhookeanskaya zvezda mentioned that a new solid radioactive waste storage
facility with a capacity of 5,000m3 would be built at Radon
Khabarovsk. The enterprise will also build a new chamber for disassembling
equipment containing radiation sources and loading the radioactive materials
into smaller storage containers.
5/4/95: EIGHTEEN CONTAINERS SHIPPED
TO RADON
Yuriy Skobelev, a Gosatomnadzor inspector
in the Magadan Region, reported that in March 1995, 18 containers with
375 radiation sources were shipped to the Khabarovsk branch of Radon. The
70 remaining radiation sources that are considered waste will be removed
by the end of 1995.
1/19/95: RADON TO PROCESS ALL WASTE
FROM KHABAROVSK
In the near future Radon will have
exclusive rights to the handling of nuclear materials from Khabarovsk's
12 enterprises.
Sosnovyy Bor
Director: Mikhail F.Yakushev
Deputy Director: Anatoliy P. Mochalov
Cheif of Radiation Safety Department: Yevgeniy
M. Martynov
Nuclear waste from the Leningrad
nuclear power plant, Ministry of Defense enterprises, the ship-building
industry, and medical and research institutes in the northwestern region
is stored at this site.[1] Lenspetskombinat uses conventional evaporation
technology for processing liquid radioactive waste and burns combustible
waste. The plant stores radioactive ashes and sediment.[2] As of fall 1995,
fifty thousand cubic meters of low and medium level radioactive waste
were stored at the facility.[3] In 1995, Lenspetskombinat
worked on nuclear waste management projects with the following companies:
Nukem, Andra, Technikatom, Spi-Batinol, and SNG. Under the contract
with Nukem, a program for upgrading the incinerator at the facility was
started.[4]
(For
major recent developments, see the
Nuclear Fuel
Cycle Developments file):
3/19/99: LENSPETSKOMBINAT PROCESSES
RADWASTE FROM ENTIRE NORTHWEST REGION
After the closure of the Murmansk Radon
combine several years ago, Lenspetskombinat became the sole facility in
the Northwest region processing radioactive waste. According to a 19 March
1999 article in Smena, the facility's capacity will be exhausted
within a year.
1/99:
MINATOM APPROVES CREATION OF NORTHWEST REGIONAL RADWASTE TREATMENT CENTER
Minatom has approved the establishment
of the Northwest Regional Radwaste Treatment Center
at Lenspetskombinat Radon. The government of Leningrad Oblast has asked
the ministry to include the center in the federal program On Treating Radioactive
Waste. The center will be made up of two complexes: an engineering-technological
complex for reprocessing, cooling, and temporarily storing radioactive
waste and a facility for long-term storage of spent nuclear fuel and cooled
radwaste, which would be set up at a different site in the oblast. Specialists
plan to create the center in three stages: first, reconstruction of Lenspetskombinat,
second, establishment of the technological complex, and third, construction
of the storage facility. In preparation for the creation of the center,
a new press has been installed and nonreusable protective waste containers,
a temporary storage facility for cooled radwaste, and an underground repository
in blue clay deposits have been designed. The activities were funded by
the TACIS program and the federal program On Treating Radioactive Waste.
As a part of efforts to maintain its storage facility, Lenspetskombinat
Radon removed accumulated water, erected a galvanized iron roof, and sealed
the walls.
12/26/96: TACIS SPONSORS
NORTHWESTERN RUSSIAN CENTER FOR RADIOACTIVE WASTE TREATMENT
A new northwestern Russian center is going to be
created at Lenspetskombinat Radon, which will process radioactive waste
from Leningrad NPP. Three firms from France, Finland, and Great Britain
were chosen at an expert commission meeting in Brussels to develop the
documentation for the creation of the center. Experts from VNIIPIET
will also be involved. The French firm SGN will coordinate the project.
The funding will be provided through the EU's TACIS program.
1996: LENSPETSKOMBINAT SHUTS DOWN
WASTE PROCESSING
In 1996 Lenspetskombinat Radon stopped
processing radioactive waste due to the lack of federal funding. A 1996
accident damaged the power grid of the plant, and the diesel power plant
used to illuminate the plant is not powerful enough to run the processing
equipment. There is a lack of substances, such as kerosene and bitumen,
that are needed for processing. Boilers used for liquid waste evaporation
need to be replaced with new ones, according to Kotlonadzor (Russian industrial
boiler inspectorate). As of 10 October 1996, intermediate-term storage
facilities were full. The plant has stopped receiving combustible radioactive
waste, and there is not much room left for the storage of liquid waste.
The radioactive waste storage facilities need to be repaired. According
to Smena, it will take two years to process all the waste the plant
has accumulated. The plant is funded by federal and oblast budgets as well
as by clients paying for processing services. In 1995-1996, however, Lenspetskombinat
did not receive anything from the federal budget. During the last ten years
the volume of incoming waste has decreased by a factor of three. Of 220
clients, only 150 remain. Due to financial difficulties, some state enterprises
store their own radioactive waste until they can afford to send it to storage
facilities. Some dump liquid waste into the sewage system. The TACIS program
has allocated ECU600,000 (1 ECU equals approximately $1.20) for the development
of a regional center for radioactive waste disposal, which is planned to
be built at Lenspetskombinat.
100 km from Moscow
near Sergiyev Posad
General Director: Igor A. Sobolev
Deputy General Director: Sergey Dmitriyev
Senior Technologist: Aleksandr Volkov
Radon is a network of nuclear waste
storage facilities whose chief function is processing municipal radioactive
waste. Radon serves more than 2,000 Moscow-based organizations and nine
in surrounding regions.[1] Since 1974, Radon has carried out continuous
monitoring.[2] In one year, this facility processes an average of 3,000
cubic meters of solid, and 3,500 cubic meters of liquid wastes.[1,4] The
radioactivity of this material is approximated between 100,000-200,000
Ci.[1] Radon transports nuclear waste in three types of special cars: cars
designed for solid nuclear waste (OT-10), liquid nuclear waste (OZh-20)
and highly-radioactive nuclear waste (OT-31).[1] Disposal methods used
at Radon are: embedding into concrete, bituminization, burning and pressing,
vitrification, water purification, and solidification.[1]
(For
major recent developments, see the
Nuclear Fuel
Cycle Developments file):
8/18/1999: YELTSIN PROMISES FINANCIAL
SUPPORT TO RADON IN 2000
Russian President Boris Yeltsin instructed
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Minister of Finance Mikhail Kasyanov
to secure state financing for the Moscow division of Radon for the year
2000.
5/6/98: RADON TO COLLECT, DISPOSE
OF EXPIRED INSTRUMENTS
In compliance with instructions from
city officials, in 1998 specialists from Radon's Moscow branch will collect
and dispose of all expired instruments using ionizing radiation, according
to Marina Ginzburg, press secretary at the Radon-Press information center.
Instruments and fire-safety devices containing sources of ionizing radiation
are used in nearly every Moscow factory. After their service life of three
to four years has expired, the instruments must be destroyed or modernized.
The last time they were collected was over six years ago, when Radon specialists
discovered nearly 100,000 sources of radiation from expired instruments.
3/17/98: WASTE FACILITY IN SERGIYEV POSAD REQUIRES
FUNDING
Due to a lack of funding, 20,000 cubic meters of
waste and contaminated soil awaits disposal at the Radon waste facility
in Sergiyev Posad.
1/30/98: EU COMMISSION AND RADON COLLABORATE ON
STORAGE FACILITY
Aleksandr Barinov, deputy general director of Radon's
Moscow facility, reported that the Scientific Production Association is
working with a commission of the European Union to develop temporary storage
facilities for low- and medium-level radioactive waste. The waste would
subsequently be transferred to a federal disposal site.
[1] (CLOSED)[2]
Murmansk
The Radon combine was established in 1964. It stores 800m3
of radioactive waste, most of which consists of low-level radioactive
substances. Equipment from the nuclear icebreaker Lenin, however, which was
brought to the plant in the 1970s, has an accumulated radioactivity of roughly
5000 curies.(For
major recent developments, see the
Nuclear Fuel
Cycle Developments 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.
General Director: Aleksandr
Barinov
Head of Radioactive Safety Division:
Aleksandr Volkov
The Radon combine was established in
1961. The combine services five oblasts and four CIS states. The Nizhniy
Novgorod Region sends 90 percent of all its radioactive waste to this facility.
As of 1 January 1995, 807 cubic meters of liquid radioactive waste were
stored at the facility. The remaining storage capacity is 240 cubic meters.
Novosibirsk
Director: Nikolay Stepanov
The Novosibirsk Radon facility receives radioactive
waste from Novosibirsk, Omsk, Tomsk, and Kemerovo Oblasts, and Krasnoyarsk
and Altay Krays. In December 1996, this facility's waste burial sites
contained over 800 cubic meters of waste emitting 200,000Ci of radiation.
(For
major recent developments, see the
Nuclear Fuel
Cycle Developments file):
6/97: SECURITY PROBLEMS AT RADON FACILITY
Radon Novosibirsk is surrounded by barbed wire, but
the guards have not been able to stop all trespassers. A reinforced
concrete wall, which should solve the security problem, is only half completed,
and the facility has no money to finance its completion. The facility
has run out of room to store isotopes with long half-lives, but has no
funds for new construction.
12/13/96: RADON FACILITY REJECTS WASTE DUE TO
NON-PAYMENT OF FEES
On 13 December 1996, Vecherniy Novosibirsk
reported that Nikolay Stepanov, director of the Novosibirsk Radon facility,
had informed a number of Radon's customers that Radon would no longer accept
waste from them because they had not paid for waste-disposal services.
These enterprises will be forced to keep their waste stored on site until
they are able to pay Radon to dispose of it.
Rostov-na-Donu
Samara
Saratov
Deputy Director:
Andrey Klimov
Director of Radiation Security:
Aleksey Goryun
The Saratov
Radon facility was established in 1963.[1] It receives radioactive waste from nine regions, including Saratov, Tambovsk, Penzensk, Voronezh,
and Belgorod. In
2000, industrial waste from the Groznyy facility was also brought to the Saratov
site. The Groznyy waste constitutes less than one percent of the waste being
collected in the Saratov oblast. The
plant buries 10 to 15m3
from 2000 to 6000 objects emitting ionizing radiation annually. The facility only
contains low-level wastes, none of it from nuclear reactors. All wastes are
stored underground and covered with thick reinforced concrete insulated slabs. The
capacity of the full, inactive storage is roughly 200m3.
As of March 2001, the radiation level above the sarcophagus read 15 microroentgens
per hour (up to 25 microroentgens
per hour is considered normal for background levels), while the level around the
active storage unit read 46
microroentgens per hour. No
radiation accidents have been registered at the site.
(For
major recent developments, see the
Nuclear Fuel
Cycle Developments file):
6/3/2001: SHALLOW
GROUND REPOSITORY FOR SARATOV RADON FACILITY TO OPEN SOON
As of 6 March 2001, a new shallow ground repository with a capacity of 5000m3
was slated to begin operations at the Radon Saratov
facility soon.
6/3/2001: RUMORS DENIED OF
CHLOROPICRIN SHIPMENT FROM KRONSHTADT TO SARATOV RADON FACILITY
On 6 March 2001, Stroitelnaya promyshlennost reported that Yuriy Radyushkin,
Head of Chemical Industry and Conventional Problems at the Saratov Oblast Ministry of Industry, denied media reports that the nerve agent
chloropicrin will be brought to the Radon Saratov
facility from Kronshtadt.
20 miles from Volgograd,
near the town of Grachi [1,2]
General Director: Sergey Ryzhenko
Established in 1965, the combine accepts
waste from three regions: Volgograd (80-90 percent), Astrakhan (10-16 percent),
and Kalmykiya (2-4 percent). The combine supplements its income by servicing
transport vehicles for Housing and Municipal Services and doing laundry
for hospitals.
(For
major recent developments, see the
Nuclear Fuel
Cycle Developments file):
6/23/98: UNDERFINANCING IMPACTS
WASTE PROCESSING
Sergey Ryzhenko, director of the Volgograd's
Radon Special Combine, wrote an open letter urging Volgograd Oblast Governor
Nikolay Maksyute to fulfill financial responsibilities to the combine.
In 1997, Radon received 8.3 percent of the funds allocated by the regional
budget, and as of 23 June 1998, had received no money from the oblast administration.
The federal budget for 1998 reduced Radon's subsidy three-fold. The combine
is owed Rb370,461.52 [sic] and has no resources for safety equipment and
maintenance. Workers have not been paid, and Radon's growing debt totals
Rb135,072.
Ryzhenko reports that the combine is
on the verge of closing, and stresses the need for continued government
financing. It has been reported that in 1999, a proposal will be made that
Radon become financially self-sufficient, which would force it to cut almost
all offices (including the radiation control laboratory) and to increase
waste disposal fees by at least 800 percent.
Until 1997, federal and regional subsidies
and supplemental income enabled Radon to charge companies 16-20 times less
than cost for the processing of waste. Despite discounted rates, many companies
cannot afford waste disposal. As a result, the radioactivity level of accumulated
waste at local companies is now equivalent to that of all the waste that
Radon has buried since 1965.
Yekaterinburg
(For
major recent developments, see the
Nuclear Fuel
Cycle Developments file):
1/22/2000: POWER CABLE TO
NUCLEAR STORAGE FACILITY STOLEN
On 22 January 2000, Izvestiya reported that thieves made off with 5km of aluminum cable that had been providing energy
to a radioactive waste storage site near Yekaterinburg [most likely Radon
Yekaterinburg], leaving the facility's
reserve diesel-powered power station as its only source of electricity. As of
22 January 2000, the criminals had not yet been apprehended.
(For
major recent developments, see the
Nuclear Fuel
Cycle Developments file):
11/20/98: MINATOM DISCUSSES POTENTIAL SUBORDINATION
OF RADON
According to a 20 November 1998 article in Delovoy
Ural, Radon's subordination to the Ministry of Land Policy may soon
be changed. The Conception for the Treatment of Radioactive Waste and
the law On the Treatment of Radioactive Waste, passed by the State
Duma in November 1995, envisioned the creation of a national radioactive
waste enterprise (Kontsern RAO) to which Radon would be subordinate. However,
President Yeltsin sent the law back to the Duma for corrections, and it
has not yet been approved. In the meantime, the Chernomyrdin government
prepared to transfer Radon to Minatom.
These plans continued under Kirienko and Primakov. According to Anatoliy
Greshnyakov, director of the Radon Special Combine in Chelyabinsk, the
subordination of Radon to Minatom would adversely affect regional Radon
combines, burdening them with additional waste from new Minatom sources.
5/22/98: RADON ACTIVITY UPDATE
Radon specialists have taken a total
of 180,000 radiation measurements this year and have decontaminated 19
polluted areas in Moscow, Moscow Oblast, and Chechnya.
4/14/98: RADON TO PROCESS WASTE FROM MIRONOV MOUNTAIN
Arkhangelsk Oblast Environmental Protection Committee
Chairman Anatoliy Petrovich Minyayev identified the "soon-to-be catastrophic
condition of the waste site on Mironov Mountain in Severodvinsk" as the
most dangerous waste site in Arkhangelsk Oblast. According to Minyayev,
Sevmash
and Radon are working on the problem. Radon will process the contaminated
water that has accumulated at the facility. It is still undecided where
the solid waste will be stored.
6/6/96: RADON UNDERFINANCING CONTRIBUTES
TO NUCLEAR WASTE RECYCLING CRISIS
Radon adopted an appeal to the Russian
government, pointing to what the association sees as an acute crisis in
nuclear waste recycling in Russia brought on by severe underfinancing.
Five out of sixteen Radon combines are not fully operational because government
funds have been completely cut off. One of them, located in Grozny, Chechnya,
is shut down.
10/13/95: RADON TO RECEIVE
25 BILLION RUBLES
Russian Prime Minister Chernomyrdin
signed Edict No. 1422 on allocating 25 billion rubles in 1995 to Radon.
Page last updated 22 July 2003
Comments or questions? E-mail Cristina Chuen at MIIS CNS: cristina.chuenATmiis.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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