Demolished Russian Nuclear Submarine Reactors Find Safe Storage
A huge building containing equipment for dealing with the whole cycle of radioactive waste management is taking shape on the coast of the Barents Sea. Roofing and façade are finished now, and remaining inner engineering systems are being installed, reports the 'Barents Observer'. The complex in the Saida Bay will deal with all kinds of radioactive scrap from the huge reactor compartments of decommissioned nuclear submarines to contaminated metal parts from both the navy and Russia’s fleet of nuclear powered icebreakers.
Most Dangerous Ship in Europe Sails
Last voyage for Russian nuclear waste hulk 'Lepse' as she heads out of Murmansk Port for a lengthy decommissioning. Rosatomflot and Bellona have worked with many international partners and governments to develop a proper risk-assessment plan for a safe decommissioning of “Lepse” – and of course found funding for the work,” Frederic Hauge of the Bellona Fournation told the 'Barents Observer'. Getting “Lepse” safely out of Murmansk and decommissioned has been a high profile case for Europe’s nuclear safety cooperation with Russia in the north for nearly two decades. In 2008, the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) granted €43 million to the decommission work. When the vessel arrives at the Nerpa naval yard the damaged spent nuclear fuel will have to be removed.
Last Cold War Russian Nuclear Sub Scrap Contract
But 'Barents Observer' notes there are still more than 70 reactor compartments to be taken safely onshore from storage in Saida Bay, west of Murmansk near the border with Norway. Rosatom, Russia’s State Atomic Energy Corporation has for years been looking for a funder to cover the costs of scrapping the last of the 120 retired nuclear powered submarines that sailed in the Northern fleet during the Cold War. Now, Italy agrees to pay €7 million to cut out the reactor-compartment from the submarine, currently laid up at Nerpa naval yard on the Kola Peninsula, according to 'AtomInfo'. The United States will grant €1 million to cover the cost of transportation of the spent nuclear fuel from the submarines two reactors to Russia’s reprocessing plant in Mayak in the South Urals.
