CEG-Newsletter (September 2013)

Germany

Regional Centre for Conditioning and Long Term Storage The construction of the Regional Centre for Radioactive Waste Conditioning and Long Term Storage, including the dismantlement shop, is carried out on time and is currently at the completion phase. The façade and roofing will be finished in October.

Inner engineering systems are being installed (heating, ventilation, water supply, sewage, electric power, lighting, low voltage and special systems).

Regional Centre for Radioactive Waste Conditioning and Long Term Storage

Façade installation on the workshop 30

Boiler room Engineering network

Ventilation system Power control board

In addition to the construction work, the manufacturing of technological and special equipment for caissons of radioactive waste management is being completed. This includes the equipment for cutting, waste conditioning, decontamination and final radiation control. Their transportation and installation at the Centre will start in autumn 2013.

The electric power equipment of the Centre (transformers, emergency diesel generators, batteries, power control systems for 6kV and 0.4 kV) has been manufactured in Germany, installed at the site and connected to the power supply line.

The cranes have been manufactured in Russia and supplied to the Centre. The equipment for treatment of liquid radioactive waste and a facility for sorting and packing medium level solid radioactive waste have been manufactured and currently are being supplied to the site.

An approach road to Saida Bay is also being built.

Road building

Completion and commissioning of the Regional Centre for Radioactive Waste Conditioning and Long Term Storage is planned for December 2014.

France and Russia

100t crane at Atomflot The French government is funding the mounting of a new 100t crane at Atomflot (purchased by Russia in ). The work is to be completed in autumn, and its licencing and commissioning is scheduled for the end of 2013. This will be an important infrastructural element at Atomflot for spent nuclear fuel transhipment to the Mayak plant.

Refurbishment of the Hot Cell at Mayak Plant The delivery of tools and equipment for the hot cell is underway and the assembly work started in autumn 2012. The refurbishment of the hot cell will be finished by the end of 2013. This cell is destined for treating damaged spent fuel assemblies from Gremikha, Andreeva Bay and also Sysoyeva Bay in the Russian Far-East.

Projects in Gremikha Studies have been carried out of long term storage for Alpha type SNF (up to 10 years storage) with cassettes of fuel in canisters placed in the TUK-108/1 casks. It was recommended as a good practice to fill up the canisters with argon inert gas, which has been effectively done

In the course of this work, a valuable experience was gained that will be used for dismantling the remaining spent reactor cores. The acquired knowledge is already used in the development of design drawings for the dismantlement project of reactor core # 910, where most of equipment from defueling the #900 will be reused.

Some new equipment might be required for disassembling the cassettes with SNF, where local alloy oxides might occur, to avoid possible sticking of SNF assemblies in the holes of the lower plate during the lifting process.

Overhaul works on Gremikha’s infrastructure have been done in 2013, particularly on systems and mechanisms of the SD-10 dry dock. In addition, a new 20t bridge crane was commissioned and a monitoring system is under installation on 75t bridge crane.

Italy

Andreeva Bay RW management project The Design Documentation (DDA) for the liquid treatment plant and container storage facility was completed and sent to GlavGosExpertiza (GGE) in February 2013. The DDA for storage facility has met all standards of GGE, while in relation to Liquid treatment plant GGE has released a set of comments, most of which were related to new ecological regulation in Russian Federation which went into force in April 2013. The new submission of DDA for the liquid treatment plant will be done until the end of September 2013. The open tender for the storage facility will be announced by September-October 2013, and for the liquid treatment facility by first quarter of 2014. Both tenders will be open to Russian suppliers.

Solid RW treatment facility. In accordance with a recommendation of , it was decided to provide remotely controlled equipment for waste retrieval from the already completed buildings 201 and 202. Waste characterization, sorting, preliminary treatment (decontamination, cutting and loading into 20” containers) will follow. These containers will be transported to Sayda Bay for final conditioning. Currently SOGIN and SevRAO are working on preparation of the list of needed equipment and related technical specification. The tender for equipment supply will be presumably launched in the first quarter of 2014.

Physical protection of the Rossita ship The installation and testing of physical protection equipment will be completed in September- October 2013, after that the ship will be ready to start waste transfer operations. Currently Rosatom and Atomflot are preparing a perspective plan for using the ship.

Alfa core casks contract The delivery of first container to Russia is expected in January-February 2014; the remaining 9 containers will follow; the last container will be delivered in the third quarter of 2014. The contract for certification is now under discussion between Italian and Russian parties

Welding operations of the first container for alpha reactor cores

Contract for the pontoon for shipment of submarine reactor units to Saida The dossier for the pontoon contract has been completed and agreed among the contractual parties; the contract is expected to be signed in September 2013.

Dismantlement of the Oscar class submarine In November 2012 Italy signed a contract for dismantlement of one more nuclear submarine, an Oscar #617 in cooperation with Rosatom and USA. This is the sixth submarine dismantlement financed by Italy. The third phase of the contract (defueling) was completed in May 2013. In accordance with a decision of the Russian side the defueling has been done not with PM-12 of the Russian Navy but with “Imandra” Ship and floating Crane “Chernomorets” of Atomflot.

Fuel discharge from the Oscar 617 nuclear submarine under dismantlement Japan

The construction of the Blast and Paint Facility for reactor compartments at DalRAO is steadily progressing. Japanese delegations have made two inspections of the site. The facility is to be completed in December 2013.

Norway

Cooperation agreement with the Russian Ministry of Defense Norway and Russia continue their successful cooperation in securing and preparations for removing spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste in Andreyeva Bay. On 20 March the Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority (NRPA) prolonged its cooperation agreement with the Russian Ministry of Defense (MOD) in this field. According to the agreement, the short-term safety cooperation will be tied to specific clean-up projects, while the long-term cooperation will focus more on general support to various Russian authorities, building relations, safety culture and interaction with more open processes. The NRPA has collaborated with the Russian MOD for years on regulating and improving nuclear and radiation safety in this area.

Revised nuclear action plan The Norwegian Government nuclear action plan for nuclear activities and the environment in northern areas was revised in 2013. The action plan was launched in April 1995, and has been revised four times. The main focus of activities is nuclear clean-up in Andreeva Bay, along with environmental monitoring in the Barents and Kara Seas.

Independent evaluation of the Norwegian RTG project in NV-Russia Between 2001 and 2009 Norway financed the removal, handling and transport of 180 RTGs from Northwest-Russia. The project has been evaluated as to the effectiveness of project management, as well as improvement in radiation safety, radiation security and environmental protection. The evaluation was finalized in January 2013 and the conclusions are that Norwegian funding has been instrumental in ensuring that the removal, handling and transport of the RTGs took place without any reported serious events with subsequent release of radioactivity to the environment or uncontrolled exposure to people. Improvements in radiation safety, security and environmental protection have been achieved. In connection with the completion of the Norwegian-Russian project to remove RTGs from the Russian part of the Baltic Sea, the Office of County Governor of Finnmark and NRPA visited the NIITFA Institute and the Mayak Plant to perform the final project inspection of handling these sources.

Cooperation with FSUE Atomflot Cooperation in the areas of Environmental Monitoring and Nuclear Safety has been initiated with FSUE Atomflot. Projects focused on improving environmental monitoring, nuclear and fire safety of and units located on the coastal territory of FSUE Atomflot are under development in cooperation between Institute for Energy Technology (IFE) and FSUE Atomflot.

NDEP nuclear window projects carried out by EBRD

Dismantlement of the Lepse floating maintenance base Lepse was transported to Nerpa Shipyard (Kola Peninsula) in September 2012 and is berthed there with stringent safety and security measures in place, including radiation monitoring and physical protection. A contract has been placed for preparatory work to upgrade the Nerpa Shipyard infrastructure and to fabricate sections of the ‘large storage package’ panels to be able to place Lepse on the slipway at Nerpa by the end of 2013. Development of the integrated technical design documentation for Lepse decommissioning is being completed under the leadership of Aspect-Conversion. This documentation is being reviewed by Russian scientific organisations providing support to Russian Regulatory Authorities. Once agreed with the Regulatory Authorities, the design documentation will be the basis for procurement of specialized equipment and facilities for dismantling of the ship, SNF recovery from the Lepse storage compartments and transport to Mayak and for management of solid and liquid radioactive waste.

SNF transportation system in Andreeva Bay The construction of the cask accumulation pad is completed and commissioning of this facility will be carried out in 2014 when the overhead crane and the trolley for 40-tonne cask transportation to the pier have been manufactured and delivered to the site for installation. The contract for construction of the Enclosure above the dry storage units (DSU) where the SNF is located was signed in March this year. The preparation of the construction site is on-going and several thousands of cubic meters of contaminated soil and concrete structures have been removed. The detailed working design for the construction of the facility is also underway. Contracts for the supply of the pier crane, the overhead cranes and the retrieval machine for SNF retrieval and transportation within the DSU are in place and progressing to schedule. The contract for manufacturing of the rail mounted trolleys for 40-tonne cask transportation on site is being prepared and will be signed shortly.

Preparation of the DSU Enclosure construction site

Decommissioning of Building 5 in Andreeva Bay NIKIET, supported by SevRAO, have performed additional surveys of the area near small right pool (of the former pool-type SNF storage facility) where 6 spent fuel assemblies (SFA) have been located. NIKIET have also developed the technology and specifications for the specialised equipment for SFA removal and the infrastructure improvements required. Procurement of the equipment and for the implementation of the SNF removal will be underway shortly.

Defuelling of the Papa-class submarine In May 2013 a contract was signed with Zvezdochka Shipyard to defuel two reactors of the Papa- class submarine. The scope of work includes preparation and testing of special defuelling equipment, development of the necessary design and operational documentation, training of the personnel, actual defuelling of the reactors and further management of radioactive waste. It is expected that the first reactor will be defueled next year and that the second reactor will be defueled early in 2015. This will then be the end of the Russian Programme for the decommissioning of the retired nuclear powered submarines.

Support to the Russian regulatory authorities during decommissioning of the Lepse floating maintenance base The overall purpose of this project is to provide technical support to the Russian Regulatory authorities: FMBA of Russia, Rostekhnadzor and Rosprirodnadzor to facilitate the regulatory supervision process for the Lepse decommissioning activities and consequently to contribute to the efficient and safe implementation of the Dismantling Project. A contract with a consortium of the Technical Support Organisations (of the Russian Federation) was signed in February 2013. The Technical Support Organisations have provided advice to the Russian Federation regulators with respect to the design of the ‘large storage packages’ for Lepse and with respect to the technical design of the Lepse ‘Shelter’ where the defuelling operations will be carried out. The procurement of international support to the Russian Federation regulatory authorities is currently underway.

Russia

Shipment of Volodarski vessel to Saida Bay In June the decommissioned floating nuclear maintenance ship Volodarski was safely relocated from the FSUE Atomdlot to the Long Term Storage Centre at Saida Bay for dismantlement. Volodarski was built in 1928 and in the 1970s and 1980s used for nuclear maintenance of ships. Atomflot and SevRAO have carried out extensive work on board the vessel placed in a dry dock to ensure safety of shipment. Volodarski was shipped by means of two tug boats and escorted by the Srebrianka service ship with an emergency team. Currently low and medium level radioactive waste are being unloaded from the ship. In October Volodarski is to be placed on the slipway. Its dismantlement is expected to be completed by the end of 2014. This project was funded from the Russian Programme for Nuclear and Radiation Safety.

Shipment of radioactive waste to Saida SevRAO carried out the first shipment of conditioned radioactive waste to the RW Conditioning and Storage Centre at Saida. Six 20” foot containers with packed RW have been transported by the Serebrianka ship. They were then unloaded and placed on a storage pad by means of equipment provided by Germany. Later containers with RW will be relocated to the RW Conditioning and Storage Centre when it is ready.

Loadingcontainers with RW into 20” containers Containers on a storage pad of Saida

Submarine dismantlement in the Far East By end of July two three-compartment submarine units had been dismantled by DalRAO to one- compartment units at the Long Term Storage Facility of Reactor Compartments at cape Ustrichnyi. The third three-compartment unit has been lifted to the slipway of the facility and is currently being dismantled to one-compartment unit. The work was done with the use of transport and lifting equipment provided by Japan.

Two submarine units stored at the Long Term Storage Facility of Reactor Compartments at cape Ustrichnyi

Sweden

Physical protection upgrades for the “Serebryanka” vessel at Atomflot In April 2013 the Swedish SSM signed a contract with Atomflot and Eleron on modernization of the physical protection system on the m/v Serebryanka designated for the transport of the spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste originating from decommissioned and dismantled nuclear submarines. The physical protection system will be in operation in mid-2014.

Upgrades for the physical protection system at the Nerpa Shipyard SSM has financed the replacement of the perimeter fence as a part of the physical protection system at the Nerpa shipyard where dismantlement works for various nuclear-powered vessels takes place. The project which includes both the technical reconstruction and material supply and the construction works will be finalized at the end of 2013. The supply of a special purpose monitoring equipment, including an independent energy supply and communication systems, is to be financed by Russian Federation in the last stage of the project.

Replacement of the perimeter fence at the Nerpa Shipyard Power Supply at Andreeva Bay SSM has agreed to fund the development of the design for the diesel generator system at Andreeva Bay. This project will be a part of the overall project for power supply at Andreeva Bay covering all three required categories of electrical power supply and consisting of transformers, UPS batteries and emergency diesel generators. The project will be funded by NDEP NW, Italy, Sweden and RF.

Establishment of a control dosimetry station at Andreeva Bay The SSM has signed a contract on establishing a dosimetry control station at the Andreeva Bay access point to the controlled zone of the site for vehicles, equipment and personnel. The project covers the entire infrastructure and all required equipment. The site acceptance test for the finalised dosimetry control station is expected to be approved at the end of 2013.

Provision of containers for the transportation of radioactive waste from Gremikha Bay Through a contract with SevRAO, SSM has delivered in September 2013 six 20-foot containers for transports of the radioactive waste from Gremikha Bay to Sayda Bay.

USA

DOE/NNSA RTG recovery program

In 2013, the U.S. Department of Energy / National Nuclear Security Administration (DOE/NNSA) funded the recovery of an additional 34 RTGs from the Northern Sea Route in Russia. The RTGs came from coastal sites located in the regions of Yamal, Gyda, and Taymyr. The removal of these RTGs was achieved using a combination of transportation methods including helicopter, plane, ship, and truck. Most of the RTGs have been disassembled and their radioactive heat sources are being sent to Mayak.

In March and May, a DOE/NNSA team conducted assessment and assurance visits at navigation installations along the Northern Sea Route. The team visited both pre- and post- RTG recovery sites and also viewed beacons where alternative power sources (APS) had been installed. These APS units were supplied by the U.S. and operate using solar energy.

This summer, 30 RTGs that were being stored at DalRAO were transferred to JSC Isotope for disassembly and disposal. Additionally, the U.S. recently signed contracts for the recovery of 14 more RTGs from the Taymyr Peninsula. The RTGs should be removed and transferred to secure storage by the end of October 2013, and their radioactive heat sources will later be sent to Mayak. This will be the final RTG recovery campaign that DOE/NNSA supports for the Northern Sea Route, as most of the work has been completed. Discussions are underway between the U.S. and Russia regarding future RTG activities.

RTG recovery from navigation beacon RTGs being loaded onto IL-76 plane

United States Department of Defense (U.S. DoD) work in Russia

Spent Nuclear Fuel (SNF) Transportation The Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) continued its partnership with Rosatom in 2013 by transporting of SNF from Oscar Hull #617 from Atomflot to the reprocessing facility at Mayak. The shipment was completed in May, following defueling. The secure rail shipment was the third shipment of spent submarine fuel provided by the U.S. DoD. A cooperative project with Italy supported the defueling.

DTRA plans to fund the modification of 15 additional TUK-108/1 casks and shipment to of the remaining nine liquid metal cooled reactor cores currently stored in Gremikha. These are in addition to 5 casks previously provided with the defueling of the Alfa Hull #900 reactor core.

A New Legal Framework for U.S.-Russian Cooperation in Nuclear Nonproliferation and Security

On June 14 in Washington, D.C., the U.S. and Russia signed a bilateral protocol on threat reduction that reinforces their longstanding partnership on nonproliferation. This new legal framework builds upon the success of the 1992 Agreement between the United States of America and the Russian Federation Concerning the Safe and Secure Transportation, Storage and Destruction of Weapons and the Prevention of Weapons Proliferation, commonly known as the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) Umbrella Agreement, which expired on June 17, 2013.

As long-time partners with a mutual interest in promoting nuclear security, the U.S. and the RF have successfully worked together on a broad range of activities designed to prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) by securing and eliminating WMD-related materials and technology, and engaging relevant expertise. This close cooperation will continue under a new framework that reflects the evolution of this longstanding partnership, recognizes common threats, and provides for the continuation of a range of cooperative projects to reduce nuclear threats. It also allows for the addition of new activities in the future.

Future joint nuclear security activities in the RF will be conducted under the 2003 Framework Agreement on a Multilateral Nuclear Environmental Programme in the Russian Federation (MNEPR) and the related bilateral protocol signed in Washington, D.C.