Radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel
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Thomas Nilsen/Bellona |
Wherever a nuclear installation operates, be it a nuclear power plant or a reactor aboard a submarine, there will always be radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel (SNF) to safely contain―for generations. At present, no country has come up with a way of safely storing its radioactive waste for longer than 50 years, meaning all current measures are temporary. SNF contains long-live isotopes such as plutonium, caesium, californium and other “hot” products from burning uranium fuel which are nearly impossible to dispose of long term safely without harm to humans and the environment. Other forms of radwaste, like liquid radioactive waste from submarines, parts of decommissioned reactors and Radioistotope Thermoelectric Generators are equally had to dispose of. Russia takes radwaste from other countries for a cost, but it can do little more than store it. The safest method for radwaste and SNF disposal is in underground geologic repositories, but even countries that are pursing such projects have overrun costs and discovered hazards along the way.
www.pim.org.ru
Bellona Murmansk
http://www.premier.gov.ru/
ST. PETERSBURG - Russia’s Federal Service for Environment, Technology and Nuclear Oversight (Rostekhnadzor) chief Nikolai Kutin confirmed a series of planned inspections to check observance of regulations governing spent nuclear fuel shipping at the Kola Peninsula Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), and the physical safety of nuclear material at the Smolenk NPP and the Mayak Chemical, the service’s press service said.
The number of storage sites for radioactive waste number in the thousands, and they are difficult to monitor, Yevgeny Yevstratov, deputy head of Russia’s state nuclear energy corporation, Rosatom told journalists in St. Petersburg.
Murmansk region hosted several meetings on nuclear and radiation safety last week.
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Every year since 1996, several railway trains leave the headquarters of the German branch of Urenco in Gronau heading toward the Russian Ural Mountains and Siberia. The trains carry so-called “uranium tailings” – a kind of radioactive waste generated during uranium reprocessing or enrichment. For years, environmentalists have been fighting this obvious, poorly disguised violation. For now, however, Russian prosecutors prefer to turn a blind eye to the “fruitful cooperation” between Urenco and Russia’s Tekhsnabexport.
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