Lepse service ship

Part of: Russian nuclear icebreakers fleet

The technical support vessel Lepse presents the biggest nuclear and radiation risk of all retired nuclear service ships in Russia. In 1988, the vessel was taken out of service, and, in 1990. The Lepse's SNF storage holds (in casks and caissons) 639 spent fuel assemblies (SFAs), and a significant portion of them is severely damaged. Extraction of the SFAs from storage holds would present a radiation risk and be a complex technical operation, the framework for which has still not been worked out. The ship is presently laid-up at Atomflot, which carries out service on nuclear powered icebreakers. Atomflot is located in the Kola Bay, two kilometres from the boarder of Murmansk city, which has population of 400,000. The ship is operated by joint stock company Murmansk Shipping Company (MSCo).

ARTICLES
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Bellona Archive

[ 22.02.2010 ]
PRESS-RELEASE: Bellona urges Rosatom head to expedite Lepse decommissioning
MURMANSK – Bellona has extended an open letter to the Russian nuclear authority’s head Sergei Kiriyenko asking that he clear the bureaucratic hurdles blocking the decommissioning of the Lepse, a technical support vessel which was used to defuel nuclear icebreakers and submarines and still has not been unburdened from the nuclear and radioactive waste stored in its holds. The Lepse is moored just two kilometres from residential buildings of the Far Northern city of Murmansk.
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Thomas Nilsen/Bellona

[ 30.10.2008 ]
Perspectives on the handling of spent nuclear fuel in Russia
In the period of a decade in the USSR, and thereafter in Russia, problems have amassed in the area of the handling of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and radioactive waste. According to statements by Rosatom, a long-term, officially accepted strategy for the handling of SNF (hereafter: “the Strategy”) does not exist. Consequently, an effective means of addressing the problem is also absent. At the end of September 2007, Rosatom officials considered and accepted a framework for the Strategy, but at present this document has not been revealed to the public.
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Bellona Archive

[ 02.06.2006 ]
Kick-off for the Lepse Expert Panel
In order to review Russian plans to remove spent nuclear fuel (SNF) on board the storage ship Lepse , and the decommission the vessel, an international expert panel called the “Lepse Expert Panel,” (LEP) has been inaugurated. This group met in Moscow on May 23rd for a kick-off meeting.
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NEWS
[ 08.02.2008 ]
EBRD to infuse Lepse dismantlement project with cash

The European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has agreed to fund the first part of a nuclear waste cleanup project of the “Lepse” nuclear service ship, the Barents Observer regional newspaper reported.

[ 22.02.2006 ]
Nuclear storage ship Lepse to be dismantled at Nerpa shipyard

The project on Lepse nuclear storage ship will be carried out at the Nerpa shipyard in Murmansk region, where Kursk submarine was previously scrapped.

[ 21.11.2005 ]
Russia signed contract on Lepse dismantling

Russian company Aspect-Konversia (Rosatom’s daughter company) signed a contract on implementation of Lepse storage ship dismantling.

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REPORTS
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Alexander Raube

[ 17.08.2004 ]
Nuclear Waste Ship Decommissioning: Different Approaches
Russian nuclear oversight officials consider technologies for decommissioning and dismantling the notorious Lepse radioactive waste storage ship that have earlier been suggested on Bellona Web to be "preferable" to other possible solutions under consideration. Bellona calls for a transparent environmental evaluation of dismantlement projects for the Lepse.
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