Decommissioning of Russian nuclear-powered vessels

The nuclear waste problem of the Russian Navy created by the operation, decommissioning and dismantling of nuclear reactor powered ships, including submarines. A solution to dispose of long-term safety of high -level waste, you do not know yet.

Marine

The Russian Navy emerged from the Soviet Navy, and also took over largely to their arrangement. In particular, the Northern Fleet and the Pacific Fleet have nuclear-powered ships. The first atomic reactor -powered submarine, the K-3 Leninsky Komsomol in 1958 was put into service.

Your naval bases have the ships, among others in the Arctic Ocean ( Gadschijewo, Bolshaya Lopatka, Malaya Lopatka, Nerpitschja, Polyarny etc. ) and the Pacific ( Pawlowski Bay, etc.).

From 1955 until the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, 240 nuclear submarines were produced with nuclear propulsion. Of these, in the spring of 2010, about 40 in the Russian fleet in operation.

Disposal

Many ships decommissioned allowed to initially lie in the naval bases. In the Sajda Bay in 2000 lay moored about 120 decommissioned nuclear submarines.

Fuel rods and the like from the operation and from the disposal will be in a number of plants stored ( Andreeva Bay, etc.).

The Yablokov report of 1993 by Alexei Vladimirovich Yablokov pointed out that the Soviet Union had sunk at this time waste with a radiation of 2.4 million curies (89 quadrillion becquerels ), including 18 reactors from submarines or from an icebreaker:

The report contained a number of other examples.

In addition to the problems of disposal there are also problems caused by accidents:

• The nuclear reactor -powered K -219 sank in 1986 with reactors and 30 nuclear warheads to the seabed
• The nuclear reactor -powered K -278 Komsomolets sank in 1989, of the warheads were found traces of plutonium released
• The K -159 sank in 2003 with two decommissioned nuclear reactors

Problem

For example, the Motowski Bay is noticeably affected by radioactivity.

The magazine Report Mainz reported in late September 2012 that officials of the Russian Ministry of the Environment an uncontrolled chain reaction in the K -27 expected in which the fuel rods are destroyed and release the nuclear fuel. According to an unpublished draft of a State Council report, the K -27 must be raised to 2014 to avoid this scenario. The K -159 must therefore be lifted by 2014, as their protective barriers are not sufficient.

According to the Russian State Institute for Radiation Protection ( IBRAE ) escape from the K -27 since their demise 851 million annually Becquerel radioactivity. Show underwater shots that vessels have holes.

Solution attempts

The G8 countries adopted at the Summit in 2002, a 20 - billion - dollar program against the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and materials. Most of it flows to Russia.

In the Sajda Bay was established in 2006 with the participation of the G8 a long-term interim storage facility for nuclear waste of the Northern Fleet.

As of 2014, the radioactive waste to Mayak plant to be transported.

Despite the efforts of recent years are still old reactor compartments of decommissioned submarines in the Russian ports. For example:

• On the Kola Peninsula ( Northern Fleet ): 69 ° 14 ' 50 "N, 33 ° 14 ' 48" O69.247233.246702777778
• In the Awatscha Bay ( Pacific Fleet ): 52 ° 53 ' 43 "N, 158 ° 26' 15" O52.8952158.43758333333
• Near Vladivostok ( Pacific Fleet ): 42 ° 54 ' 15 " N, 132 ° 21' 16" O42.904119444444132.354475, approximately 300m south-east is a similar temporary storage as that of Sajda - bay under construction ( since around 2005, concrete surface and building with red roof )