Murmansk, July 22, 2020 – Rosatom organizations are carrying out the final works on removing the main bulk of spent nuclear fuel from the Lepse floating maintenance base (FMB) at Nerpa Shipyard’s JSC Zvezdochka.
The last of the six batches of spent fuel assemblies was loaded into TUK-18 packing containers and was transported on board the Serebryanka service ship to an FSUE «Atomflot» special storage site. As a result of the activities started in May 2019, 620 spent fuel assemblies have been cut out and unloaded from the service vessel using specifically designed technologies and unique equipment.
«In a short period of time and in difficult radiation conditions Rosatomflot specialists carried out exceptional work having unloaded substandard spent fuel assemblies», said Mustafa Kashka, Director General of FSUE Atomflot. «Radiation exposure level of the personnel did not exceed control levels and average annual rates. We have taken an important step in strengthening environmental security in the Barents Euro-Arctic region».
«Lepse dismantlement is an internationally significant environmental project», said Alexander Zhelnin, Director General of NFC Logistics Center. «Unloading of the last batch of spent nuclear fuel marked a successful completion of the project within the framework of international technical assistance. The remaining 19 spent fuel assemblies that are currently located in the caissons are planned for unloading in 2021 by means of the federal budget».
As of today, 97% of all spent nuclear fuel from Lepse has been unloaded, and 24 containers with the spent nuclear fuel have been already sent for processing to the Mayak nuclear facility.
«Beginning last year the maximum pace of spent nuclear fuel removal from the storage facilities at Andreeva Bay, Gremikha camp and the Lepse FMB has been achieved. At the same time the total radioactivity of the removed nuclear materials is about half a million curies, which makes it possible to create a zone without nuclear hazardous facilities in the North-West of Russia, which is especially important for the environment», noted Director for Public Policy on Radioactive Waste, Spent Nuclear Fuel and Nuclear Decommissioning at State Corporation Rosatom Oleg Kryukov.
Background
Dry cargo ship Lepse was built in 1934 and was converted into a floating maintenance base in 1961. Before 1981 the floating maintenance base provided nuclear fuel recharging for nuclear icebreaker reactors. After 1981 Lepse was used only for storing spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste. In 1988 the Lepse floating maintenance base was decommissioned.
In 1996 the project was included in the TACIS (Technical Assistance to the CIS countries) program with funding allocated for a spent nuclear fuel assessment. since 2008 the project has been financed on the basis of the grant agreement between the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Rosatom State Corporation and NFC Logistics Center (commissioner and project coordinator). The total amount of financing provided by the EBRD from the Northern Dimension Environmental Partnership Fund was 54 million euro.
After FSUE Atomflot conducted a comprehensive radiation assessment of the vessel in 2011 (including by means of the Federal Target Program «Ensuring Nuclear and Radiation Safety for 2008 and for the period up to 2015») and preparatory works (docking with partial hull conversion, removal of dischargeable weight, recovery of propping materials and decontamination, installation of additional equipment etc.), the Lepse floating maintenance base was towed to Nerpa Shipyard in 2012.
In 2008 an initial executive grant agreement was concluded for the dismantlement of Lepse, the recipient of which is NFC Logistics Center (JSC «LC NFC») and the manager - the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. The aim of the project is to improve the radiation situation and eliminate a serious environmental hazard in the region by removing spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste from the Lepse floating maintenance base and transferring it to reprocessing or temporary storage.