464 



Greenpeace Vladivoitok Report 

 6 November 1991 



shipment. 



To eliminate the release of aerosob when the top of the reactor is lifted, there is an 

 apparatus which vacuums in the air around the top of tbie reactor. This air is filtered several 

 times and then released into the atmosphere. 



The officers claimed that aewct submarines have fuel that lasts the life of the submarine. 

 Older submarines are refuelled every S-10 years. Newer submarine fuel is in the form of cross- 

 shaped rods. Older fuel is in the shape of round rods. 



Discussions with Moscow and Northern Fleet specialists in September 1991, indicated the 

 fuel is enriched to the 40^ percent range. The assistant chief of refuelling, however, insisted 

 the reactors in the exploded Victor submarine were only 20 percent enriched. An officer from 

 the chemical service said each reactor contained 47 kg of uranium-23S, but he did not know what 

 percentage of enrichment this represented. 



In terms of other refuelling techniques: Perovskiy in his Izvest^ letter claimed the 

 refuelling methods used by the Soviet Navy were archaic and basically unchanged from thirty 

 years ago. He wrote, 'the chief protagonist when cores are being removed Grom reactors remains 

 the sailor with a sledgehammer.* 



The Navy officers said Perovskiy's letter was essentially correct, except sledgehammers 

 only need to be used to knock lose stuck fuel rods or other material approximately one eveiy ten 

 times. They also noted this procedure is made more difficult when there have been accidents. 



They said approximately five submarines a year were refuelled a year between the Bolshoi 

 Kamen and Chazma Bay facilities. 



B. Waste 



The assistant chief of the nuclear reactor refuelling section of the Pacific Fleet provided 

 some information on the amount of waste generated by a single submarine during refuelling or 

 decommissioning. He said the weight of liquid waste (coolant, washing waters, etc) fiom 

 refuelling a twin-reactor submarine is 50-80 tons. Solid waste from refuelling a submarine has a 

 volume of 15-20 cubic meters (this number includes resins from ion-exchangers, but not the fuel). 

 The volume of the spent fuel is 2-3 cubic meten. Filtered washing waters are loaded aboard a 

 support ship and are diunped at sea. 



One regional storage point for nuclear waste is at the tip of the Shkotovo peninsula, 

 identified in military documents as Installation 927-III According to the Navy officers, some 

 storage areas are full at the facility, but others are still mostly empty. There are plans to expand 

 the storage facilities to handle more waste. The new areas should be ready by 199S. 



10 



