589 



NS's with damaged cores, which is impossible with current technology Abroad, such damaged 

 NS's are placed whole in underground repositories for long-term storage. 



The removal of SNfF from other NS's requires properly equipped transfer points and suffi- 

 cient capacity for its storage. 



As of January 1, 1993, the Northern Fleet was storing 3,000 bundles with SFA's. Since each 

 bundle contains seven FA's, the total number of SFA's is 21,000. 



The Murmansk Maritime Shipping Line is storing SFA's on the tenders Lepse. Imandra, and 

 Loiia. They hold a total of about 4,500 SFA's, and their reserve storage capacity is practically ex- 

 hausted. Conditions of removal of SFA's are just as unfavorable for the Murmansk Maritime 

 Shipping Line as for the Navy The repository aboard the Lepse is damaged, with a current activi- 

 ty of 750,000 Ci (and 17,000 Ci of that is due to long-lived and toxic transuraruan elements). 



However, the Navy and the Murmansk Maritime Shipping Line have not decided to send 

 SFA's which are damaged, come from reactor cores with liquid metal coolant, or are being stored 

 in containers at outdoor sites for reprocessing. 



As a result of the unsatisfactory organization of work to provide timely removal of SNF from 

 units of the Russian Navy to reprocessing plants of the Russian Ministry of Atomic Energy, exist- 

 ing SRW storage facilities are overflowing, both in the Navy and, to a lesser extent, in the Mur- 

 mansk Maritime Shipping Line and at enterprises of the former USSR Ministry of the Shipbuild- 

 ing Industry. Sufficient capacity for compacting solid (flammable) RW exists only at the Mur- 

 mansk Maritime Shipping Line's Nuclear Fleet Radio Regiment, but it has not set up a special 

 system for treatment of LRW The Navy lacks such systems. 



At present, on orders from the Russian Ministry of Defense's Navy, industry has manufac- 

 tured 50 TK-VG-18 containers, whose use will support the disposal of SNF, but their use is being 

 held up by the fleets' lack of SNF transshipment terminals (their creation is planned for 1998). 

 According to schedules, the Navy is prepared to dispose of SNF beginning in mid- 1993 using the 

 TK-VG-18 containers. 



4.2. Problems in Recycling Decommissioned Nuclear Submarines and Handling 

 Spent Nuclear Fuel and Other Radioactive Waste in the Far Eastern Area 



The shore bases and ships of the Pacific Fleet store 1,200 packing bundles (8,400 SFA's). 



Only four reactor compartments have been prepared for long-term storage. As in the North- 

 em Fleet, the problem of SNF storage facilities is extremely critical: they are overflowing and do 

 not comply with international requirements. The condition of low- and intermediate-level SRW 

 storage facilities also does not comply with these requirements. 



Storage facilities for SFA's at floating maintenance centers for reactor refueling are in a dan- 

 gerous condition, and the SFA's cannot be removed. Moreover, damaged reactors from three 

 NS's are being stored with nuclear fuel, and the SFA's cannot be removed from them. This is 

 creating a problem with future disposal of these reactor units. 



Thus, the Pacific Fleet, like the Northern Fleet, lacks regional strategies for handling RW and 

 SNF that specify and develop all technological operations involving RW from the time of produc- 

 tion until disposal. A consistent technical policy in this vital area of fleet activity can be termed 

 lacking. Developers and manufacturers of nuclear-powered ships and vessels are not properly co- 

 ordinating their actions with local governing bodies. Their disregard for the interests of these 

 bodies is absolutely intolerable at present. 



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