NIIAR Storage Facility

Nine Alfa-class submarine (NPS 900) reactors have been defuelled and their nine spent reactor cores (SRC) are stored in the storage facilities in Gremikha. Another SRC is stored in the test facility at Sosnovy Bor. Rosatom has decided that the final destination of all SRCs should be JSC “State Scientific Center - Research Institute of Atomic Reactors” (NIIAR), Dimitrovgrad, Ulyanovsk region. The necessary infrastructure for disassembling the cores will be established there and this will be followed by fuel reprocessing.

One of the facilities that need to be constructed is an accumulation pad for the casks (TUK-143) containing the SRCs. Each cask loaded with SRC will weigh 85 tonnes and will require specialised lifting equipment. The access rail road to the NIIAR site also needs repair and upgrading for transport of such heavy loads.

This project is very closely connected with other internationally funded projects to design and construct the SRC TUK-143 casks, to modify the TUK-108 casks for SFAs recovered from one SRC of NPS 900 reactor, and to design and procure the rail wagons and tilting devices for the TUK-143 casks.

On 20 August 2012, Rosatom requested cancellation of the grant as an alternative strategy for SRC management was now being proposed. The final destination of the SNF is now to be the Mayak reprocessing plant. At present the reprocessing technology for Alfa-class fuel developed by Mayak is more advanced than that at NIIAR, Dimitrovgrad. Rosatom has therefore decided to reprocess the Alfa-type SNF at Mayak and has funded research and development to upgrade the reprocessing technology to a production level.

The infrastructure now available in Gremikha for removing the SFAs from the SRC (NPS 900 and 901), and the current storage and transportation arrangements at Atomflot and Mayak means that it is possible to complete the entire SNF management strategy without the need to build additional expensive facilities at the NIIAR site (including hot cells, reprocessing plant etc. as well as that envisaged under this Grant Implementation Agreement (cask accumulation pad, upgrading the railway system). It is also expected that the whole programme can be achieved earlier than currently planned.

Rosatom therefore requested the cancellation of this grant because of the resulting cost savings and the more efficient use of the Russian budget and the NDEP Support Fund. Less than 1 per cent of the grant allocation has been disbursed.