Overview

As of January 2006, there was a total of 31 reactors in operation in Russia of which 11 are of RBMK type, 15 are VVER's, 4 are BWR’s and one is a fast breeder. 4 reactors have been decommissioned. As many as 118 research reactors have also been in operation since 1946.Up until March 2004 the Ministry of Atomic Power (MINATOM) had the responsibility for wastes from civilian nuclear power and from the production of nuclear weapons. Government oversight of the nuclear industry has now been split in two, with defence-related activities under the Ministry of Defence and civilian nuclear activities conducted by the new Federal Atomic Energy Agency (FAEA), part of a new Ministry of Industry & Energy......

The regulatory body in Russia was the ‘Federal Nuclear and Radiation Safety Authority of Russia’ (Gosatomnadzor, or GAN), which became responsible for licencing and inspection of all nuclear facilities, including military, under the law ‘On the Use of Nuclear Energy’, adopted in November 1995. In May 2004 GAN was subsumed within the Federal Service for Environmental, Technological, and Nuclear Oversight, by presidential decree.......

Management of L/ILW
Solid wastes are currently stored, unpackaged, in reinforced concrete compartments on the reactor sites. After storage in stainless steel tanks, liquid wastes are treated by evaporation and bituminised, then placed in 200-litre drums and stored on site in separate buildings.....

As regards the huge volumes of wastes in the Northern fleet area.....

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development released a summary of a draft Strategic Master Plan, agreed in co-operation with the government of Russia, in February 2005......

The Plan deals with...

Institutional wastes are handled separately from NPP wastes, and there is a network of.........

Work is underway to try and identify potentially suitable areas for the development of deep repositories....

Management of spent fuel/HLW
Russia plans to reprocess only spent fuel from certain commercial reactor types. There are no plans to reprocess RBMK fuel. VVER-440 fuel is reprocessed in the RT-1 plant, operated by the Mayak combine, at Chelyabinsk, in the Southern Urals, now also known as Ozersk. Spent fuel is stored in pools for approx. 3 years after transfer from the NPP's. Storage capacity is planned to be increased from 6000 to 9000 MtU by the end of 2004..........

Development of a strategy for spent fuel and HLW management and disposal is now the responsibility of the Russian Institute of Geology of Ore Deposits, Petrography, Mineralogy and Geochemistry (IGEM).......

5 possible locations for a repository have been identified.........It is also being proposed to investigate the possibility of developing waste disposal capabilities at.......