RUSSIA: MAYAK REPROCESSING FACILITIES This section presents information about reprocessing facilities at Mayak including the RT-1 Spent Fuel Reprocessing Facility, the Radioisotope Plant, Plant B, and Plant BB. It also includes Mayak Spent Fuel Reprocessing Developments. RT-1 SPENT FUEL REPROCESSING FACILITY DIRECTOR: Vladimir Sazhkov [A. Mikushin, "A 'Nuclear Train'," Gudok, 9 February 1995, p. 4; in "Rail Transport Of Spent Nuclear Fuel To 'Mayak' Plant," FBIS-SOV-95-033-S.] ACTIVITIES: RT-1 was commissioned in 1977 to reprocess spent fuel from VVER-440, BN-350, BN-600, research, and naval propulsion reactors.[1,9] Most of the feed is from VVER-440 reactors. This is the only Russian facility that reprocesses spent power reactor fuel.[2] Starting in 1978, fuel containing uranium reprocessed at Mayak has been used in BN-350, BN-600 and RBMK reactors, and more recently in VVER-1000s.[1]  The plant's nominal reprocessing capacity (based on spent fuel from the VVER-440 reactors) is 400 tons of spent fuel per year. Yevgeniy Dzekun, chief engineer at RT-1, estimates the historical average throughput of spent fuel at RT-1 to be 200MT of heavy metal per year (MTHM/yr.)  In 1991 and 1992, respectively, 170 and 120MT of spent fuel were reprocessed at RT-1.[7] According to Western estimates, RT-1 reprocessed 124MTHM in 1993 and 160MTHM in 1994. In 1995, RT-1 Director Yevgeniy Dzekun reported that the facility would reprocess at least 150MTHM. In June 1997, Minatom confirmed Dzekun's reprocessing figures for 1995 and reported that RT-1 had reprocessed "slightly more" than 100MTHM in 1996.[8] In 2000, according to Mayak Director Vitaliy Sadovnikov, RT-1 had reprocessed 126.4t.[10] As of November 1995, 3,000MT of spent fuel had been reprocessed at RT-1, corresponding to about 30MT of reactor-grade plutonium. This plutonium is stored at Mayak in the form of powdered plutonium dioxide.[1,5]  According to the official Minatom web site, RT-1 had reprocessed 3,500t of spent fuel by the year 2001, including 3,100t of fuel from VVER-440 reactors.[9] Almost all uranium extracted from the spent fuel is sent to the Ust-Kamenogorsk fuel fabrication plant in Kazakhstan; very little remains at the plant.[3] However, some VVER-440 uranium solution (containing typically 1.3 percent U-235) is blended with HEU to produce uranium with an enrichment level of about 2.0 percent for RBMK reactor fuel.[6]  The RT-1 facility is made up of a spent fuel storage pool, three chopping-dissolution process lines, and a modified PUREX process.[4] High-level liquid radioactive waste from the reprocessing is converted into a glass-like material at the Vitrification Plant and then stored in special containers.[9] (See also the information on Plant B, below). Sources: [1] Valeriy Bogdan, Victor Murogov, Vladimir Kagramanyan, Mikhail Troyanov, "Ispolzovaniye plutoniya v Rossii," Yadernyy kontrol, November 1995, pp. 13-17. [2] A. Mikushin, "A 'Nuclear Train'," Gudok, 9 February 1995, p. 4; in "Rail Transport Of Spent Nuclear Fuel To 'Mayak' Plant," FBIS-SOV-95-033-S. [3] Ye. G. Dzekun, "Praktika obrashcheniya s delyashchimisya materialami na PO 'Mayak'," Byulleten Tsentra Obshchestvennoy Informatsii po Atomnoy Energii, No. 3-4, 1995, pp. 13-14. [4] Oleg Bukharin, Osnovnyye Elementy Yadernogo Toplivnogo Tsikla v Byvshem SSSR i Rossii (Moscow: Ministry of Foreign Affairs Publishing House, September 1992), p. 11. [5] V. A. Sidorenko, "O kontseptualnykh aspektakh razvitiya yadernoy energetiki Rossii do 2010 g," Byulleten Tsentra Obshchestvennoy Informatsii po Atomnoy Energii, No. 11-12, 1995, pp. 9-12. [6] Oleg Bukharin, "Security Of Fissile Materials In Russia," Annual Review of Energy and Environment, 1996, Vol. 21, p. 477. {Entered 8/13/97, SA} [7] Mark Hibbs, "RT-1 Operation Faces Operation Cost Crisis, Uncertain Future Demand Schedule," NuclearFuel, 1 January 1996, Vol. 21. [8] "Minatom Seeks to Revive Foreign Reprocessing Contracts for RT-1,"  Nuclear Fuel, 30 June 1997, pp. 7-8. {Updated  7/12/00 SS} [9] "Zavod po regeneratsii obluchennogo yadernogo topliva (RT-1)," Minatom Web Site, http://www.minatom.ru. [10] "Stoimost modernizatsii zavoda RT-1 otsenivayetsya generalnym direktorom PO Mayak v summu ot 250 mln rub. do 4 mlrd rub." NAUFOR, News Wire SKRIN "Emitent," 16 May 2001; in Minatom Press Digest, http://www.minatom.ru/, 17 May 2001. {Updated 7/25/2001 ES} STATUS: Since 1991, the reprocessing of foreign spent fuel has become the main source of revenue for Mayak, and has served to cover the cost of domestic spent fuel reprocessing.[1]  Spent fuel is stored in a cooling pond for three years before being chemically reprocessed to separate the fuel-grade plutonium and uranium from the radioactive waste, which is then vitrified.[6]  According to Deputy Director Yuriy Glagolenko, changes in domestic legislation that require reprocessed and vitrified waste to be returned to supplier countries had forced Mayak to temporarily withdraw from the foreign spent-fuel reprocessing market.[6] (For details, see the entry from 15 March 2000 below.) According to Victor Fetisov, general director of Mayak Production Association, only 34.5 percent of Mayak's activities are devoted to defense orders; most of its capacity is used for transporting and reprocessing spent fuel.[2]  Bukharin states that as of 1995, the net profit of the RT-1 reprocessing plant was probably no more than $10 million.[1] Vek reports that the Chelyabinsk Oblast administration collects 50 percent of the money Mayak earns from spent fuel reprocessing.[2] According to a presidential edict, 25 percent of the hard currency earned from reprocessing imported spent fuel must be split between resolving environmental problems at Mayak (12.5 percent) and addressing social issues within Chelyabinsk Oblast (12.5 percent).  Mayak officials reported that in the late 1990s the proceeds from reprocessing spent fuel at the combine made up more than 97 percent of the oblast's hard currency budget.[7]     Until 1996, Mayak Production Association had contracts with nuclear utilities from Finland, Germany, Hungary, Ukraine, and Bulgaria.  By 1996, however, Bulgaria, Germany, and Finland had stopped using Mayak's services.[2]  Before 1996, the Finnish reprocessing contract was one of Mayak's most lucrative. Minatom's reprocessing arrangements with the Finnish utility Imatran Voima Oy (IVO) date back to an agreement between IVO and the USSR covering spent fuel from the two VVER-440 units at Loviisa.[1]  Loviisa's last shipment to Mayak took place in December 1995.[3]  According to Bukharin, the Finnish Trade and Industry Ministry has prepared legislation banning shipments of spent fuel to Mayak after 1996, citing safety and environmental concerns.[1]   Both Bukharin and Vek state that Finland has switched to storing its spent fuel domestically in an interim dry storage facility.[1,2]  According to NuclearFuel, however, as of January 1996, Finland still had not decided whether to keep sending spent fuel to Mayak.[3]  In January 1995, an initial shipment of approximately 60 MTHM of spent fuel was sent to Russia from Hungary, under a spent fuel return agreement signed on 1 April 1994.  Hungary still wants to continue sending spent fuel to Mayak, but has been constructing its own interim dry storage facility in order to gain flexibility in its spent fuel contract in the future.[1]  RT-1 Chief Engineer Yevgeniy Dzekun said that the management of Hungary's Paks plant is concerned with the consequences of Russian legislation passed in 1995, which requires RT-1's foreign customers to take back high-level reprocessing waste (HLW) in vitrified form after 25 years of interim storage. Dzekun suggested that the new interim storage facility in Hungary could be licensed to store HLW.  Yevgeniy Mikerin, head of Minatom's fuel cycle operations, said that as of January 1996, both Paks and IVO were paying "somewhat less" than the Western price, according to Minatom's policy to "slightly undercut market prices."[3] In September 1998, Bulgaria's Kozloduy nuclear power plant sent 240 tons of spent nuclear fuel to PO Mayak for reprocessing, and in February 1999, Kozloduy officials announced that the plant would send another 240 spent nuclear fuel casks to be reprocessed at Mayak.[5] According to a July 2000 report aired on  RTR Television, Mayak only reprocesses nuclear fuel from domestic nuclear power plants and icebreakers.[6]  Negotiations for reprocessing spent fuel from Bulgarian and Czech nuclear power plants were ongoing in early 2000.[4] Sources: [1] Oleg Bukharin, "Future of the Reprocessing Business at the RT-1 Plant," Selected Papers from Global' 95, pp. 175-181. [2] "Biznes na yadernom musore," Vek, 23-29 May 1997,  No. 17-18, p. 18. [3] Mark Hibbs, "RT-1 Operation Faces Operation Cost Crisis, Uncertain Future Demand Schedule," NuclearFuel, 1 January 1996, vol. 21, no. 1, pp. 10-11. {Entered 12/97 EV} [4] "Mayak v 2000 godu pererabotayet 100-125 tys. tonn otrabotannogo yadernogo topliva," Interfax, 15 March 2000.{entered 5/12/00 FW} [5] "We Send Russia 240 Cassettes with Used Nuclear Fuel," Kontinent, 16 February 1999, p. 10; in "Some 240 Used Nuclear Fuel Cassettes to be Sent to Russia,"  FBIS Document FTS19990216000861. [6] Lyudmila Shesterkina, "Federation" television broadcast, 8 July 2000; in "Mayak-Spent-Fuel-Processing Plant Profiled," FBIS Document CEP20000710000289. [7] "'Mayak' za nedelyu (17-23 aprelya 2000 g.)," PO Mayak Web Site, http://www.ozersk.ru/mayak.   {Entered 7/12/00 SS}   RADIOISOTOPE PLANT ACTIVITIES: This facility, also known as Plant 45, was set up in 1962, and uses some production equipment originally intended for use as a second reprocessing line in Plant BB.  The plant produces and separates special isotopes used for various industrial, agricultural, and medical applications, including radioisotope thermoelectric generators.  In 1992, Mayak and Amersham International (UK) announced the creation of a joint venture, Reviss Services, under which special isotopes produced at the Radioisotope Plant would be turned into finished goods and marketed by Amersham. [Thomas Cochran, et al., Making the Russian Bomb:  From Stalin to Yeltsin (Boulder: Westview Press, 1995), pp. 79-80, 90-91.] {Entered 4/20/99 LBN}   PLANT B ACTIVITIES: Construction for this facility, also known as Building 101, Plant 25, and the predecessor of RT-1, began in December 1946.  In December 1948, the facility began reprocessing material from production reactor A, using a process developed by the Radium Institute.  This process was changed after the 1957 explosion of a liquid waste tank. Output was steady until 1959, when it began to decline, and in the 1960s, production virtually stopped.  In the mid-1970s, new equipment and technology was installed,[1] and in 1977, a new facility, RT-1, was commissioned on site.[2] Sources: [1] Thomas Cochran, et al., Making the Russian Bomb:  From Stalin to Yeltsin (Boulder: Westview Press, 1995), pp. 79-83.] [2] "Zavod po regeneratsii obluchennogo yadernogo topliva (RT-1)," Minatom Web Site, http://www.minatom.ru. {Entered 4/20/99 LBN} {Updated 7/25/2001 ES}   PLANT BB ACTIVITIES: The construction of this facility, also called Plant 35, began in 1954, and was completed in 1959.  The plant was built to provide a safer process for plutonium extraction.  The acetate precipitation process used in Plant B was repeated twice at Plant BB (hence the name), and the final product was plutonium oxide.  The plant was originally designed to have two production lines, but the first line was more effective than originally projected, and construction of the second line was therefore halted.  The buildings intended for this second line were later taken over by the Radioisotope Plant.  It is assumed that this plant was shut down at approximately the same time that Mayak's first two production reactors were shut down, and reprocessing stopped in 1987. [Thomas Cochran, et al., Making the Russian Bomb:  From Stalin to Yeltsin (Boulder: Westview Press, 1995), pp. 79-83.] {Entered 4/20/99 LBN}   MAYAK SPENT FUEL REPROCESSING DEVELOPMENTS:   5/16/2001: MAYAK WORKERS CAMPAIGN FOR RENEWAL OF FOREIGN SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL REPROCESSING  Fourteen thousand PO Mayak workers signed a letter addressed to the members of the Russian State Duma calling for the passage of legislation allowing reprocessing of foreign spent nuclear fuel in Russia. As of May 2001, the RT-1 Spent Fuel Reprocessing Facility was utilizing only a quarter of its capacity. ["Rabochiye 'Mayaka' - za pererabotku yadernogo topliva," Strana.ru, http://ural.strana.ru/print/990002293.html, 16 May 2001.] {Entered 7/19/2001 RA}    5/15/2001: PO MAYAK GENERAL DIRECTOR SPEAKS ON MODERNIZING RT-1 PO Mayak General Director Vitaliy Sadovnikov estimated that the cost of modernization of the RT-1 Spent Fuel Reprocessing Facility could range from 250 million rubles ($8.6 million as of 15 May 2001) to 4 billion rubles ($137.7 million as of 15 May 2001). According to Sadovnikov, the modernization of the reprocessing plant could be fully funded by Mayak itself if it had a sufficient number of contracts for spent nuclear fuel reprocessing. RT-1 is capable of reprocessing up to 450t of spent fuel a year. However in 2000 only 126.4t were reprocessed, engaging the plant at only 30% of its capacity. Sadovnikov pointed out that modernizing RT-1 would allow the facility to reprocess spent fuel not only from VVER-440, BN-600, research, and naval propulsion reactors, but also from VVER-1000 reactors, which are more widespread in the nuclear industry than VVER-440s. Seven nuclear power plants (NPPs) in Russia, 10 NPPs in Ukraine, and two NPPs in Bulgaria are viewed as potential clients for VVER-1000 fuel reprocessing; these reactors produce up to 400t of fuel per year. The RT-2 plant in Zheleznogorsk, which is designed to process VVER-1000 fuel, is still under construction and no funds have been allocated for its completion. According to Sadovnikov, financial and technical projects for RT-1 modernization, on the other hand, were practically finalized by former Minister of Atomic Energy Yevgeniy Adamov. Whether the project will be included in the agenda of the new Minatom administration is yet to be decided. ["Stoimost modernizatsii zavoda RT-1 otsenivayetsya generalnym direktorom PO Mayak v summu ot 250 mln rub. do 4 mlrd pub." NAUFOR, News Wire SKRIN "Emitent"; in Minatom Press Digest, http://www.minatom.ru/, 17 May 2000, 16 May 2001.] {Entered 7/19/2001 RA}    4/20/2001: AMENDED RUSSIAN ENVIRONMENTAL LAW DOES NOT AUTOMATICALLY GUARANTEE MAYAK NEW CONTRACTS FOR SPENT FUEL REPROCESSING  Yevgeniy Ryzhkov, head of the PO Mayak public relations department, said that Mayak used to earn about $60 million annually from reprocessing foreign spent fuel before the import of foreign spent fuel was prohibited by Russian law. Because of current legal restrictions, in 2000 Mayak had no contracts with foreign countries for reprocessing, lost potential revenues, and was not able to contribute to environmental programs. If the law is amended, Mayak can renew negotiations on reprocessing with Bulgaria, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Finland, and Germany. However, there is no guarantee that contracts with the countries that have Soviet-built reactors will be renewed automatically. Ryzhkov also added that waste from the reprocessed foreign spent fuel would remain in Russia for 30 years, then be vitrified and sent back to these countries. ["Popravki k zakonu o poryadke obrashcheniya s radioaktivnymi materialami eshche ne garantiruyut ozerskim atomshchikam polucheniya sverkhdokhodov," Ural-Press-Inform, 20 April 2001; in Integrum Techno: http://www.integrum.ru.] {Entered 4/27/01ES}  11/30/2000: MINATOM ANNOUNCES MODERNIZATION OF RT-1 PLANT, BUILDING OF RT-2 PLANT TO BE COMPLETED BY 2015 In November 2000, Russian Ministry of Atomic Energy (Minatom) representative Boris Nikipelov announced at a St. Petersburg conference that Minatom plans to modernize the RT-1 plant at Mayak between 2001 and 2006.  Nikipelov also stated that the RT-2 plant at the Zheleznogorsk Mining and Chemical Combine, which has only been partially completed, would be ready to reprocess spent fuel by 2015.   ["V blizhayshiye 5 let Minatom RF nameren modernizirovat zavod po pererabotke obluchennogo yadernogo topliva RT-1," RosBiznesKonsalting, 30 November 2000.] {Entered 12/14/2000 GD}   4/24/2000: MINATOM SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COUNCIL MEETS IN OZERSK On 24 April 2000, Minatom's Science and Technology Council convened a two-day meeting in Ozersk to discuss proposed reconstruction of PO Mayak's RT-1 Spent Fuel Reprocessing Facility, which currently reprocesses spent fuel from VVER-440 and BN-600 reactors. The proposal would expand RT-1's reprocessing activities and enable the facility to reprocess spent fuel from VVER-1000 reactors. According to materials published on PO Mayak's home page, Minatom will finance the reconstruction project, which should be completed by 2004. First Deputy Minister of Atomic Energy Valentin Ivanov, Minatom's Nuclear Fuel Cycle Department Head Vladimir Shidlovskiy and leading specialists from PO Mayak took part in the meeting. ["'Mayak za nedelyu (24-30 aprelya 2000 g.)," PO Mayak Web Site, http://www.ozersk.ru/mayak.] {Entered 6/26/00 SS}   4/21/2000: REGIONAL LEGISLATORS DISCUSS FINANCING, TOUR MAYAK For details, please see the 4/21/00 entry in the PO Mayak Developments file. {Entered 6/26/00 ES}   4/2000: MINATOM REPROCESSED 160 TONS OF NPP SPENT FUEL IN 1999 In Minatom's April 2000 announcement of the previous year's accomlishments, the ministry reported that in 1999 it reprocessed 160 metric tons of spent fuel from NPPs constructed by the Soviet Union.  According to Minister of Atomic Energy Yevgeniy Adamov, the reprocessed fuel was placed in "civilized long-term storage," and will remain there until the technology to use it further has been perfected. [Mikhail Klasson, "Minatom otchitalsya za proshlyy god," Vremya MN, http://news.mosinfo.ru/news/2000/ VMN/04/data.vm041215.htm]{Entered 5/3/2000 CC}   3/20/2000: PROPOSED SPENT FUEL STORAGE MOVES FROM MAYAK TO KOLA On 20 March 2000, the Norwegian non-governmental organization Bellona reported that plans to construct a naval spent fuel storage facility at Mayak have been amended and an interim storage facility will be built on the Kola Peninsula instead. (See the entries from 28 May 1998 and 29 October 1997 below.) According to Bellona, Minatom's decision to support construction of the interim storage on the Kola Peninsula was partially influenced by the lack of sufficient reprocessing capacity at Mayak and by opposition from the United States and other donor nations to financing construction of a wet storage facility at Mayak, for which a construction permit has already been granted. According to Minatom, it would be much harder to obtain the license to build a dry storage facility, which is generally considered more proliferation-resistant, as Chelyabinsk Oblast environmentalist groups could block the government's and Mayak's efforts. Moreover, a construction permit had already been obtained for the partially built facility at Kola, where most of Russia's naval spent fuel is located. The site for the new project has not been determined, although three storage sites for spent fuel casks will likely be constructed at Kola. In the past, insufficient storage space and the expense of transporting naval spent fuel to Mayak caused Russia to delay its submarine decommissioning.  The US Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) program has provided some funding for transportation and storage of spent naval fuel and for the production of twelve 40MT metal and concrete casks for naval spent  fuel. CTR has received permission to provide funding to Mayak to transport and reprocess spent naval fuel from 15 submarines. [Thomas Nilsen, "Mayak Spent Fuel Storage Moves to Kola," Bellona Foundation Web Site, http://www.bellona.no, 20 March 2000.] {Entered 7/3/00 SS}   3/15/2000: PROJECTED MAYAK REPROCESSING FIGURES On 15 March 2000 Interfax reported that Mayak planned to reprocess 100,000-125,000MT of spent fuel in 2000, mainly from domestic NPPs (Beloyarsk NPP, Kola NPP, and Novovoronezh NPP) and from nuclear submarines. According to the same report, in 1999, Mayak reprocessed nearly 120,000MT of spent fuel--less than planned, and significantly lower than 1998 levels. (The figures provided by Interfax are 1000 times higher than those provided by other sources. See Mayak activities section above. The correct figures for the 2000 reprocessing plan should be 100-120MT, and for 1999--120MT.) The cost of reprocessing one metric ton of spent fuel, including the cost of transport, ranges from $500,000 to $1.5 million, according to Mayak officials. Russian Federation government orders currently account for less than 30 percent of Mayak's operations. Changes in federal law regulating processing, transportation and storage of spent fuel led Hungary and Finland to cancel contracts worth $50-70 million annually to Mayak. Contract negotiations for importing spent fuel from the Czech Republic and Bulgaria are currently under way. ["Mayak v 2000 godu pererabotayet 100-125 tys. tonn otrabotannogo yadernogo topliva," Interfax, 15 March 2000.] {Entered 5/8/00 LWB}   7/22/99:  US AND RUSSIA SIGN AGREEMENT ON FINANCING NAVAL SPENT FUEL REPROCESSING For details, please see the 7/22/99 entry in the Naval Radioactive Waste Developments file. {Entered 10/1/99 AO}   6/99:  US FUNDS LIMITED SPENT NAVAL FUEL REPROCESSING AT MAYAK For details, see the 6/99 entry in Naval Radioactive Waste Developments file. {Entered 7/29/99 JET}   3/17/99: HARD CURRENCY EARNINGS, FUEL REPROCESSING PLUMMETS AT MAYAK On 17 March 1999, Yuzhno-Uralskaya sluzhba novostey reported that PO Mayak's hard currency contributions into the Chelyabinsk Oblast budget totaled 19 million rubles ($800,000 as of 17 March 1999) and had fallen to one-third of FY1998 levels. According to Yuzhno-Uralskaya sluzhba novostey, the sharp decrease in Mayak's hard currency earnings was linked to the suspension of spent fuel reprocessing contracts with Hungary and Finland. Although Mayak has reprocessing contracts with Ukraine, Bulgaria, and Slovakia, the unpredictable economic situations in these countries prompted Mayak officials to predict further reductions in the combine's hard currency earnings, part of which are used to clean up radioactive waste and environmental damage caused by Mayak's past plutonium production activities. [M. Zaytseva, "Valyutnaya vyruchka PO 'Mayak' sokrashaetsya," Yuzhno-Uralskaya sluzhba novostey, http://www.chelpress.ru, 17 March 1999.] {Entered 7/3/00 SS}   12/98: US DOE AND BRITISH NUCLEAR FUELS BUILD ON COOPERATION AT PO MAYAK The US Department of Energy's (DOE) MPC&A program and the UK Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), working through British Nuclear Fuels Limited (BNFL), continued collaboration with PO Mayak to upgrade the security of fissile material at Mayak's RT-1 plant. Initial discussions for the collaborative project took place in February 1998.  During the December 1998 meeting, officials discussed the ongoing computerized accountancy networking project and other, future projects.  Overall, the cooperation is focused on upgrading the RT-1 plant's ability to analyze and track the flow of nuclear material through the facility. ["Tri-Lateral Cooperation to Upgrade Nuclear Material Security at the Mayak Production Association," December 1998 News, US Department of Energy website, http://www.nn.doe.gov/mpca/oldnews/12-98.htm.] {Entered 11/14/2000 GD}   12/98: MINATOM COUNCIL DISCUSSES REPROCESSING VVER-1000 SPENT FUEL AT MAYAK'S RT-1 PLANT In late December 1998, Minatom's Scientific-Technical Council on Fuel and Special Nuclear Materials met to discuss reprocessing spent nuclear fuel from VVER-1000 reactors and agreed to convene a working group to study the possibility of reprocessing VVER-1000 spent fuel at Mayak's RT-1 plant.  Russia currently stores VVER-1000 spent nuclear fuel at the Mining and Chemical Combine (GKhK) in Zheleznogorsk (Krasnoyarsk-26). According to Atompressa, 19 VVER-1000 reactors generate 420MT of spent nuclear fuel each year, and of this amount, GKhK accepts 380MT from Russian, Ukrainian and Bulgarian reactors for storage. Minatom officials reported that GKhK already stores 3,000MT of spent nuclear fuel and its storage facility would reach full capacity in 2008. Proponents of the plan to reprocess the fuel at Mayak noted that costs to reprocess VVER-1000 fuel at the RT-1 plant and to modernize the plant would be considerably less than the costs of finishing the construction of the RT-2 facility in Zheleznogorsk. Moreover, the RT-1 plant primarily reprocesses fuel from VVER-440 reactors, which will gradually be phased out beginning in 2000. Supporters predicted that the project would provide an economic boost to RT-1 as well as to the entire nuclear sector as it would create the possibility of reprocessing spent fuel from foreign VVER-1000, pressurized water, and boiling water reactors and thus allow Minatom to secure its position on the international market. [M. Kondratkova, "New Prospects for Plant RT-1," Atompressa, February 1999, No. 4, p. 7; in "Variant of Solution to Problem of Spent Fuel," FBIS Document FTS19990324001378.] {Entered 7/12/00 SS}   7/10/98: MINATOM SEEKS US FUNDING TO HELP BUILD STORAGE FACILITY AT MAYAK In an interview published on 10 July 1998, Deputy Minister of Atomic Energy Nikolay Yegorov stated that the United States may provide funding for construction of a spent fuel storage facility at Mayak, and he estimated that construction of the facility would cost $20 to $30 million.[1]   In 1986, construction of a storage pool was interrupted and as a result, the facility is only 30 percent complete.[3] According to Yegorov, the new storage facility would speed up the removal of spent fuel from nuclear submarines. Yegorov noted that although Mayak has the capacity to processes 10 to 12 trainloads of nuclear waste each year, it only reprocesses six to eight trainloads annually due to financial constraints.[1] In July 1998, the US Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) office sent a team to Mayak to evaluate plans to build the wet storage facility, which Minatom favors over plans that would use dry storage technology.[2] Russia has used wet storage for several decades, but US officials favor the use of dry storage, which they argue is more proliferation-resistant.[1] According to the Norweigan non-governmental organization Bellona, CTR  may approve the use of funds to finish construction of the wet storage facility in exchange for guarantees from Minatom that the waste will not be reprocessed for fuel.[2] Sources: [1] Veronika Romanenkova, "Russia Wants US Aid to Build Nuclear Waste Storage Facility," ITAR-TASS, 10 July 1998. [2] Thomas Jandl, "CTR Weighs Wet Storage Option Despite Proliferation Risk," Bellona: Nuclear Chronicle from Russia, July/August 1998, p.5. [3] Thomas Jandl, "Mayak Storage Facility: US Weighs Proliferation Risk vs. Existing Policy," Bellona: Nuclear Chronicle from Russia, May/June 1998, p. 13. {Entered 7/24/00 SS}   5/28/98: INTERNATIONAL GROUP RECONSIDERS MAYAK NAVAL SPENT FUEL STORAGE PROJECT Since spring 1997, the St. Petersburg All-Russian Scientific Research and Design Institute of Energy Technology (VNIPIET) has been working with a consortium of western companies, including SKB of Sweden, Kvaerner Maritime of Norway, BNFL of the United Kingdom, and SGN of France, to solve the problem of storing spent nuclear fuel resulting from naval activities in Russia's far north.  Experts at VNIPIET, an organization that falls under control of the Ministry of Atomic Energy (Minatom), designed the spent fuel storage facilities at Andreyeva Bay and Gremikha and Belyanka-class liquid radioactive waste transport vessels.  Traditionally, spent fuel handling procedures have included shipment of the fuel to the Mayak Chemical Combine for reprocessing at the RT-1 facility, but the rate of shipment has decreased over the last several years to only a few trips per year.  Russia does not have enough TUK-18 rail transport containers and the Russian Navy lacks the funds to pay the $2 million per trip transportation costs for the trips that do occur.  Fuel unloading vessels, facilities, and equipment are aging, and decommissioned nuclear submarines add to the volume of spent fuel accumulating in the far north.  Moreover, at least ten percent of the Navy's spent fuel is either damaged or comes from liquid metal-cooled reactors; Mayak cannot reprocess either of these types of fuel.  The consortium and VNIPIET originally proposed the construction of a new, limited-capacity, dry storage facility for spent fuel from decommissioned submarines only at Mayak, but Minatom favored completion of a wet storage facility already licensed and under construction, since licensing a new facility could take several years.  The consortium and VNIPIET are investigating other options now, citing their doubt that the wet storage facility could meet international standards.  Minatom and the consortium are beginning to agree that a storage facility at Mayak might not present the ideal option.  According to the Bellona Foundation, a temporary storage facility on the Kola Peninsula is a likely alternative, while the search for a long-term solution continues. [Igor Kudrik, "Storage Facility for Maritime Spent Fuel," Bellona: Nuclear Chronicle from Russia, May/June 1998, pp. 10-11.] {Entered 10/23/98 JET}   10/29/97: WESTERN CONSORTIUM AGREES TO FUND DESIGN OF STORAGE FACILITIES AT MAYAK FOR KOLA WASTE A consortium of western companies, consisting of SKB of Sweden, BNFL of the United Kingdom, SGN of France, and Kvaerner of Norway, has signed an agreement with Russia to provide 25 million Swedish kronor ($3.3 million) for designing two modern storage facilities at Mayak.  These facilities will primarily store spent fuel generated by the nuclear submarines and icebreakers stationed on the Kola Peninsula.  According to Sweden, more funding may be available from the European Investment Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and other financial institutions for the construction stage of the project. [Marat Zubko, "Zapadnyye kompanii pomogut Rossii razgresti atomniye svalki," Izvestiya online edition, http://win.www.online.ru/rproducts/ izvestiya-izvestiya-year/29-Oct-97/21.rhtml, 29 October 1997.]  {Entered 8/5/99 JET}   3/12/97: NUCLEAR MATERIAL ACCUMULATES IN RUSSIA As of 12 March 1997, Russia's only storage facility for reactor-grade plutonium, located at the Mayak Production Association, was almost full. [Oleg Zolotov and Vadim Karpov, "How to Curb the 'Peaceful Atom' ? In Russia 150 Tonnes of the Nuclear Component of Missile Warheads Has to be Recycled," Trud, 12 March 1997, p.1; in "N-Waste Imports Grow as Storage, Processing Problems Build," FBIS-TEN-97-004.] {Entered 8/29/97 EV}   1/97: SPENT FUEL SHIPMENT TO MAYAK COMPLETED A transfer of spent submarine reactor fuel to Mayak from the Pacific Fleet for reprocessing was completed in 1996. Two trains transferred the fuel rods to Mayak. The transfer of waste from the Pacific Fleet temporary storage facility made the unloading of other reactors possible. The Pacific Fleet Press Center said that there is as much as three metric tons of spent fuel remaining in Pacific Fleet reactors. [Nezavisimoye voyennoye obozreniye, No. 1, January 1997, p.1.] {Entered 8/28/97 EV}   12/3/96: MAYAK RECEIVES A SHIPMENT OF SOLID RADIOACTIVE WASTE The Mayak complex received its last shipment of submarine spent fuel rods for 1996 from the Pacific Fleet. Additional spent fuel rods from a 3000 ton stockpile of spent fuel accumulated by the Fleet will be shipped in 1997. [Interfax, 12/3/96; in FBIS-SOV-96-233, "Nuclear Waste Shipments Head for Chelyabinsk."] {ENTERED 12/16/96 KVY}    8/7/96: PACIFIC FLEET SPENT FUEL TRANSFERRED TO MAYAK On 1 August 1996 the first shipment of spent nuclear fuel from the Pacific Fleet arrived at Mayak Chemical Combine by train.  According to Pacific Fleet headquarters in Vladivostok, it will take from five to ten years to completely unload the spent fuel from the on-shore facility in Primorskiy Kray, depending on financing. The Pacific Fleet will ship ten additional trainloads of spent fuel from Primorskiy Kray to the Urals before the end of the year. [Ye. Tkachenko, "Yadernyy' eshelon pribyl na Mayak," Uralskiy rabochiy, 7 August 1996, p. 3.] {Entered 11/7/97 EV}   1996: FINLAND TO STOP SHIPPING SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL TO RUSSIA Finland will no longer ship nuclear spent fuel to Russia and the Mayak facility in particular. ["Russia. Finland," Byulleten Tsentra Obshchestvennoy Informatsii po Atomnoy Energii, No. 3-4, p. 60.]   12/14/95: FINLAND SENDS SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL TO MAYAK Eight railcars filled with 240 spent fuel assemblies were delivered to Mayak from the Finnish nuclear power plant in Loviisa. Mayak will earn $480,000 per each reprocessed ton of spent fuel. According to the 10/20/95 Federal Law "On Use of Nuclear Energy," spent fuel is not considered radioactive waste, and hence can be taken from a foreign country for reprocessing. It is not known whether the waste will be returned to Finland or stored in Russia after reprocessing. Sources: [1] Yadernyy Kontrol, January 1996, p. 9. [2] Natalya Timashova, "Another Load Of Foreign Radioactive Waste Could Remain In Russia," Izvestiya, 14 December 1995, p. 3. [3] Vadim Kantor, "Finnish Nuclear Power Plant Is Getting Ready To Share Its Waste," Segodnya, 29 November 1995, p. 12. [4] Penny Morvant, "Spent Finnish Nuclear Fuel Sent To Russia," OMRI Daily Digest, 5 December 1992, p. 2.   6/16/95: 58 PERCENT OF MAYAK FUNDS COME FROM FOREIGN CONTRACTS In an interview with Segodnya, Viktor Fetisov, director of the Mayak plant, stated that 58 percent of all funds come from commercial contracts with Ukrainian, Baltic, Hungarian, Finnish and Russian enterprises. The remaining funds come from contracts with the state. It was reported that Mayak annually reprocesses from 130 to 150 tons of radioactive waste. [Igor Mossin, Lyudmila Shikanova, "Viktor Fetisov: My nesem yadernyy krest," Segodnya, 16 June 1995, p. 5.]   3/22/95: MINATOM AND SIEMENS RESEARCHING REPROCESSING FACILITY CONSTRUCTION AT CHELYABINSK-65 It was reported that joint research sponsored by Minatom and the German company Siemens might result in the construction of a DM90 million nuclear fuel reprocessing facility at Chelyabinsk-65 with an annual production capacity of 20 MT. The fuel would be used in fast breeder reactors at the Beloyarsk nuclear power plant. Georgiy Kaurov, spokesman for Minatom, denies that there is any definite plan for such a construction project. [Besik Urigashvili, "Weapons-Grade Plutonium...," Izvestiya, 22 March 1995.]   3/1/95: ATOMFLOT SENDS SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL TO MAYAK Spent nuclear fuel from the Atomflot base was transported by a special train to the Mayak Production Association at Chelyabinsk-65. Participants in the endeavor were:  Atomflot,  Izhorskiye Zavody (which constructed the containers for the radioactive material), Murmansk Shipping Line, and the Northern Fleet. Sources: [1] Irina Parfentyeva, "'Mayak' Launches The Northern Fleet. A Trainload Of Spent Nuclear Fuel Is Heading Towards Urals," Vecherniy Chelyabinsk, 15 March 1995, p.1. [2] Russian Television Network, 1 March 1995; in "Spent Nuclear Fuel Shipments 'Entirely Safe'," JPRS-TEN-95-005, 3/1/95. [3] Arkadiy Zheludkov, Izvestiya, 14 March 1995; in "Northern Nuclear Waste Disposal System Eyed," JPRS-TEN-95-008, 6/15/95, pp. 65-66.   2/21/95: SPENT FUEL FROM MURMANSK TO BE SENT TO MAYAK Twelve TUK-18 containers of nuclear spent fuel from the Murmansk-based Atomflot will soon be shipped to the RT-1 facility at Mayak. ["First Train From Murmansk To 'Mayak'," Murmanskiy Vestnik, 21 February 1995, p. 1.]   8/31/94-9/1/94: MINATOM RATES RT-1 ACCIDENT BETWEEN 0 AND 1 ON INES A "fire-related event" occurred at RT-1, which Minatom rated between Level 0 and Level 1 on the International Nuclear Event Scale (INES). Press reports based on Gosatomnadzor's conclusions stated that the event was a Level 3 incident, but Minatom denied these reports. The IAEA has classified the fire as a Level-1 event on the INES scale.[1,2] Sources: [1] Mark Hibbs, "Gosatomnadzor Now Scrutinizing Minatom Report On RT-1 Accident," Nucleonics Week, 8 September 1994, pp. 2-3. [2] "Russian Federation," NUKEM,  February 1995, p. 26.   4/94: RUSSIAN-BULGARIAN DRAFT AGREEMENT: RUSSIA TO ACCEPT SPENT FUEL FOR STORAGE AND REPROCESSING Russia and Bulgaria concluded a draft agreement for Russia to accept spent fuel from the four VVER-440 units at Kozloduy for storage and reprocessing at Mayak's RT-1. This agreement is an extension of the 1993 protocol, according to which spent fuel from Bulgaria's VVER-1000 reactors Kozloduy-5 and -6 was brought to Russia. ["Agreement with Russia on Fuel Reprocessing," Nuclear News,  May 1995.]   1994: FOREIGN WASTE PROCESSED AT MAYAK The Mayak nuclear facility was paid approximately 70 billion rubles for processing foreign radioactive waste in 1994. [A. Mikushin, "A 'Nuclear Train'," Gudok, 9 February 1995, p. 4; in "Rail Transport Of Spent Nuclear Fuel To 'Mayak' Plant," FBIS-SOV-95-033-S.]

 

RADIOISOTOPE PLANT

ACTIVITIES:

This facility, also known as Plant 45, was set up in 1962, and uses some production equipment originally intended for use as a second reprocessing line in Plant BB.  The plant produces and separates special isotopes used for various industrial, agricultural, and medical applications, including radioisotope thermoelectric generators.  In 1992, Mayak and Amersham International (UK) announced the creation of a joint venture, Reviss Services, under which special isotopes produced at the Radioisotope Plant would be turned into finished goods and marketed by Amersham.

[Thomas Cochran, et al., Making the Russian Bomb:  From Stalin to Yeltsin (Boulder: Westview Press, 1995), pp. 79-80, 90-91.] {Entered 4/20/99 LBN}

 

PLANT B

ACTIVITIES:

Construction for this facility, also known as Building 101, Plant 25, and the predecessor of RT-1, began in December 1946.  In December 1948, the facility began reprocessing material from production reactor A, using a process developed by the Radium Institute.  This process was changed after the 1957 explosion of a liquid waste tank. Output was steady until 1959, when it began to decline, and in the 1960s, production virtually stopped.  In the mid-1970s, new equipment and technology was installed,[1] and in 1977, a new facility, RT-1, was commissioned on site.[2]

Sources:

[1] Thomas Cochran, et al., Making the Russian Bomb:  From Stalin to Yeltsin (Boulder: Westview Press, 1995), pp. 79-83.]

[2] "Zavod po regeneratsii obluchennogo yadernogo topliva (RT-1)," Minatom Web Site, http://www.minatom.ru. {Entered 4/20/99 LBN} {Updated 7/25/2001 ES}

 

PLANT BB

ACTIVITIES:

The construction of this facility, also called Plant 35, began in 1954, and was completed in 1959.  The plant was built to provide a safer process for plutonium extraction.  The acetate precipitation process used in Plant B was repeated twice at Plant BB (hence the name), and the final product was plutonium oxide.  The plant was originally designed to have two production lines, but the first line was more effective than originally projected, and construction of the second line was therefore halted.  The buildings intended for this second line were later taken over by the Radioisotope Plant.  It is assumed that this plant was shut down at approximately the same time that Mayak's first two production reactors were shut down, and reprocessing stopped in 1987.

[Thomas Cochran, et al., Making the Russian Bomb:  From Stalin to Yeltsin (Boulder: Westview Press, 1995), pp. 79-83.] {Entered 4/20/99 LBN}

 

MAYAK SPENT FUEL REPROCESSING DEVELOPMENTS:

 

5/16/2001: MAYAK WORKERS CAMPAIGN FOR RENEWAL OF FOREIGN SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL REPROCESSING 

Fourteen thousand PO Mayak workers signed a letter addressed to the members of the Russian State Duma calling for the passage of legislation allowing reprocessing of foreign spent nuclear fuel in Russia. As of May 2001, the RT-1 Spent Fuel Reprocessing Facility was utilizing only a quarter of its capacity.

["Rabochiye 'Mayaka' - za pererabotku yadernogo topliva," Strana.ru, http://ural.strana.ru/print/990002293.html, 16 May 2001.] {Entered 7/19/2001 RA} 

 

5/15/2001: PO MAYAK GENERAL DIRECTOR SPEAKS ON MODERNIZING RT-1

PO Mayak General Director Vitaliy Sadovnikov estimated that the cost of modernization of the RT-1 Spent Fuel Reprocessing Facility could range from 250 million rubles ($8.6 million as of 15 May 2001) to 4 billion rubles ($137.7 million as of 15 May 2001). According to Sadovnikov, the modernization of the reprocessing plant could be fully funded by Mayak itself if it had a sufficient number of contracts for spent nuclear fuel reprocessing. RT-1 is capable of reprocessing up to 450t of spent fuel a year. However in 2000 only 126.4t were reprocessed, engaging the plant at only 30% of its capacity. Sadovnikov pointed out that modernizing RT-1 would allow the facility to reprocess spent fuel not only from VVER-440, BN-600, research, and naval propulsion reactors, but also from VVER-1000 reactors, which are more widespread in the nuclear industry than VVER-440s. Seven nuclear power plants (NPPs) in Russia, 10 NPPs in Ukraine, and two NPPs in Bulgaria are viewed as potential clients for VVER-1000 fuel reprocessing; these reactors produce up to 400t of fuel per year. The RT-2 plant in Zheleznogorsk, which is designed to process VVER-1000 fuel, is still under construction and no funds have been allocated for its completion. According to Sadovnikov, financial and technical projects for RT-1 modernization, on the other hand, were practically finalized by former Minister of Atomic Energy Yevgeniy Adamov. Whether the project will be included in the agenda of the new Minatom administration is yet to be decided.

["Stoimost modernizatsii zavoda RT-1 otsenivayetsya generalnym direktorom PO Mayak v summu ot 250 mln rub. do 4 mlrd pub." NAUFOR, News Wire SKRIN "Emitent"; in Minatom Press Digest, http://www.minatom.ru/, 17 May 2000, 16 May 2001.] {Entered 7/19/2001 RA} 

 

4/20/2001: AMENDED RUSSIAN ENVIRONMENTAL LAW DOES NOT AUTOMATICALLY GUARANTEE MAYAK NEW CONTRACTS FOR SPENT FUEL REPROCESSING 

Yevgeniy Ryzhkov, head of the PO Mayak public relations department, said that Mayak used to earn about $60 million annually from reprocessing foreign spent fuel before the import of foreign spent fuel was prohibited by Russian law. Because of current legal restrictions, in 2000 Mayak had no contracts with foreign countries for reprocessing, lost potential revenues, and was not able to contribute to environmental programs. If the law is amended, Mayak can renew negotiations on reprocessing with Bulgaria, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Finland, and Germany. However, there is no guarantee that contracts with the countries that have Soviet-built reactors will be renewed automatically. Ryzhkov also added that waste from the reprocessed foreign spent fuel would remain in Russia for 30 years, then be vitrified and sent back to these countries.

["Popravki k zakonu o poryadke obrashcheniya s radioaktivnymi materialami eshche ne garantiruyut ozerskim atomshchikam polucheniya sverkhdokhodov," Ural-Press-Inform, 20 April 2001; in Integrum Techno: http://www.integrum.ru.] {Entered 4/27/01ES} 

Mayak Production Association (PO Mayak) Summary
PO Mayak Developments
Mayak Chemical Combine
Reactors
Reprocessing Facilities
 Spent Fuel Developments
MOX Fuel Production Facilities
Fissile Material Facilities
Radioactive Waste
 Chelyabinsk-60 Research Facility