News
Publish date: May 26, 1997
Written by: Igor Kudrik
News
Loading of the TK-18 containers started on May 22. The train is planned to leave Severodvinsk by the end of May, carrying spent fuel removed from Naval service ship PM-63 (project 2020, Malina class). The train will be able to take approx. one third of the fuel assemblies currently stored onboard the vessel.
Prior to the arrival at Severodvinsk the train underwent repairs at Mayak plant in Siberia. According to Mayak official Evgenij Ryzhkov, one of the container cells of the train was damaged, and a shortage of funds slowed down the repair operation. In the meantime, PM-63 in Severodvinsk was inspected by the Northern Fleet’s technical control authorities in the beginning of April. Out of 67 checked loading mechanisms onboard, only 4 were functioning properly. The inspection concluded that the boat requires overhaul repairment. Allthough unconfirmed, the Bellona Web reckon that these repairs have not been carried out, since Severodvinsk has still not received the state money to cover all its salary arrears.
Operations at Mayak reprocessing plant itself, where the spent fuel is to be treated, are currently suspended by the Russian State Nuclear Inspection (Gosatomnadzor). Neither Mayak nor Gosatomnadzor officials in Moscow could name a date for the reprocessing facility to be put into operation again. Apparently, the Severodvinsk spent fuel is to be stored for an unknown period of time at one of Mayak’s storage facilities.
Recent attacks on Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant "mark the beginning of a new and gravely dangerous front of the war," the UN atomic agency's director general said last week.
After years of inaction, Germany is working on its Carbon Management Strategy to resolve how CCS can play a role in climate action in industry. At the end of February, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action published first key points and a proposal to amend the law Kohlenstoffdioxid Speicherungsgesetz (KSpG). Bellona Deutschland, who was actively involved in the previous stakeholder dialogue submitted a statement in the association hearing.
In the midst of a global discussion on whether natural gas should be used as a transitional fuel and whether emissions from its extraction, production, transport and use are significantly less than those from other fossil fuels, Russia has developed ambitious plans to increase its own production of liquified natural gas (LNG) in the Arctic – a region with 75% of proven gas reserves in Russia – to raise its share in the international gas trade.
In this news digest, we monitor events that impact the environment in the Russian Arctic. Our main focus lies in identifying the factors that contribute to pollution risks and climate change.