News
Publish date: September 22, 1999
Written by: Thomas Nilsen
News
The new system onboard the Malina class service vessel, PM-63, was installed as a part of the U.S.-Russian co-operation for nuclear material protection, control and accounting (MPC&A). The program was designed to prevent the proliferation of materials that can be used to create weapons of mass destruction. PM-63 has a capacity to store 1400 spent fuel assemblies, derived from submarine reactors. It has also room to accommodate two sets of fresh nuclear fuel (around 480 fuel assemblies).
PM-63 is the first of the three Malina class service vessels in the Russian Navy to receive MPC&A upgrades with technical assistance from the U.S. Department of Energy. The two others are PM-74, based in the Pacific fleet, and PM-12, stationed at Nerpa shipyard at the Kola Peninsula.
In the civilian sector, MPC&A have already installed the same physical protection equipment onboard the service vessel Imandra. The vessel holds fresh fuel for nuclear powered icebreakers that have their home base at Atomflot, outskirts of Murmansk.
An accident aboard numerous Volgoneft oil tankers in the Kerch in mid December clearly show what can happen to aged ships when they are operated in bad weather—and when economic and military objectives are prioritized over the lives of crews and environmental safety.
In this news digest, we monitor events that impact the environment in the Russian Arctic. Our focus lies in identifying the factors that contribute to pollution and climate change.
A survey of events in the field of nuclear and radiation safety relating to Russia and Ukraine.
A visit last week by Vladimir Putin and a Kremlin entourage to Astana, Kazakhstan sought in part to put Rosatom, Russia’s state nuclear corporation, on good footing with local officials.