News
Publish date: July 3, 1997
Written by: Igor Kudrik
News
The delivery is a result of negotiations held in the end of February this year, between representatives of the Finnish company "Ivo Power", Murmansk Shipping Company and the Northern Fleet. Reaching a principal agreement, the group signed a letter of intent on delivery of the specialised liquid radioactive waste mobile facility, dubbed "Nures", to the Northern Fleet. The processing facility will be transported to Aandreva Guba (Zapadnaya Lutsa) for a few months testing.
"Nures" successfully operated at the former Soviet Navy Paldiski training centre in Estland. During the last few months the facility processed 150 cubic meters of radioactive water at the base of nuclear-powered ice-breakers – "Atomflot" – in Murmansk. –An additional 150 cubic meters will be processed in the near future, says Murmansk Shipping Company spokesman Vladimir Blinov. The facility needs further testing in Andreeva Guba, because of the differences between radioactive wastes from Finnish nuclear power plants, nuclear ice-breakers and the nuclear-powered submarines.
Andreeva Guba hosts the only operational storage facility for used nuclear fuel in the Northern Fleet. Liquid radioactive waste is stored in five underground tanks in Andreeva Guba, each of which has a capacity of 400 cubic meters. Early in the 1960s, construction of an onshore radioactive water processing plant was launched. The plant was never put into operation. Currently the Northern Fleet is delivering some of its liquid radioactive waste to "Atomflot" for purification. "Atomflot" is operating an experimental onshore radioactive water processing facility which has an annual capacity of 1200 cubic meters. The total processing need of "Atomflot" and the Northern Fleet together is in the area of 5000 cubic meters anually.
Throughout the past year, our mission at the Bellona Environmental Transparency Center has focused on two key, but intertwined issues—nuclear and radiation safety as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine drags on, and the worldwide influence of Rosatom, Russia’s state nuclear corporation, which itself is actively involved in the war and has participated in the occupation of a Ukrainian nuclear power plant.
At the beginning of the year, reports in the German and Russian press suggested an approximate 70% increase in uranium imports from Russia to Germany in 2024. But does this reflect broader European trends? It does not. Overall, imports of uranium and nuclear fuel from Russia to Western countries actually dropped sharply in 2024. Unlike the situation in Germany, this is already an established trend.
A Lingen, Germany plant could begin producing nuclear fuel in cooperation with a subsidiary of Rosatom, Russia's state nuclear corporation, which is directly involved in the war in Ukraine and occupying the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
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.