This year the plant is to refurbish the first layer wells of Severny site, assembly equipment at Shop no. 1 radwaste storage tanks and carry out pilot sludge extraction from them. The spent nuclear fuel storage facility’s safety improvement program requires completion of construction a connecting gallery between buildings no.1 1 and no.2 that is to expand storage capacity up to 9,000 tons.

In 2003 the plant received nine shipments (606 fuel assemblies) from Russian, Ukrainian and Bulgarian nuclear plants. Also the storage facility carried out operation on reloading fuel assemblies from 12-piece into 16-piece shrouds. Full replacement of 12-piece shrouds will increase the storage capacity by 33%. The construction of the connecting gallery between building no.1 and no.2 was started to improve storage safety. A large scope of work was done to set up a protected area around storage facility and to prepare the first layer of Severny site for solutions from radiochemical plant.

The radwaste storage tanks in shop no.1 were prepared for low-activity solution tests of pulp extraction equipment. The roof repair technology, which uses overlaying material instead of the previously used roofing felt, was developed and implemented to improve operating quality and durability of roofs. The work has been started to lay a fiber optic communications cable, which would improve communication between the plant’s facilities. In 2003 the preparatory work for fuel dry storage facility construction has been started, reported Nuclear.ru.