The investments concern the international rehabilitation of the former nuclear submarine base in Andreeva bay on the Kola Peninsula. The deputy director of SevRAO international department Vladimir Khandobin said to Interfax that investments are necessary to begin shipment of the spent nuclear fuel from the base, compression of solid radwaste, and construction of the radwaste treatment plant.

The old technical buildings, which could not be repaired, have been recently demolished in accordance with the contract with UK. It is also planned to dismantle the former LRW treatment plant and the port terminal. According to Khandobin each year more donors would like to contribute to the rehabilitation of Andreeva bay. The main donors in the Andreeva bay project are UK, Norway and Sweden. The launch of spent nuclear fuel and radwaste shipment from Andreeva bay is scheduled for 2007.



The Andreyeva Bay is Europe’s largest radioactive waste storage site. Besides spent nuclear fuel, the Andreyeva Bay contains over 10,000 tons of solid radioactive waste and some 600 cubic meters of liquid radioactive waste. There total radiation activity is comparable to radiation emission during the Chernobyl disaster. The storage facility in the Andreyeva Bay was created some 40 years ago on the shore of the Motovsky Gulf as a temporary storage site and was supervised by the Defense Ministry. In 2000, it was handed over to the SevRAO state enterprise (department of Rosenergoatom). The creation of storage facility infrastructure, which would make it possible to finally start withdrawing radioactive waste from the Andreyeva Bay, was started after 2000 with participation of foreign partners.