News
Publish date: May 21, 1997
Written by: Igor Kudrik
News
According to the Russian State Nuclear Inspection (Gosatomnadzor), the chain reaction was stopped by using liquid neutron absorbers. By the end of this operation the exposure was reduced to 0,07 mSv/hour. No discharge of radioactivity into the environment was detected, and no workers were exposed to high doses of radiation, reports a Gosatomnadzor official. The reasons to the incident are not identified yet.
Novosibirsk Zavod Khimkonsentratov joint stock company was established in 1949 to produce fuel elements for 13 plutonium production reactors located in Chelyabinsk-65, Tomsk-7 and Krasnoyarsk-26. It also used highly enriched uranium recovered from the plutonium reactor fuel to make cores for tritium production reactors. It later used fuel pellets from Kazakhstan to produce fuel pins and assemblies for various reactors, but specialised in fuel for research reactors and VVER-1000s. Today the plant produces the fuel pellets for these assemblies. Apparently the tank which suffered the incident contained highly enriched uranium for fabrication of fuel for research reactors, with an enrichmentlevel of up to 26%.
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.