Working Material of the 20th meeting of the Contact Expert Group for International Radwaste Projects in the Russian Federation. Materials Presented to the Meeting

The 20th meeting of the Contact Expert Group was held on 11-13 October 2006 in Munich, Germany. Sixty-five participants from 13 countries (Belgium, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Sweden, the UK and the USA) attended the meeting. The meeting reviewed the progress in implementation of international nuclear legacy projects in the North-West and Far-East of Russia. The joint efforts had been concentrated on the complex dismantlement of decommissioned nuclear submarines, which included their defueling, dismantlement and relocation of reactor compartments to storage facilities. Another important area of activity was the management of radioactive waste (RW) at former Navy bases and the preparatory work for safe removal of submarine spent nuclear fuel (SNF) stored at these sites. Securing radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTG) was also one of the key areas of joint efforts. The most significant achievements of 2006 were the joint projects for de-fuelling and dismantlement of nuclear submarines. However, the problem of floating reactor units left from the extensive submarine dismantlement effort needed urgent solutions, especially in the Far-East. The construction of the first stage of a storage facility for reactor compartments in the North-West had been completed. The progress in RTG decommissioning in North-West and Far-East Russia was noted by the CEG.