New challenges in the safety assessment of radioactive waste storage and disposal facilities in the Russian Federation

Russian radioactive waste (RW) management practice (disposal, in particular) is characterized by a number of features which makes it fundamentally different from the international one. The technologies used in the middle of the XX century became widespread even after the nuclear arms race was over. As a result: Industrial sites comprise a large number of old solid RW storage facilities and surface water reservoirs (ponds, lakes), which capacity varies from one to several hundred million cubic meters, storing liquid RW; Deep well injection of liquid RW into aquifers has been in practice since the early 1960's. Major changes aimed at addressing the accumulated problems began to occur only a decade ago. In 2008, a large-scale state nuclear legacy program was initiated, and in 2011, the framework act «On RW management» was passed. New tasks were set before the Russian nuclear industry for the purpose of establishing a unified state system for RW management. It was accompanied by a number of new challenges in the safety justification and calculation tools development. They are discussed in the paper with significant consideration to the existing nuclear legacy facilities; unique liquid radioactive waste storage and disposal facilities; and new-built disposal facilities. (author)