SNF Unloading from the Nuclear Submarine 900 Reactor and Plans to Unload SNF from the Spent Removable Parts of the Nuclear Submarine-910 Reactor. Agenda item 5.1 (Paper in Russian)

Paper and presentation by Ivan Somov from the Institute of Physics and Power Engineering, Russia, described a unique technology of defueling a liquid metal cooled submarine reactor 900 at Gremikha, a former Navy base. As this reactor design did not provide for an easy way of fuel unloading, specific technologies had been developed to achieve safe defueling. This includes heating up to higher than the melting point and draining the metal coolant, turning the reactor hull upside-down, cutting the bottom of the reactor hull, removal of shielding, extraction of fuel cassettes and their relocation into a transport and storage casks. Special attention was given to technologies and procedures to secure nuclear and radiation safety. The review of radiation doses recorded at each stage of the defueling operation was given in the paper.