| Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management
- Fact Sheet
Russia’s Radioactive Waste Management Program
Low-level radioactive waste
Some low-level liquid radioactive wastes are condensed by evaporation
and recycled. Any leftover waste is solidified and buried with other solid
low-level radioactive wastes in concrete burial units or trenches. Untreated
low-level liquid wastes are injected underground into deep porous rocks
surrounded by layers of clay.
Spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste
Russia’s approximately 30 nuclear power plants store their spent nuclear
fuel waste on-site. Liquid high-level radioactive waste from reprocessed
fuel is vitrified, or converted into solid form.
Reprocessing spent nuclear fuel
Reprocessing takes place at Chelyabinsk-65, a plant which has been in
operation for several years. A second facility is scheduled for start
up at Krasnoyarsk by 2015. Krasnoyarsk is already a central storage facility
for spent nuclear fuel.
Transporting radioactive waste
Liquid wastes destined for solidification and disposal are transported
as liquids in trucks. Spent nuclear fuel assemblies are transported using
a cask and rail car designed to move the fuel.
Deep geologic disposal plans
Investigations of potential geologic repository sites by a number of Russian
institutions, including the Russian Academy of Sciences, are ongoing.
Russia is currently investigating several regions as potential study sites.
Four possible rock types are being considered for disposal: salt, granite,
clay, and basalt. Disposal plans include using a multi-barrier approach.
Russia has a wide variety of geologic environments that contribute to
the selection of suitable sites. It is likely that one will be chosen
based on its proximity to a radioactive waste-producing facility. A repository
operation date is to be decided.
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management
Yucca Mountain Project
1551 Hillshire Drive
Las Vegas, NV 89134
1-800-225-6972
http://www.ocrwm.doe.gov
DOE/YMP-0414
June 2001 |